I was walking home from a dinner party—it’s 11:00 at night—walking down Pennsylvania Avenue in our Nation’s capital, and was accosted by three gentlemen that grabbed me and drug me behind a Dempsey Dumpster and beat me and kicked me. They knocked out my front tooth, bruised a couple of ribs, and all they really got out of the attack was $20. I literally gave them my billfold. They took 20 bucks out—that’s what was in there—threw it back at me and they took off. I got up, and I ran. I ran home for the rest of the blocks. During that entire night, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t bathe. I just remember laying in my bed, staring at the wall and the ceiling and thinking, God, I’m so thrilled to be home and so thrilled to be alive.
We called my parents after the police officer had left. And I had one friend on one phone and I was on another, and I just wanted to assure my mother that . . . that I was, first of all, okay . . . that I was going to be okay, but I told her . . . and she was on one phone, my dad was on another. And so it was kind of hectic and crazy, and they were both very upset, and my mother was very emotional and crying. And you know, you never want to hear your parents be that . . . just so sad.
You know, I had a great doctor. I had a great dentist. They worked with me, but financially, it was very difficult. My parents were extremely helpful in that situation. If not, I don’t know what would have happened.
I still think about it when I’m walking down the street . . . whether it’s, you know, 6:00 at night or 9:00 at night. I really don’t walk after 9:00. I know that sounds crazy, but I take cabs everywhere now.
Long term, I just don’t think that you ever, ever recover from it. It makes you so much aware, And it makes you a little bit more jaded about people that you pass on the street. You never know what’s going to happen.
There were 3 individuals that were captured, that were doing random acts of violence, roaming Capitol Hill. I think that they need to take responsibility for their actions. I think that, certainly . . . so they can’t do this to anyone else. I think that monetary damages should be a consideration also. Counseling, I mean, just all these different . . . all these different factors. But first of all, I’d really just want to know why. I don’t understand what makes people that way.
