Bump And Rob
Bump And RobSome readers will remember the bump-and-rob attacks that plagued Florida back in the late 80s and early 90s. For those of you who don’t know what it is, this is how it works. The bad guys rear-end people in rental cars, which could be identified by stickers. When the victim gets out to survey the damage, they’re held up and robbed.
It culminated in a German tourist being killed when the bad guys drove away, running her over in the process. As an aside, the impact on the tourist industry was so great that the authorities went all out to end it. They caught the team doing it and imprisoned them for a long time.
Here in Charlotte, early Monday morning, we had two incidents of bump and rob. The perpetrator bumped into a car, and when the driver got out, he held her at gunpoint and forced her to drive to an ATM. When he was unsuccessful in getting any money, he raped the woman and fondled her passenger.
A couple of hours later, he struck again and robbed another woman under the same circumstances. Law enforcement believes it’s possible he followed them from nightclubs.
Channel 14 news here in Charlotte contacted me, and we did a piece covering some advice for women in that situation. For those of you who missed it, the advice is as follows (and, incidentally, it’s the same procedure for a Blue Light Bandit)…
Mitigate The Risks
1. Assess what just happened. Is the accident likely? In other words, it’s hard to stage an accident and make it look real. If there’s stuff going on that an inattentive driver might be looking at it when he hit you, then it could be plausible. Are the roads icy? It could be plausible. However, if the roads are dry, there’s not much traffic, and it happens then that should make you wonder.
2. Check your doors are locked and windows up.
3. Put your hazard lights on and drive to your nearest 24-hour safe haven. (We’ve talked about this in a previous blog but they’re locations where someone is in attendance 24/7 such as hospitals, gas stations, grocery stores, manufacturing plants, police, fire stations, etc.)
4. While en route, call 911 and let them know what happened and what you’re doing. Let them know you’re a lone female, you’re not comfortable dealing with the situation on your own, and your intention is to drive to somewhere where there are lights and people.
Best Laid Plans
I’m not going to sugarcoat this…it’s still a tough situation to be in. What are you going to do, for example, if, while you’re figuring out what just happened, the bad guy appears at your window with his gun in hand? A friend of my ex was in that situation, and she drove away, and nothing happened. A few weeks ago in Charlotte, a woman did the same, and the bad guy opened fire on the car.
My advice (and that means this is what I would do in that situation) is to put your head down and floor it. Every second, you’re putting distance between you and the bad guy, and handguns are notoriously inaccurate. They also don’t have the penetration Hollywood would have, you believe. Many police officers have discovered that rounds will bounce off a windshield. I’ve been on a bodyguard course where we shot an old car up with various rounds to see what would happen, and a .380 would even penetrate the door skin.
Finally, if you do decide to comply, we’re back to the old “leaving crime scene 1 for crime scene 2,” which we all know is absolutely taboo.
PS: They haven’t caught the guy yet, so be on your guard
