Post-Covid Processing of Attempted Carjacking
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2022 4:47 am
An incident happened today that led my wife and I to reflect on how the perception of what should be surreal or shocking has been shifted in the last few years. Going through a global pandemic seems to have front loaded what is in the basket of things that could happen in a day. The basket now contains potentially normalized things I wouldn't have expected. This feeling the matrix is degrading is pervasive enough that it turned out an attempted carjacking is one of them.
Context: I went in to my office today to work on a few things which is not abnormal for me. I have the option to work from home but the truth is the enterprise internet speeds make working at the office substantially more productive for me so I usually go in. I work a lot of weekends for the sake of getting things done when there aren't meetings, phone calls and other interruptions to the flow. There aren't many others who come in Saturdays, and with the upcoming holiday week I spent the time in the office alone.
I had told my daughter I'd drop by her place before I headed home and packed up just after dark. I usually back into parking stalls for safety despite driving a car, and had done so today. I got in the car, started the engine, plugged my phone into the charger and was getting the book I was listening to on Audible queued up when I noticed a guy walking through the parking lot. It's not uncommon as there is an apartment complex across the road so I didn't think much of it. Suddenly he turned and rushed up to the driver's side of my car and told me he needed me to get out of the car so we could talk. I told him we could talk though the window and asked what was up? He then said he needed to take my car and I needed to get out of it.
I don't see most people who walk up to me as posing much of a likely physical threat minus the chance a person is a jujitsu blue belt or armed, so I repeated his comment, but reiterated I wasn't getting out and asked why did he need it? He said it was complicated, and but I needed to understand he could kill me and take it or I could get out, let him take it, then call it in as stolen and collect the insurance. I repeated his comment back to him, restating his plan then was to kill me and take my car if I didn't just give it to him?
During this time, I'm thinking about if I've seen both his hands free or not? His right hand had been at the top of the window as soon as he approached the car as if to check if the window was down enough he could pry it. But his left? It was now behind his back at his belt. Could mean he was armed.
He now escalated the threat, telling me he had a gun, he was going to shoot me and take the car if I didn't give it to him. He was getting more aggressive with his body language and behaviour. But he struck me as most likely on drugs or mentally ill, not violently criminal. I restated his demand was that I give him the car or he would shoot me? but repeated I wasn't getting out for him to take the car. I am not sure what my exact thoughts were here, to be honest. I was running the odds in my head of if I thought he did have a gun or not, what to do if he pulled it, then deciding we were in a stalemate where he wasn't having his bluff called if he didn't have a gun, but if he did have one and I did anything he'd likely shoot me, I looked at him so his eyes were on mine as I started saying something irrelevant as I put the car in drive and pulled out quickly. He shouted, "So you think you're leaving?" as I did so. I kinda made an arc as I speed down the parking lot in the opposite direction, partially expecting there was still possibility he did have a gun and would shoot. No gun fire, I took the first chance to put a building between us, went to the end of that parking lot, pulled off onto the side road and stopped. Then called 911 to report it. Cops were on scene in less than a minute from the time I called. I gave the guys description to the operator they told me there were officers on the way, they asked me to wait for one to come to me and then I waited. They caught the guy almost immediately. I gave my report, they drove me over to where they had him in cuffs to verify I believed it was the same guy, then they dropped me off at my car.
And that was that.
The police officer who first responded to me asked if I was ok, how it made me feel, and what I thought about it all. My adrenaline was up but I wasn't feeling much of anything. It was surreal that it wasn't surreal if that makes sense.
They asked me a question that I don't recall the exact phrasing of but was along the lines of if I wanted him charged. (Not if I wanted to press charges) Since I hesitated at the wording, the officer said basically I decided if I wanted him to go to jail and I had to decide what was the right thing to do. Seemed like a question that could have used some guiding explanations to help me understand what I was agreeing to in either direction but saying yes seemed right.
They had me repeat the description of the person, and an office standing nearby gave a thumbs up to the officer taking my statement. Turned out they had him already at that point and the second officer was there to verify the guy they had in cuffs was still matching the description I gave, perhaps making sure it didn't change from what I had told the 911 operator.
After they had me visually confirm and sent me on my way, I went to my daughter's place as planned. Told her about it, that what seemed most weird to me was it didn't feel like something out of the normal had happened. She and her roommates confirmed that the Phoenix area was just a bunch of criminals in their minds and of course something like that happened. Found out one of them had a gun pulled on them once a little over a year before while they were working at a Panda Express. Confirmed the matrix was def glitching.
I had called my wife while waiting after the officer has taken my ID and was preparing the report. Told her a short version of what happened and I'd be home after checking in with the kiddo. So when I got home she asked if I was doing ok and I told her that was what was kinda feeling not ok about it was I felt like normal, it didn't seem like a big deal.
So I'm processing that. Other than having felt a bit amped up at the moment I made the decision to drive away, it was just a late night at the office.
2022 y'all.
ETA: Updated title. Left the errors in the post for posterity.
Context: I went in to my office today to work on a few things which is not abnormal for me. I have the option to work from home but the truth is the enterprise internet speeds make working at the office substantially more productive for me so I usually go in. I work a lot of weekends for the sake of getting things done when there aren't meetings, phone calls and other interruptions to the flow. There aren't many others who come in Saturdays, and with the upcoming holiday week I spent the time in the office alone.
I had told my daughter I'd drop by her place before I headed home and packed up just after dark. I usually back into parking stalls for safety despite driving a car, and had done so today. I got in the car, started the engine, plugged my phone into the charger and was getting the book I was listening to on Audible queued up when I noticed a guy walking through the parking lot. It's not uncommon as there is an apartment complex across the road so I didn't think much of it. Suddenly he turned and rushed up to the driver's side of my car and told me he needed me to get out of the car so we could talk. I told him we could talk though the window and asked what was up? He then said he needed to take my car and I needed to get out of it.
I don't see most people who walk up to me as posing much of a likely physical threat minus the chance a person is a jujitsu blue belt or armed, so I repeated his comment, but reiterated I wasn't getting out and asked why did he need it? He said it was complicated, and but I needed to understand he could kill me and take it or I could get out, let him take it, then call it in as stolen and collect the insurance. I repeated his comment back to him, restating his plan then was to kill me and take my car if I didn't just give it to him?
During this time, I'm thinking about if I've seen both his hands free or not? His right hand had been at the top of the window as soon as he approached the car as if to check if the window was down enough he could pry it. But his left? It was now behind his back at his belt. Could mean he was armed.
He now escalated the threat, telling me he had a gun, he was going to shoot me and take the car if I didn't give it to him. He was getting more aggressive with his body language and behaviour. But he struck me as most likely on drugs or mentally ill, not violently criminal. I restated his demand was that I give him the car or he would shoot me? but repeated I wasn't getting out for him to take the car. I am not sure what my exact thoughts were here, to be honest. I was running the odds in my head of if I thought he did have a gun or not, what to do if he pulled it, then deciding we were in a stalemate where he wasn't having his bluff called if he didn't have a gun, but if he did have one and I did anything he'd likely shoot me, I looked at him so his eyes were on mine as I started saying something irrelevant as I put the car in drive and pulled out quickly. He shouted, "So you think you're leaving?" as I did so. I kinda made an arc as I speed down the parking lot in the opposite direction, partially expecting there was still possibility he did have a gun and would shoot. No gun fire, I took the first chance to put a building between us, went to the end of that parking lot, pulled off onto the side road and stopped. Then called 911 to report it. Cops were on scene in less than a minute from the time I called. I gave the guys description to the operator they told me there were officers on the way, they asked me to wait for one to come to me and then I waited. They caught the guy almost immediately. I gave my report, they drove me over to where they had him in cuffs to verify I believed it was the same guy, then they dropped me off at my car.
And that was that.
The police officer who first responded to me asked if I was ok, how it made me feel, and what I thought about it all. My adrenaline was up but I wasn't feeling much of anything. It was surreal that it wasn't surreal if that makes sense.
They asked me a question that I don't recall the exact phrasing of but was along the lines of if I wanted him charged. (Not if I wanted to press charges) Since I hesitated at the wording, the officer said basically I decided if I wanted him to go to jail and I had to decide what was the right thing to do. Seemed like a question that could have used some guiding explanations to help me understand what I was agreeing to in either direction but saying yes seemed right.
They had me repeat the description of the person, and an office standing nearby gave a thumbs up to the officer taking my statement. Turned out they had him already at that point and the second officer was there to verify the guy they had in cuffs was still matching the description I gave, perhaps making sure it didn't change from what I had told the 911 operator.
After they had me visually confirm and sent me on my way, I went to my daughter's place as planned. Told her about it, that what seemed most weird to me was it didn't feel like something out of the normal had happened. She and her roommates confirmed that the Phoenix area was just a bunch of criminals in their minds and of course something like that happened. Found out one of them had a gun pulled on them once a little over a year before while they were working at a Panda Express. Confirmed the matrix was def glitching.
I had called my wife while waiting after the officer has taken my ID and was preparing the report. Told her a short version of what happened and I'd be home after checking in with the kiddo. So when I got home she asked if I was doing ok and I told her that was what was kinda feeling not ok about it was I felt like normal, it didn't seem like a big deal.
So I'm processing that. Other than having felt a bit amped up at the moment I made the decision to drive away, it was just a late night at the office.
2022 y'all.
ETA: Updated title. Left the errors in the post for posterity.