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Thursday, January 10, 2008

UW Assault Update

posted by on January 10 at 18:13 PM

According to a roommate of the 22-year-old University of Washington who was brutally attacked Tuesday morning, the woman is slowly recovering and is in stable condition. “She was sleeping most of the time,” says the victim’s roommate, who visited her in the hospital. “She woke up to acknowledge [I was] there and to grab my hand but after that she went back to sleep.”

The 22-year-old woman moved to Seattle from Kenya several years ago, and is now a freshman in the UW’s engineering program. She lives with 2 other young women, on-campus in the UW dorms.

Police believe the woman was moving her car from a campus parking lot to on-street parking when she was attacked, but they have not released information about a suspect or motive. The woman’s roommate says she can’t think of anyone who might have attacked her roommate, but she says an email from the UW administration about sex offenders living in the area sent out earlier this school year, has put her on edge. “I cannot imagine anyone that knows her wanting to hurt her,” she says. “She is one of the nicest girls you will ever meet. She always has a smile on her face.”

RSS icon Comments

1

I hope she gets better and they nail the fucker that did it.

Completely OT, but...

What's with the Kenya meme? This young woman from Kenya. The Kenyan election hubbub. Obama's father is from Kenya...

I think I'm going to go rent "Born Free" and look for embedded subliminal messages...

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | January 10, 2008 6:31 PM
2

Don't mean to be a dick, but seeing what's happening in Kenya refered to as "hubbub" makes me wince. Hundreds of people are dead and many more homeless. I understand that we have to be glib sometimes though.

Thank you for the update on this story. I hope she recovers quickly.

Posted by the bloop | January 10, 2008 6:49 PM
3

God damn it. What a horrible story.

Posted by laterite | January 10, 2008 7:07 PM
4

Other media is saying she came from Rwanda.

But your posting says she came from Kenya.

"When the victim was only eight-years-old, her parents, three brothers and other family were all killed during the genocide of the war there. With the help of various agencies, she was brought to the U.S. to have a better life."

king 5 story

Posted by stinkbug | January 10, 2008 7:37 PM
5

god this is sad. i'm sure all of seattle is praying she makes a full recovery quickly.

Posted by Cale | January 10, 2008 7:47 PM
6

they haven't caught the maniac who shot the mother & daughter on the lake 22 trail, they haven't caught the maniac who stabbed to woman in capitol hill, they took 10 years to catch mia zapata's killer, and how long did it take king county's finest to catch a subnormal green river killer?

this maniac needs to be caught but they often aren't.

Posted by maxsolomon@home | January 10, 2008 7:48 PM
7
With no attempted sexual assault, robbery, or carjacking, police say it was a random attack ... Police also do not believe the attack is related to the murder of a woman in the Capitol Hill neighborhood on New Year's Eve.

Ok, wait - totally random attacks from strangers involving no rape or theft are exceedingly rare, statistically speaking, aren't they? I mean, what's going on here?

Posted by tsm | January 10, 2008 7:51 PM
8

The PI is reporting that there are some witnesses to the assault. That’s hope.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/346920_uwassault11.html

Posted by Gidge | January 10, 2008 7:51 PM
9

they caught mia zapata's killer? sorry, i moved away in 2000 and haven't followed the story...

Posted by gforce | January 10, 2008 8:22 PM
10
Posted by tsm | January 10, 2008 8:25 PM
11

oh, and also: why do people always talk about how "nice" a victim of violence is? as if your chances of being assaulted have anything to do with how nice or smiling you are.

Posted by gforce | January 10, 2008 8:26 PM
12

Here's my question:

Shouldn't Seattle at least spend as much on law enforcement as an average city this size? Why should we skimp on cops?

Posted by elenchos | January 10, 2008 8:32 PM
13

@11 -- or conversely as if you maybe deserve to be beaten or killed if you're not that nice.

Posted by Fnarf | January 10, 2008 8:37 PM
14

it's a good point #12. we have less cops per capita than most major cities in the us. we also have less crime per capita but still.

i don't know if more cops is the answer though. however, if they are going to cluster things like homeless shelters and needle exchanges downtown and sex offenders and halfway homes in the u-district than yeah, those area should have more patrols in such obvious problem areas.

Posted by Cale | January 10, 2008 11:10 PM
15

ok so i'm trying to lose weight and i walk an average of 25 miles per week. i'm a 24 year old woman and i always walk alone. these recent assaults are terrifying. i wish her a speedy recovery.

Posted by Karen | January 10, 2008 11:29 PM
16

I never understood why a victim is always the nicest person in the world. Really? every murder victim is a sweet loving person?

Again the media is pulling at the heartstrings of people instead of reporting factual information. It is a murder story (public safety) NOT a sensitive human interest story.

Posted by Just Me | January 11, 2008 4:51 AM
17

@4 -- I am certain I read Kenya in coverage somewhere. But you know most Americans wouldn't know Kenya from Connecticut, so if she was from Rwanda, it's not a surprise this was misreported.

@12 -- Bingo, bucko. I was part of a group that worked to keep a sex offender "mainstreaming" house out of my neighborhood precisely because we could not get police to commit to stepped up patrols. And the people who ran the program of which this house was part could only spout feel-good bromides about how everyone needs a chance. Well, let the fuckers sleep in YOUR basement then was my unspoken reply to that. All this well-meaning granola crunch doesn't make up for the sheer danger some residents of these halfway homes can cause.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | January 11, 2008 6:55 AM
18

A lot of good points made by everyone.

Reporters have always sought those "(s)he was such a nice person" quotes, just like when they talk to a neighbor of a serial killer, who inevitably says "he was always such a nice, normal looking young man. He used to take my trash out for me!"

It's partly filler because they have to pad out their article so it fits the designated word count. It's also an attempt to humanize the incident, rather than make it some kind of abstract fact. Yes its become trite and cliché because everyone says the same damn thing, "(s)he is such a nice person", but I don't see what the big deal is.

Posted by Toby | January 11, 2008 7:19 AM
19

@18: The big deal is that it's fucking dumb and doesn't add anything to the story.

Posted by Greg | January 11, 2008 7:42 AM
20

Remember, many Germans AFTER WWII still liked Adolf Hitler and thought that National Socialism was a great idea but it was applied incorrectly. So yeah, the masses really can allow themselves to be deluded by choice and be void of critical thinking skills.

Posted by People Really are Idiots | January 11, 2008 8:06 AM
21

@18: "It's partly filler because they have to pad out their article so it fits the designated word count."

You have no clue what you're talking about. I've worked at a lot of newspapers and NEVER seen a "designated word count."

The point is to personalize the story, to make it a real person rather than a faceless statistic. Which is a worth goal, whether or not it was executed well in this case.

Posted by Duh | January 11, 2008 9:33 AM
22

That poor girl.

She loses her family to genocide, moves to a foreign country, busts her ass to go to school, is attacked and nearly beaten to death when attempting, it seems, to avoid a parking ticket, and now there's a comment thread decrying the use of "nice" to describe her.

Any of you callous motherfuckers ever consider that there are undoubtedly friends of this girl reading this? The girl is in critical condition, severely beaten, and you wanna argue about why she would be referred to as "nice?"

Jesus Christ.

Posted by kerri harrop | January 11, 2008 9:36 AM
23

@21: thank you.

Posted by kerri harrop | January 11, 2008 9:37 AM
24

@21:

Hmmm. My mother worked at a newspaper that *did* engage in such a practice. Based on your polite feedback, I suppose that is not something consistently done, or perhaps entirely abandoned in more recent times.

Posted by Toby | January 11, 2008 9:57 AM
25

@11 & 13 and others: well, we say we don't care that she's nice, but remember just a couple days ago quite a few people not feeling sympathy for the mother of six and girlfriend of a drug dealer when she was shot?

so, yes, people do care about what type of person the victim is/was, and what they were doing.

Posted by infrequent | January 11, 2008 10:57 AM
26

@25:

i suppose you're right. when something horrible happens to somebody, we all want to know if they were "asking for it," to some degree. nice people probably weren't, and assholes deserve to be assaulted. maybe it's our need to reassure ourselves that we still have control over random violence by how nice we are to other people.

@22:

people think about stuff, and then they pose questions about stuff. other people discuss stuff, if it interests them. welcome to the world of blog comments. if you want to moralize or criticize the questions people ask, i suggest you visit here.

Posted by gforce | January 11, 2008 11:48 AM
27

This is why we need to encourage people to defend themselves and not be so dependent on a (almost) invisible police presence in the high impact areas.

I think it's high time that people start using their constitutional right to arm themselves and take a weapons self defense class.

If enough people started defending themselves with deadly force against these types of attacks, criminals would think twice about approaching someone on a dark street, lest they end up shot.

The mere thought of an armed citizenry protecting itself is often enough of a deterrent to crime. That is why you rarely hear of thieves breaking into farm in rural areas. They'll get their ass shot dead on the spot, as every farm has several weapons, and citizens knowing how and willing to use them.

..Or we can keep on whining about leaving it all up to the police.

I much prefer to depend on and protect myself. I hope the fool tries attacking me. Then this problem will be solved.

Reality Check

Posted by Reality Check | January 11, 2008 11:55 AM
28

Bring a gun into a 'situation' and you'd better be willing to die, Reality Check. I'm from eastern WA and we always had numerous guns in the house (my mom still packs a .44 handgun and has had a concealed weapons permit for 25 years) when we lived on an isolated farm. If you want EVERYONE to have a gun (except, of course, criminals - it seems in your scenario that the 'bad guy' just doesn't get one even though it looks pretty easy on 20/20), you risk some vigilante action on high-density city streets. Are you kidding me? Guns are appropriate outside the city, but advocating in-city use/brandishing is total fucking bullshit, sorry.
(I found out yesterday I live less than one block from two level 3 sex offenders that don't live in halfway houses - I still don't want a gun.)

Posted by bronkitis | January 11, 2008 12:34 PM
29

I'm willing to die everyday Bronkitis. You should be too.. there is no gurantee you will wake up tomorrow on any given day. Being willing to die isn't the question here.

That girl almost died that night. She had no choice in the matter, and no defense to keep that from happening. You had better wake up and smell reality. The world isn't always a nice and cozy place. Bad guys are out there. Ask her.

I too have a Concealed permit. In fact I have 2 of them that have reciprocity in 18 states. I know how to use it, having qualified expert with it, and having won shooting competitions in the past.

Self defense is not "vigilante" action. Using a weapon in self defense is not unreasonable. Tell me... what is the difference if the police discharge a weapon on a dense city street or I do? Are you going to make the claim they are more qualified than I?

Maybe you should also know that although I am now a private citizen, I used to be a deputy sheriff, have been handling/using weapons since age 9, grew up in a rural state where I engaged in (and won) state shooting competitions for the last 20 years, and can cite you verbatim what the Use of Force continum is? In fact it is quite possible I"m more qualified than the majority of responding "police". Would you say that is a fair thought now?

I'm certain that as this poor girl was being terrorized and beaten within an inch of her life, that she would have gladly allowed me to intervene.

Would you rather have a citizenry that just cowers in fear of criminals and instead of assisting her, pulls out a cell phone to call others to come to her aid?

What would YOU have done if you had witnessed the attack?

Please do tell....

Reality Check

Posted by Reality Check | January 11, 2008 12:58 PM
30

Um... I would have freaking called 911 for starters.

Posted by Tlazolteotl | January 11, 2008 1:30 PM
31

There is no guarantee that the citizenry are as educated about gun safety as you or even I am; do you want to fetter the right to bear arms with compulsory gun safety courses or are you fine with any old person off the street having a gun? I am not comfortable with everyone having a gun in a city, as I stated and for the reasons stated. You know that I am not advocating ignoring violent crime, don't be coy.
What would I have done had I seen a woman being beaten? I could invent some bullshit tough girl karate kick story, but I wouldn't ignore it. Duh. Women don't ignore other women being hurt. I wasn't in that position, but I may be soon since I live a few blocks from where this occurred. You have given me a few things to think about, even after a few major assaults, random arsons, and the Griego murder on-campus. You are obviously looking at this from a rescuer mentality and I am looking at it from a position of being a woman, threatened by a fucking psychopath. Like I said, I don't know what I'd do, but I have to figure it out.
If you'd read my entire post, you'd have noticed that I know "bad guys" are out there. I grew up in Spokane during the 70s and 80s, when Kevin Coe and the Green River Killer were active and all the sex offenders were released from Eastern State Hospital - it was dangerous just to walk around, and it's painful to even think about the fear you feel as a child. My mom worked in law enforcement and I saw the police blotter every day. You know, I think, that the really scary shit that happens isn't publicized.

I am not even completely comfortable with this city's police force carrying guns or even tasers, frankly, given their track record. For me, my choice would be to live without a weapon in my hand rather than die with one in it.

Posted by bronkitis | January 11, 2008 2:07 PM
32

If you arm the citizenry in a city, and allow them to carry them around, I'm fairly certain that the number of murders would increase. Someone gets drunk, or is under a lot of stress and gets angry, and just maybe they whip out their gun and start shooting. Sometimes the lack of an easy means to kill someone is the best deterrent.

The best way to avoid getting hurt by someone is to get away from them. In more confined spaces, like an elevator, a course in self-defense is probably more valuable than a gun.

Posted by Toby | January 11, 2008 2:26 PM
33

@ 29 -- "I used to be a deputy sheriff, have been handling/using weapons since age 9, grew up in a rural state where I engaged in (and won) state shooting competitions for the last 20 years, and can cite you verbatim what the Use of Force continum is?"

I'm touching myself. I feel a lot of pleasure...

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | January 11, 2008 9:55 PM

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