Panic room

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Reader Dhaavak reports that he narrowly escaped a violent in-car mugging at the hands of a criminal pretending to be a construction worker. It’s the prototypical Good Samaritan horror story. Glad you’re safe!

I was approaching the stop light when a man with a construction worker’s safety gear stepped out of the side and waved at me to stop… The construction worker walked up to my side and said that he needs a jump for his truck… “Sure guy. Come in”, I said, asking the guy to get in.

… he caught hold of my neck with both hands and started choking me. “You are about to die”, he said as he squeezed.

It was a powerful grip and I started struggling. I had my left leg half way out and I kept trying to push the door open. He was quite strong and pulled me towards him with the neck. I used my left hand to try to pry open his hands and tried to honk the horn with my right knee. “Don’t kick open the door”, he warned, “Hand me your wallet, or I will kill you”. I got a couple of fingers open and then all of a sudden, he let go.

I leaped out of the door and turned around to face him. I noticed my lights were flashing and the horn was honking. I had inadvertently pressed the panic button… [Link]

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p>Lesson learned:

Do not ever get into someone else’s car or allow some stranger into your own… If someone approaches you for help, lower the window just a little, offer to call on the cell-phone, but don’t let anyone enter your car. [Link]

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p>There’s a silver lining. By nearly getting himself killed, Dhaavak pulls himself off Abhi’s list:

(13) dhaavak- This is the most boring blog EVER. [Link]

Read the whole thing.

17 thoughts on “Panic room”

  2. Whats with impersonators.

    Just today there was a story in NYC about two guys dressed as fedex employees and brandishing guns.

    Dhaavak, good u r safe dude !!

  3. By nearly getting himself killed, Dhaavak pulls himself off AbhiÂ’s list:
    (13) dhaavak- This is the most boring blog EVER. [Link]

    whatever it takes man…
    (thanks for the shout out btw. much appreciated 🙂

  4. Whatever, Abhi, reading Dhavaak’s blog is like being hypnotized… must….read….more….

    Glad you’re safe!!!! Also glad that there is reasoning behind my paranoia and I’m not crazy. My friends laugh when I insist they lock their doors getting into the car. I’m not the crazy one – the crazy peeps are out there!

  8. Good to hear that you’re ok. Listening to your instinct and looking for signs, and verbally putting yourself in an assertive position is the best way to avoid these unfortunate situations. That cell phone things is great, too. Many people seem to get the picture when you wave it and start dialing ‘911’ out (or even threat to do so).

    I recently took a self defense course titled FAST DEFENSE, that particularly deals with how one should deter an attack via assertive body language and speech, and if one escalates, how to use basic gross motor movements (while controling your own fear and adrenaline rush) to defend yourself, disengage, and get help.

    It’s a pretty good system. It gets as close to the scenario as one can in simulating real assualts (verbal or physical).

    If a group is offering this in the area, you may want to check it out. It came highly recommended to me from some former Marines, and it definitely fulfilled those expecations, and more.

  9. Glad you are okay! Reading the blog, the story DID seem plausible. I have been in a similar situation, but it turned out to be legitimate (and I wouldn’t have given her a ride if she hadn’t been female and my size) …

    You never really know who you can trust, but you don’t want to live your life in fear… how do you balance it ??

  11. Whatever, Abhi, reading Dhavaak’s blog is like being hypnotized… must….read….more….

    That’s what I like about you Canadians. You always stick together 🙂

  15. Man, thats scary. The thing is that stupid criminals dont think twice before killing someone just for a couple of hundred bucks. It happens all the time to gas station clerks. Thank god you made out unharmed. (Good karma may be 🙂 )

  17. Manish, very kindly, shone some light on my raging yet fading blog in the post above. Mucho thanks, old bvoi. It was a nasty affair especially since I found out later that my assailant had been abused by his teacher while at boarding school; compounded by his parents’ and his teachers’ dismissal of his claims of abuse that had been his spiral into depression and violence. a sordid affair. yet the more I dug, i wasnt angry any more – not at myself at least or at this city. So! now that a movie was shot in my neighborhood, and the neighborhood didnt pretend to be anything but Parkdale I wanted to share it with you all. Sigh! Toronto remains this beautiful city kiss.

    Engagement begins May 23. hoep to see you there.

    fades to black