On Thu, 15 May 1997, Fritz Knorr wrote:
> Matt Kitterman, vision 20/20 member (see his post
> from yesterday), was attacked and seriously injured
> yesterday evening in front of his house on Deakin
> St. Extension. The attack followed a high speed
> vehicular assault in the crosswalk at the
> intersection of Deakin and Taylor Streets.
>
> Matt and I played tennis yesterday at the U of I
> courts. We finished up around 6:30 PM, and the
> attack happened while we were walking home. We're
> neighbors, so after tennis, we usually head for
> his house, I pet Dixie the dog a little and head
> on home to supper. Well, it was hot yesterday, so
> after playing, Matt was drinking water from a
> water bottle as we walked.
>
> As we approached the crosswalk on Taylor St.,
> there was a string of traffic, so we waited for a
> break in the traffic and proceeded across Taylor.
> When we were two steps past the curb, we signaled
> with the "stop" hand signal to an approaching
> westbound car. The car then *accelerated* and cut
> in front of us, only inches away. In the course
> of jumping back, some water splashed from Matt's
> water bottle onto the car.
>
> We continued across Taylor and up Deakin St.
> Deakin St. extension isn't really a street in that
> section, it is more of a one-lane gravel alley in
> that section, so we were walking down an alley to
> Matt's home. As we were walking, we heard a car
> approaching behind us really fast. We turned
> around to judge how to jump out of the way, and it
> was that same car. The car ground to a halt and
> the driver and passenger on the right jumped out
> and surrounded Matt. I looked closely to get the
> license number, 4AJ810, California, a gray 4-door
> late model sedan.
>
> The driver and passenger were young black men,
> with stocky builds and are probably U of I or WSU
> athletes. The two black men surrounded Matt,
> grabbed his racket from him and hit him, HARD, on
> the head with his racket. He started gushing
> blood. I moved in to interfere with the beating,
> and the passenger turned on me with Matt's racket.
> We stood there in a racket-to-racket stand off,
> while the driver proceeded to thump on Matt. Poor
> Matt was in a bloody fog by then, after being
> whacked on the head; so he was easily pushed to
> the ground and punched and hit. And I was pinned
> down in this racket fencing thing.
>
> After a few more kicks and punches to Matt the
> attackers retreated to their car and sped away. I
> ran back to Matt's house and dialed 911. I guess
> I did leave him in a bloody heap in the alley. Oh
> well, sorry Matt. I thought it was important to
> get the authorities. Little did I know.
>
> A patrol car did eventually respond to my 911
> call. The investigating officer, Leonard Sombret
> said that there probably was no prosecutable
> crime. Of course, prosecution involves the
> courts. A police officer can only speak from his
> experience from previous cases and from his
> criminal justice training The officer is not the
> prosecutor or the judge. But a police officer is
> very involved in criminal justice on a daily basis
> and can therefore "bottom line" the situation as
> to what he thinks the prosecutor and the courts
> would do. Given that, the investigating officer's
> take on the various aspects of this case was:
>
> 1. The crosswalk assault by a speeding car:
> Officer Sombret didn't see any problem at all. He
> repeated the general police advice for pedestrians
> run down in crosswalks. Get the license number
> and a description of the driver. Contact the
> police. Well, I DID that. But, he was clearly
> not going any further with it. If there was
> anything to sucessfully prosecte, I'm sure that
> Officer Sombret would pursue it.
>
> 2. The later vehicular assault in the Deakin St.
> alley: The driver was justified because some water
> splashed on his car when he startled the
> pedestrians in the crosswalk. This is not the
> officer speaking, of course, but it is his best
> guess of what the courts would say.
>
> 4. The violent beating: We didn't run away fast
> enough. We turned around to get out of the way of
> the speeding car in the one lane alley. Worse, we
> then hung around to get the vehicle license
> number. Therefore, it is a "mutual combat"
> situation. The license number turned out to be
> semi-useless.
>
> The investigation: This is a place where the
> police do call the shots. Matt and I were
> interviewed. We wrote out statements. The
> vehicle registration was looked up. It was
> registered to a *surprise* California address.
> Officer Sombret did say that he looked in the
> local phone books for someone of the name on the
> registration. No luck.
>
> And that's where it stands this morning. If you
> see that vehicle, do not approach the driver!!
> Inform the police, they might interview the
> attacker.
>
> Heidi took Matt to the emergency room. He got the
> gash on his head stitched up, but he still has a
> big ol' knot on his head, too. You might want to
> send Matt a get well message.
>
> Fritz
>
>
>
>