Friends,
You know that phone call when a spouse calls to tell you that the car had a little ding but everyone is okay? Well, everyone is okay. It wasn’t a fender bender, though. It was a mugging.
Here’s the story:
My 12-year old son was walking back from a simcha at about 9:00 pm in Cleveland Heights. He was completely minding his own business. There was not a whit of his starting up. The whole thing seemed planned by the perpetrators.
Three black youths (15-16 years old) accosted him. They asked him if he had any money or a cell phone on him. He said no. They told him to turn around. He hesitated for a moment and they repeated their request with a threat to hit him if he didn’t comply. He turned around and one of them frisked him. They then left.
We called 911, filed our report, and thanked Hashem that he wasn’t hurt and nothing was taken. Because he was completely caught off guard (and he’s only 12), he didn’t get any kind of description. Cleveland Heights police did not get any other calls that night. It seems like it was a crime of opportunity.
Everyone has their own conclusions to draw as to whether this is a trend or not. Should you tell your children or not? Should you do anything or not? I’m not amongst the outspoken pundits. My kids were all exposed to this. We feel our street is safe. I would rather not say which block of which street because he/we would like to retain some sense of anonymity. We will be more careful about walking alone after dark.
We had a very positive experience with the Cleveland Heights officer who came to our house. As a follow up, my son baked some blondies for him. We had a great follow up connection to the officer and a couple of other on-duty cops. We are blessed to have such a police force. This (yes, together with a short shmooze to make sure he knows who our only protection is from) helped my son to feel that our neighborhood is safe. We have well trained, well armed, nice men and women on our side.
Consider yourselves informed.
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