Strangled
I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada, the home of the next Winter Olympics in February 2010. I was downtown in the business district, trying to take some street photos. I was waiting for the right arrangement. I had the background and the foreground. I was just waiting for the right person to walk by. I was standing on the sidewalk. I use the BlackRapid Strap, so the camera was down, dangling around my hip. The camera was mostly hidden by my right arm. I just needed to raised the camera at the right time.
I saw this guy walking. in his late thirties early forties with a T-shirt and older jeans. He passed me by, kept on walking for around 10 meters, 30 feet, and turned around. I knew something was going to happen, so I started walking in the opposite direction. He caught back and said:
You are my favorite director.
And put his hands around my neck, trying to strangle me. I kicked him in the chest and kept on walking away. He didn't get what he wanted, the camera or my wallet or … I didn't call the cops, I left. Why?
- I didn't want to stick around in case he has “friends”.
- Cops don't really bother.
- I would be the guilty one and the cops would say: “Why did you hit him?”.
Vancouver is known for it's problems with the Downtown East Side, but this wasn't a the Downtown East Side. This was the business district.
- Walk around in pair or more, if possible.
- Keep an eye open on your surrounding. I think that I was able to get away because I saw him coming and started to leave and fought back.
- If attacked by one person and the person doesn't have a weapon, you can try to fight back.
- Never try to fight back if you are attacked by more than one person. It's a gang and will not hesitate to seriously injure you or even kill. You camera or your wallet is not worth your life or being permanently injured or disabled.
- Don't flash money, jewelry, big cameras…