I'm not one to go around seeking out sympathy from people for the torture that everyday life puts me through. I'm well aware that everyone goes through their own type of suffering and does not want to listen complain. That's not what this is. This is simply my telling a story of something that recently happened to me that still has me in disbelief over how low and degenerative our society has become. Every part of this is true and the only reason i have added some of the pics i did was simply for verification.
I don't live in a great area. I am doing everything i can to move my daughter and i to a better town but for now it is what it is. Shopping at the local Wal Mart has always been pretty safe, or so i thought. It was last Sunday evening around six thirty pm when I pulled into the Wal Mart parking lot. The place was packed. I had to park in the farthest section of the parking lot that only get used a few times a year. I just looked at it as a little exercise.
My daughter is about to be five years old. She has had her bike for about two years now and i just recently raised her seat to the highest point possible with the seat post still being able to be secured in the bike frame. I was at Wal Mart to get my growing girl a brand new shiny bicycle for Christmas. While I was there i bought a few other gifts for her and my family. I had bought some other things for myself that i have been needing also.
It took about two hours to finish my shopping and go through the checkout. After i checked out i left the shopping cart at the store exit and just put the bags on the bicycle handlebars and decided to push the bike to my truck. By now it was good and dark. As a former Marine its a habit to pay attention to my surroundings. I hadnt noticed anyone following me or watching me to the point it seemed out of the ordinary.
There were a lot less cars in the parking lot now. There were still a few other cars around my truck, not many though. There was a large van parked on the far side of my truck that was not there when i had arrived. As soon as i got to my truck i unlocked the drivers side door. Before i has a chance to open the door, a black guy with a Spanish accent (probably Dominican) came around from the far side of the van to the back of my truck and started asking me for a cigarette. I told him i do not smoke and proceeded to remove the bags from the handlebars and put them in the bed of my pickup truck. The guy got kinda mad,calling me a liar and saying that everyone smokes and again insisting that i give him a smoke. I was getting really annoyed but, i was also noticing how he was positioning himself, he ha moved from the rear of my truck by the tailgate to between my truck and the vehicle next to mine , essentially blocking egress in that direction and positioned for an offensive advance. I still had the bike between him and I though giving me some standoff space. I was going over every possible scenario and pretty much concluded to throw the bike in the back, hop in the truck and get outta dodge. Before i could act on that thought though i heard a footstep from behind and and a sharp pain in my right side.
At this point training and muscle memory take over. I think hearing the footstep is what saved me. It caused me to turn my head towards the sound to see the threat but, at the same time move my body a way for safety and throwing the hardest right elbow I muster. I have to think the good lord was looking out for me because that elbow landed square on the guys nose causing him to choke on his own blood and be blinded by his own tears.
The bicycle probably saved my life because it kept the other guy from being able to move in on me after his buddy stabbed me. I picked up that bike as fast as i could and charged at that bastard with it. Once I was past the end of my truck and out from between the vehicles i swung the bike with all my might, which i wish was more, and the only thing that connected was one of the training wheel to the guys ankle as he was running away. I know by the yelp that he let out that it hurt but, not enough to make me happy.
I live about about five minutes from the Wal Mart so i hauled ass home to assess my wound. Having no insurance and being trained as a combat lifesaver and other military field medical stuff, I keep some pretty extensive first aid kits. The first thing i did was open up band apply a quick clot sponge to stop the bleeding. If you aren't familiar with these you should learn up on them and get some. Once the bleeding stopped I could see what i was dealing with. I had about a two inch wide laceration that from what I could tell was one to one and a half inches deep. Nothing life threatening so cleaned and dressed it then i took one of my neighbors sleeping pills (to sleep through the pain cuz it did hurt like a son of gun). I have a tumultuous past with pain meds so i refuse them no matter what now. That beast must stay in its cage at any and all cost.
I tried to be a tough guy and go to work the next day. I made it half the day, until just after lunch, and then i gave in and went to the E.R. I kept bumping it on work benches and hurting it, and i was getting really concerned about infection. They cleaned it out and did an ultrasound for internal bleeding . Had I came to the hospital the day it happened, they would have done a few sutures but, i was told that it had been to long and they wouldn't do any. That was fine by me, less on the bill for me to pay for. Especially after spending more than i really should have on Christmas for my little girl.
I went back to Wal Mart on Monday after getting out of the hospital. I talked to the store manager about the incident and he didn't seem to care because it did not happen inside the store. He informed me that the only cameras in the parking lot that were functional were the ones closer to the store in the parking lot. They wont say it but, the cameras are for their protection, not the customers. He made no offer to exchange the damaged bicycle for a new one. When i asked about that he told me because I admitted to damaging the bicycle myself he couldn't exchange it. The bike is still usable, its just the training wheel bracket that bent. It was really just the store managers "bah humbug "attitude that pissed me off. I left him with a threat of having my attorney file a lawsuit of negligence on their part. Im sure that Wal Mart would settle to make it go away to but that was all talk, i have never been the type to advance the already over saturated use of litigation in this country.
I have a feeling that many of the readers reading this are asking "why didn't this guy call the cops right away"?. Most people would call the law and and get the help and support they would expect. It has never worked that way for my. I wont go in to great detail but ill give a brief rundown of why i chose not to include the cops. First off, until my daughter was born (five years ago in February) I was an opiate addict that was often on the wrong side of the law doing whatever necessary to feed that beast. This is why i told the E.R. doc i couldn't have pain medication. So my history with the local sheriffs department is not one of trust and love.
My house has been burglarized twice over the last three years. The first time it happened, I came home from work on a Friday afternoon to find my front door wide open and my valuables missing. The only things missing were the safes that contained my silver gold and coin collection that was valued at over thirty thousand dollars. I had started collecting when my daughter was born and i got clean. I wanted to have something to leave my daughter that would give her a hand buying a home or starting a business or whatever. When i called the cops upon returning home to this scene, they showed up about two and a half hours after i called. They took a couple fingerprints from around the bathroom window that had been broken and used as the point of entry. and told me that a detective would be in touch. A few days later I got a call from the detective on the case asking me to come to the station. I said sure and went right there. I found myself in a interrogation room being accused of staging a fake robbery for the insurance money. I was livid. I called both detectives every derogatory name i could i think of and made them aware of the fact that there was no insurances policy on those coins. I rent my house, I don't own so there is no homeowners policy. I gave them a detailed file of receipts and pictures of every coin,silver bar,gold gram that i had ever purchased. They never even looked at it. I was a victim that was
treated like a suspect from the very beginning and for the whole time .
That robbery caused me to bite the bullet and spend a lot of money on a quality Liberty safe. I kissed my security deposit goodbye and drilled mounting holes through the tile and into the concrete slab. I anchored the safe to the concrete slab with red head anchor bolts. I put it my bedroom closet off to the side so that it couldn't be seen by someone looking in through the window or anything .That safe wont go anywhere. Which actually almost got me killed.
The next robbery was about two months after the first one. I was actually considered a home invasion. I came home one day, unlocked the front door and entered my house. The first thing i noticed was my dogs behavior. He is a rescue dog. He is a little Scottish terrier and Maltese mix. always super excited to see me, today he was just laying under the table. I didn't think a whole lot about it and continued walking into the house. I was about to open my bedroom door when someone jumped out of the other bedroom that was behind me and pistol whipped me. His buddy came out right after him and grabbed me by the head and kneed me in the face over and over repeatedly. They both had masks on. Which gave me hope that i might not be killed. Had they not been wearing masks, then id have pretty sure of my imminent death. Generally if a robber is not wearing a mask then they just plan on killing any witnesses.
Anyway, at this point i was pistol whipped and beaten to a pulp. I had no idea where my Ex-wife and my daughter were at this time. I knew they were not home when I got home but i did not want them to come home at this time either. I was stood up in front of my safe with the muzzle of a pistol to the back of my head and forced to open it. It was an easy choice. Do i fight two guys with guns to save some replaceable possessions and probably get killed and leave my daughter fatherless, or do I give up everything I worked to acquire again after i was just recently robbed for everything I had but, stay alive and be there to raise my little girl. As soon as I opened the safe I was pistol whipped again and knocked to the floor. One of them threw the comforter from the bed over my head so i couldn't see what they were doing but i could still feel the gun barrel to my head. After a while i was told to count to one hundred and then get up. so I did.
I counted to one hundred then took the blanket off my head and got up. I was covered with blood and could barely see. I looked into the safe and from what i could tell it was empty. This whole ordeal had gone on for well ever an hour and it had gotten dark in the house making it even harder to get my bearings.
I called 911 and reported the incident. The first deputy arrived after about thirty to forty minutes after i called. My ex wife and daughter came home around the same time. My daughter still talks about that day she came home to me covered in blood and bruises looking like a zombie. We were forced to stand outside for hours getting bit by mosquitoes and other Florida bugs. They wouldn't let us in to get a diaper for my daughter that was about two at this time and they 'even go in and get one for us when we told them where the diapers were. When the detective came out of the house after doing the walk through she asked me about the AR 15 that was still in the safe. I didnt see it when i looked on my way out because of my condition. I am a convicted felon and i do not own a gun. My ex wife has her concealed weapons permit and it is her rifle. The law states that I am not supposed to have access to her weapons. We never thought it would be an issue.
The detective basically threatened to arrest me for being a felon in possession of firearms ,and lots of ammo. The only way to make all that go away was to drop the charges and the case. I was blown away that they would rather let two scumbags go around doing home invasions and possibly end up killing someone because they didn't want to do some real work. Again treated like a criminal when i was a victim.
I know that the last few paragraphs don't really have much to do with the story about getting stabbed over my lil angel's bicycle but i wanted to give some background as to why i didn't call the police over this matter nor will I ever call them again for anything. They have never done a thing to help me or my family when we were the obvious victims and really needed help. I don't find it hard to understand why police civilian relations are the worst that they've been in such a long time. If they treat everyone like they've treated me then they deserve the dislike.
This is not a slam against police officers or law enforcement. Its just the ones where i live apparently don't thin k people can change and hold my past against me even though i have been a very good upstanding citizen for over five years now. Even when i was getting in trouble i never did anything nearly as bad as what has happened to me and my family.
Donations are definitely not expected but, are greatly appreciated
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