A+, APD. For real.

Last night around 11:30 I heard someone out on the street saying, “No, no, no!” I muted the TV, perked up my ears and heard what sounded like a girl laughing. ‘Probably just a guy playfully chasing his girlfriend,’ I thought, but the woman continued saying, “No!” and it was sounding more desperate. My boyfriend got up, looked out the window and bolted towards the door. As he did he said, “Someone’s getting mugged out there. A girl’s bleeding. Grab my shoes.”

We shot outside, half-shod, and by then our neighbors from all sides were coming out of their houses, too. Two girls were sitting, one crying and gasping, on a front stoop, being comforted by our next door neighbor who told us that her husband had chased after the muggers (god love him.) The crying girl said that there had been a group of kids, maybe five in all, with at least one girl in the bunch (probably the one I’d heard laughing. Psycho.) The kids had demanded their purses, then once they’d been handed over, one of them kicked her friend in the face. She was bleeding from her mouth and was quiet, not panicked like the other girl. This girl was just pissed.

It seemed like the police were there in a matter of seconds. It couldn’t have been more than two minutes between someone calling 911 and them showing up. Suddenly our street was swarming with cops, detectives in unmarked cars, EMTs and firepeople.  They tended to the girl who was injured, got descriptions of the kids, and radioed other officers nearby to start looking. Normally in these situations, as a bystander, that’s where your involvement in the story ends. The authorities are there, there’s nothing more you can do, you make sure everyone’s good and you go home. You go to bed on edge and have a hard time falling asleep. You hope that they catch the kids and that the girls get their purses back. But you’ll probably never know. 

We’re living in the future though, folks, and, of course, feeling helpless, all I could think to do was to tweet the description of the kids the girls had given, and where they had headed. One kid had been in an orange hoodie.  Moments later, Erin bounced back:

And then:

I LOVE YOU, TWITTER.  Seriously. And a big thank you to the Albany Police Department, whose instantaneous response was not only impressive but effective. They were kind to the girls and made them feel safe. And, best of all, they caught the kids. Lots of people probably slept a little better last night, (except for maybe Erin, who had to deal with 1000 watt flash bulbs outside her house for a while.)

Maybe I'm crazy, but an event like this does not terrify me or make me want to leave my neighborhood. If anything, it reinforces why I love living in Center Square. Neighbors come out of their houses en masse to help people, even chasing possibly armed muggers. Everyone looks out for everyone else. I refuse to walk my street in fear, I just refuse. It's nice to know that, god forbid, something bad should happen, people are going to have your back in a big way.

*UPDATE: The names of 4 of the 5 people arrested were released. I feel like I should revise this post and replace every incidence of, "kids," with, "ADULTS who should KNOW BETTER."  Here's an article from CBS 6, but for my own pleasure, I'm listing the names of the offenders here, too.  Your mothers should line you up and knock your heads together. So happy that your pics are there, too. Hope to meet you on the street some day, assholes!

The following people were arrested and arraigned Friday in Albany City Criminal Court:
- 19-year-old Brittany Easter of Albany
- 18-year-old Quayvan Young of Troy
- 20-year-old Roscoe Erving of Albany
- 16-year-old Jameela Fredericks of Albany
- A 15-year-old being treated as a juvenile, who was arraigned in Albany County Family Court