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I was delivering to a house with no lights on, on a deserted, poorly lit street. I took a quick walk up to the house but with no sign of activity I returned to the car to get my maglite, a flashlight like the police carry. As I was bending over inside the passenger side door of the car I heard footsteps and immediately felt people hitting me on the back of my neck and lower back. Because of the car door only two of the four guys that attacked me could actually reach me. Through the whole incident not a word was said. I instinctively pushed the two guys back and I turned around with the maglite raised over my head. The one closest to me turned and ran, and then the others did too. All four of these guys were adults and were dressed identically in black and dark blue although they looked more like commandos than “gangbangers.” I was lucky, my guardian angel was watching over me that day. I returned to work, filled out a police report and went to the hospital to be checked out. The next day I returned to work. I wasn’t scared at that point. There was an attack on another driver from the same store. This guy was beaten up badly. I still wasn’t scared.
The fourth day I show up and another driver is robbed. This time was the one that did it for me. The percentages were just overwhelming. I knew I had been lucky the first time, the next time I might not be so lucky. I was scared now. You can’t go into the “hood” scared or you are a walking target. I knew that both intellectually and viscerally. I had to quit, even though I liked all of the people I worked with. First though I thought I would see if I could transfer to another store. I indeed did find another area to work in where the crime rate is very low. However the incident affected me deeply. Delivery drivers have been shot and killed in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. This piece is in honor to those who lost their lives doing their thankless task that everyone takes for granted. The pizza delivery driver, the “cowboy” of the contemporary American urban environment. |
The
following day I show up for work and there is a mugging of
a woman driver this time.
