SFist reports:
Today we get the disturbing tale of a 19-year-old woman who narrowly escaped getting kidnapped and roofied on Sunday while walking along Mission Street. She was walking near the corner of Mission and 19th at 1 a.m. Sunday when a 25-year-old suspect approached her with a gun. He dragged her to a nearby van, threatening to shoot her, and forced her to get in back.
The suspect then tried to force her to swallow a pill, which she somehow was able to resist or fake, and then he started driving the van toward Potrero Hill.
Read on for the harrowing conclusion. And for goodness’ sake, watch your backs out there, and beware sketchy brown vans and sketchy 25-year-old males holding guns.
if that’s a stock photo of a brown van you might wanna point that out, just in case someone living at 101 whatever has a brown van…
Good call.
Didn’t something like this happen at 18th and Lexington a couple months back? Woman was kidnapped, shoved into a van, and was able to escape somewhere down on the Peninsula? Seems awfully similar, and just a block away.
I think this is what you’re referring to:
http://www.hmbreview.com/news/article_2c9191c0-6bac-11e0-a271-001cc4c03286.html
But it sounds a little different (truck instead of a van; no mention of pills)…still disturbing though.
Yup, that’s it. Probably unrelated incidents, but still very creepy.
I don’t wanna sound like I’m blaming the victim here, but for God’s sake, ladies, don’t be walking around at 1 am by yourself in the mission. Just, don’t. This advice works well for dudes, too. Don’t walk down Mission after midnight and your chances of getting shot or mugged go down by about 90%. When they came out with that list of worst blocks in the city or Mission or whatever it was, 16th through 19th, Mission and Valencia might as well have been called the Quadrangle of Mayhem. Drunk and alone after midnight is bad news. So find a babe at bar time and go to their house, problem solved.
And don’t walk around with ear buds in or texting, please be safe.
“I don’t wanna sound like I’m blaming the victim here, but for God’s sake, ladies, don’t be walking around at 1 am by yourself in the mission.”
umm, this is literally the definition of ‘blaming the victim’. this sentiment of ‘ladies don’t be walking around at night or you are asking to get kidnapped, don’t wear provocative clothes or you are asking to be raped’ is so frustrating.
the problem here is that some psychopath is out there kidnapping people, NOT that some girl was walking around at night without the protection of a man or anyone else for that matter . . .
HOWEVER – since there ARE crazy people with vans and pills kidnapping women at 1am in the mission (and muggings and shootings, etc. etc. etc.) it would behoove anyone not to be caught walking alone late at night. Common sense, people!!
Yes, the problem is that some psychopath is out there kidnapping people. But until that problem is solved, it’s perfectly reasonable to suggest that people don’t go walking around in the middle of the night by themselves if they want to stay safe.
Drivers are required to stop at crosswalks, but if I step out into one and ignore the speeding car coming at me, knowing that IT WAS THE DRIVER’S FAULT isn’t going to be much comfort while I’m spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
the fact that you equate a girl walking by herself with someone walking into traffic, without any irony, is troubling . . .
Random prowling psychos who are wanted but haven’t been caught yet are similar to out of control traffic. You’re troubled about this because you’re dumb.
ouch, bro. it hurts double to be called dumb by someone who can’t put together a sentence. double ouch. maybe adding some punctuation to your first sentence would make it somewhat coherent. i’ll do it for you, let’s say your sentence looked something like this:
“Random, prowling psychos who are wanted, but haven’t been caught yet, are similar to out-of-control traffic.”
ah, but even with proper grammar, this is still a senseless argument. somehow equating walking at night with deliberately hurling yourself at oncoming traffic . . . it’s depressing that anyone thinks this way.
When you lose an argument, argue grammar instead.
You’re still dumb as a fucking rock, even, if, you, don’t, like, this, punctuation.
Looking both ways is smart, unlike walking into the street without looking. So is being aware of the remote possibility of psychos if you walk around alone in this neighborhood at night.
It’s telling that you avoid addressing the fact that random violence happens to men 2-4 times more than women. Maybe you wouldn’t pout so much if you noticed that there’s bigger issues than your pet area of hysteria.
Hey thanks, if you’re going to call people out on sentence structure and punctuation, you might want to consider avoiding the use of sentence fragments, and learn to use capital letters to begin your sentences. That’s standard English usage, and if you don’t believe in that, you have no place to stand in criticizing the writing (or thinking) of anyone else.
“umm, this is literally the definition of ‘blaming the victim’.”
No, it literally isn’t.
tastr: nice to hear that you don’t want to sound like you’re blaming the victim whilst you’re busy blaming the victim.
Is it really so reactionary to say that bad things happen more in some places than others, and to use common sense when you’re in those places? This could have happened anywhere but it’s far from anecdotal evidence that 19th and mission sucks after midnight. Don’t be there. Ride a bike, take a taxi, walk with friends. Simple ways of staying safe. Urban living 101.
FUCKERS LIKE YOU ARE WHY WE NEED SLUT WALKS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
For fuck’s sake, DIAF.
^ troll of the year. SLUT WALKS: BETTER THAN COMMON SENSE
As a dude living between 16th and 19th, who has been a local random violent crime victim (2-4 times more likely to be male, US DOJ stats) I carry a taser at all times after dark.
If you’re actually advocating common sense, “find a babe at a bar time and go to their house” might not really solve your problem.
that was an attempt at a joke. over your head.
Are you this much of an asshole in real life, or only on the internet?
This sounds like bullshit to me. 19th & Mission has lots of people around at 1AM on a Saturday night / Sunday Morning, Cancun is open till 2AM. Isn’t there CCTV all over the place?
And why would someone grab you, bundle you into a van and then force you to take a pill? Seems pointless to stop at that extremely dangerous (for the perp) moment to try to shove something in your mouth and make you swallow. Why not bind the victim and make them take your mystery pill at your destination?
This feels like the sort of thing a teenager might make up to explain why they weren’t where they were supposed to be at 1AM, and the story got out of hand.
quit using your logic! 19 year old females would never make up a lie to cover up something else! We all know rapist hang out on crowded streets at 1am!
that being said.. a couple kids i know had a gun pulled on them on 24 at like 11pm… then pulled them down the street kicking and screeming.. nobody around did shit about it.. so you never really know.. SF is full of people who thinks everything is ‘someone’ elses problem.
why do these stories always leave out the most important details? what did this kidnapper look like? what ethnicity was he? was he short, tall, skinny, fat, bald, hairy? what was he wearing? god forbid the news outlets get caught up in helping prevent someone else from getting kidnapped in their sensational reporting . . .
Rod, you need to learn to read between the lines. Whenever ethnicity is left out you can bet your last buck that it is layed-off Japanese businessmen doing these crimes. I’d guess from the description of the vehicle the perps were from Millbrae, possibly Burlingame.
Headed to Potrero = burner
I’d round up anyone walking around with dusty goggles to start with
and pink fun fur boots
My mom was kidnapped at gunpoint in downtown SF in the 70′s. Her advice to me was to NEVER go along quietly, whether or not they have a gun (or appear to have a gun). It actually takes a lot more balls to shoot someone than it does to point a gun at them.
According to her, these guys are relying on your obedience. They know that the odds of their getting caught will go down dramatically once you’re under their power. There may be only 1 or 2 dudes in the car but there could be 10 where they’re taking you.
My mom taught me to SCREAM YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF if this happens. Act like you’re a totally insane person. Do whatever they won’t expect. They’ll probably be so freaked out they’ll just take off.
For the record, I’m fortunate enough to have never tested this theory. I have, however, noticed that in almost every single kidnapping case I’ve read about (whether recounted by the escaped victim, or by witnesses), the victim kept quiet.
yell and pok the eyes.. rip the ears.. a rapist wants to rape not get injured. unless thats their stick.. but in general nobody wants to lose an eye.
Kick and aim for the nuts. Most women have pretty strong legs.
Also it’s a really good idea to show out ‘fire’… Sounds silly, but people feel more inclined to help if there is a fire, than if you’re being abducted… Sad but true.
PS. Impact Bay Area Self-Defense. If you cannot afford it, they will help you.
http://www.impactbayarea.org/
At the very least, read The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker. It’ll help you deal with fuckwads wielding guns at 1AM AND charmers like tastr who wouldn’t recognize their own misogyny if it hit them in the face repeatedly.
It isn’t misogyny that informs my opinion on this one, I even stated that dudes can take the same advice and avoid trouble by avoiding well known trouble spots. I know, you’re so very idealistic and want to believe that if we all just think positively we can make a change in this world. Don’t blame the victim, blame society! Let’s sit around and sing kumbaya. You’re delusional. It would be great if every psycho took responsibility for their actions but please, hold your breath. How about we all just take simple precautions and avoid trouble? Like I said, this could happen anywhere to anyone but 16-19th is a shitty place to be after 1 am. Except the bacon wrapped hot dogs.
So did the victim ask the abductor his age? Did she happen to catch his astrological sign as well?
Ok, Where is her protest? It’s 11.20pm watching a gathering in front of the police station on Valencia. Makes me so confused. They killed a psycho and a thug. Get a clue people. But seriously where is her protest????
“Take Back the Night” marches are so early 90s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-life_superhero