Get Home Safely

WABC 7 ran a story about a 29-year-old woman who was followed home from the Vernon Boulevard subway station in Long Island City and then attacked in the lobby of her Greenpoint apartment building. The woman, who works in Manhattan as a bartender, was coming home around 3AM and decided to take the subway instead splurging on a cab.

She said she was followed from the subway station, over the Pulaski Bridge, and then into her neighborhood.

"I ran here as fast as I could and I had my key. I was fumbling, I tried to go like this but he pushed the door and then pushed me in here," the woman said.

What happened next was such a violation, it is hard for her to describe.

"I was screaming and he put his hand over my mouth and said, shh, I just want to touch you, and then he put his hand between my legs," the woman said.

The attacker ran off after the victim pulled on his dreadlocks with all her might. The victim, on her way home from work, is telling her story in the hopes that other women will think twice before walking alone at night.

"I'm just emphasizing that everyone should be taking cabs home late at night, you never know what might happen, even if you've done the walk a thousand times," the woman said.

If you watch the video, watching the woman demonstrate how she was followed to her door and how the attacker tried to force his way in is chilling. And while it's seems obvious with hindsight to take a cab instead of walking home to play it safe, you can understand how someone like a bartender or a waitress might decide to save money by taking a subway instead of blowing a slow night of tip money on a $20 cab ride.

Right Rides offers free rides home on Saturday nights (midnight to 3AM - aka Sunday morning) to woman, transpeople and gender queer individuals; see the areas they cover. Do you have any tips for getting home safely?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on June 9, 2007 4:15 PM

Comments [rss]

JMH

[15] said:

Oh, the other thing I do to avoid being followed home is to look absolutely insane, and I'm talking homicidally insane. Get yourself one helluva a subway face, and look like you know every little thing that's going on around you as you walk home.

Or, better yet, ACTUALLY know what's going on around you.

brooklynbee

I agree with #30. I always try to take a cab home when by myself and traveling at night, but there are times when one just can not get a cab and has no choice but to take the subway.

ohplease

the suggestion she take a cab makes a big assumption that she could get a cab to take her to Brooklyn. although as a white woman she stood a better chance than I of that happening, it's still not a given that cabs are a no-brainer.

guest

Pepper Spray IS legal to carry. Mace is not.

I bought Pepper Spray easily at the Medicine Shoppe pharmacy on 7th Ave (which is unfortunately now closed), but you can get it at many independent pharmacies. You have to fill out a simple, half-page form, sign it, and provide your driver's license.

Takes 5 minutes. The pepper spray canister cost me less than $15.

guest

Another reason for handguns to become legal.

How many incidents have to happen until everyone realizes people have a right to defend themselves against these animals?

guest

so no one here thinks that the problem isn't that this woman decided to come home late at night but that some creepy motherfucking asshole knew that he could use that situation for his sick fucked-up desires and she would be the one left to defend herself? That dude isn't the one who made a mistake, is he?

guest

That's because Jen is cool like that.

guest

Bravo for including the bit on Right Rides, a great organization.

Dave Hogarty

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. If one reads the WABC article or watches the online video, one can see that the woman is clearly admitting to making very bad decisions that resulted in frightening consequences. She's sharing her story to urge other people not to repeat her mistake.

I know a woman who's already agreed to post a printout of the story in a place where female bartenders will be forced to see it as they prepare and settle their drawers before and after shifts. I'd like to thank the subject of the article for sharing her painful story in an effort for others to avoid similar episodes. Get home safe everyone.

guest

Yeah, she should totally have expected to get groped as she walked home. Some women have a lot of nerve thinking they should be able to walk the streets of their own neighborhood safely. She was clearly asking for it.

guest

You guys ever try waiting for the bus on a weekend night?

guest

The last thing you should ever, ever do if you think you are being followed is go to your house. Or walk over the bridge! She could have waited for the bus right before the bridge. The stop is just after the bridge. It's NOT that much further to walk from that stop to Box Street and Manhattan Ave.

Did she take the stairs down from the bridge, too? If she did, she has no sympathy from me, because WHAT SHE DID WAS STUPID. Those stairs are scary even in the middle of the day!

She could have taken the G to Greenpoint Ave. walked up Manhattan Ave., which, while not great at that end, is still better than WALKING ACROSS THE BRIDGE ALONE AT 3AM!

I'm still kind of gob-smacked at the poor judgement.

when i was young and poor and couldn't afford the cab home the entire way, i'd take the train as far as I could and then get a cab. in one case that involved me taking the train one stop past mine and then getting car service.

guest 10:51 is a fucking moron. greenpoint is fine if you exercise common sense.

guest

I can't feel sorry for 'hipsters' who choose to live in Greenpoint. If you can't stand the heat, go back to the Midwest.

newsyspice

My company pays 10 bucks towards a taxi ride to or from work between the hours of 10p and 7a. We put in for reimbursement once a month.

So a ride home to my front door in Queens winds up costing me about seven dollars, pre-tip.

Tell your company that if they give a rat's behind about the safety of their employeees, its something they should consider.

I very often get out of work at midnight, three am, four am, or have to be there between three and five am. It's been a godsend.

Tip your cabbie well, so he'll wait until your in the door.

I usually get the same three or four cabbies -- they know the company policy and wait for us -- and all of them will wait until they see me unlock and under my building. Good guys, for the most part, if you treat them like working guys and not like your servants.

guest

my tip is to go to the liquor store, buy my liquor and drink at home. when the bar closes, i go right to my bedroom.

guest

I agree, the subway is safe. The time I feel the most unsafe is in my own building. The only thing I feel I can do to make myself safer in my building is never to take the elevator, and use the (very open, well-lit and wide enough to dodge and run) staircase.

Also, when I open my front door, I make sure nobody is near me, and if anyone's close enough to run up to the door quickly, I only open the door just enough to slip in, and then slam it shut behind me.

Not a heck of a lot more a woman can do. My brother offered to buy me some mace, but that never materialized -- and also, a friend informed me that mace and stun guns and the like are apprently used against the victim in about 80% of cases. Not all of us have a killer instinct.

Oh, the other thing I do to avoid being followed home is to look absolutely insane, and I'm talking homicidally insane. Get yourself one helluva a subway face, and look like you know every little thing that's going on around you as you walk home.

So far, so good, knock on wood. I totally sympathize with that woman -- this could have happened to her even if she'd taken a cab home if she'd lived in my neighborhood (Hamilton Heights).

guest

ot: the new registration/comment policy sucks!

guest

3am over the Pulaski bridge? I'm sorry that this happened, but that is a long walk with no one around. A cab is worth the money.

#12 yes, the G and Q61 suck at 3am, but you are the one that moved so far from good transportation...

guest

I live in the building where this happened, and I just want to say that taking the G train or the 61 bus really doesn't cut it. We live way up on the tip of Greenpoint (Box Street). You end up walking twice as far as if you walk the bridge. The walk is through a bit more inhabited of places, but this could have just as easily happened coming from that direction. Pepper spray and being aware of your surrounds seem to be the best options... but they still are less than ideal.

guest

I thought NYC relaxed it's laws on pepper spray?

You either go to a NYC gun dealer or pharmacy to get it, however, prepare to hand over your ID/Driver's license as it gets recorded in a log book.

that's what I recalled, unless it's changed. in any event, it's a major PITA.

Do what I do. When I travel out of state, seek out gun shops or gun shows and buy all you want. even a taser.

You can also go to Canal Street.