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Original poster

Was attacked by a stranger a few hours ago, Waiting for the police

208 replies

verylongshot · 27/12/2023 19:03

I was with my disabled mum and my nan earlier in a supermarket, She had parked in a disabled parking space. We did a small shop then returned to the car and put two bags into the boot, A man in a waiting car shouted to ask if I was 'going to fucking be all night' I got in the car and Mum held her blue badge up to show him then reversed and went to drive away when we heard what sounded like rocks being thrown at the car, Still not sure what it was but he threw something from his car which hit my mums.

Mum stopped the car to check what happened and as soon as she stopped the guy got out of his car opened the back passenger door of my mums car and snatched my phone out of my hands and threw it across the carpark, It smashed into bits. He then grabbed my elbow and dragged me out of the car onto my knees. He then called my mum (trigger warning for the words he used) a spastic cunt and walked back to his car as I got back into my mums and she tried to drive away.

To get out we genuinely had to drive by him and the guy ran back up to the car asking why we were going back around near his family, he then looked at me and asked if I wanted some more.

Was going to report it to the supermarket security but felt so intimidated that we just left. I did call them to let them know what had happened and they said if the police contact them they can send the cctv. Once we got to my nans house my nan, who had been sat in the front with my mum told me she got my mums phone and managed to record the entire thing from him running up to the car and opening the door to us trying to leave the carpark and him coming back etc.

I know this isnt the thing to be focusing on but I saved up for two years for that phone and only had it two weeks, Didn't even manage to get to my next payday on the 3rd to get it insured, I wasn't even filming him was just holding my phone.

What is likely to happen from here once the police have been?

OP posts:
JamSandle · 27/12/2023 20:04

You may already have done so and obviously you've written this post but please write down any identifying info while it's fresh in your mind.

Floopani · 27/12/2023 20:05

HalloweenIsDone · 27/12/2023 19:56

If your Nan videoed it on her phone why did she not call 999? As it was happening that would have been an immediate police response.

😂 immediate police response...yeah ok. They can't just materialise in a cloud of smoke.

Better to have recorded it and have proof or it's his word against theirs.

I'm sorry this happened to you OP. I'm also sorry no one helped you.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 27/12/2023 20:05

Scope have this advice https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/hate-crime

Victim Support can explain the criminal justice processes to you and help you claim any compensation that you might be eligible for. You've been injured, so Criminal Injuries Compensation might be relevant.

I'm appalled but not in the least bit surprised. Successive governments and mainstream media have used disabled people as scapegoats for the country's financial problems for decades. It's not surprising that people on the street are now becoming violent towards disabled people.

Report disability hate crime | Disability charity Scope UK

How to recognise and report disability hate crime. This can be physical assault, attacks on assistance dogs, threats, abuse, intimidation or harassment.

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/hate-crime

Ottersfortea · 27/12/2023 20:06

Do you have legal cover on your home insurance? A friend was assaulted and has gone for civil action as he was physically injured. I would go to out of hours to get checked over if you have any physical injury so you have it on record. You can use civil action for personal injury.

Then look at any home insurance and work cover you have and your mums motor insurance to see if you have any legal cover to make a civil claim. If her car was damaged ask about that too.

What have the police said?

Aquamarine1029 · 27/12/2023 20:07

I hope they find that piece of shit and throw him into the middle of the fucking ocean.

MariaLuna · 27/12/2023 20:08

So sorry you had to go through this OP. Very frightening. Brilliant of your nan to have recorded it. Hope that, and the CCTV footage will catch this bastard.

My DD1(16) is blind and she encounters hostility regularly when she is out and about and using her long cane.

What the fuck is wrong with people?!

So sorry she has to deal with that @WhompingWillows

HalloweenIsDone · 27/12/2023 20:12

@floopani So we should all leave stuff that is happening immediately, film it and wait to report it later. It's was happening there and then. You dial 999 which she was being dragged out of the car.

I'd be fairly pissed off if my relative let me be assaulted whilst I was being filmed.

Mynaddmawr · 27/12/2023 20:12

I'm so sorry this has happened to you, you must all be very shaken. How absolutely awful. I hope you press charges against him because he sounds absolutely unhinged and should be taken off the streets. Those poor babies also! Please take it easy and give yourself as much time as you need to process this. Different situation of course so may be no help, but I made a report to the police when I was followed to a secluded area and flashed by a man masturbating some years ago, I was very shaken and they were all extremely kind. A part of me wanted to forget about it to avoid the stress of contacting the police but I was glad to have reported. I hope you get some similarly lovely officers.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 27/12/2023 20:13

HalloweenIsDone · 27/12/2023 19:56

If your Nan videoed it on her phone why did she not call 999? As it was happening that would have been an immediate police response.

What jailed George Floyd's killer wasn't the several 911 calls that bystanders made, but the video taken by Darnella Frazier. Unlike police bodycam footage, Frazier's recording couldn't be "lost" and its publication forced Derek Chauvin's arrest and trial. And unlike eye witness testimony, the footage could not be disputed.

We live in a world where the most reliable way to get justice for a crime is to film it, not phone the police.

Also, where do you live that has a police response in under 30 minutes for a crime in progress?

Atethehalloweenchocs · 27/12/2023 20:14

I am so sorry OP, what an awful experience for all of you. Since you were in your car, I wondered if car insurance would kick in? I had a much milder experience in a supermarket car park when a guy in a big white van parked so close to me that I could not get in to the drivers side of my car. I must have looked annoyed because he went off his nut, screaming and yelling at me, and making aggressive hand gestures. All while wife and small child were sat next to him. From their reactions, looked like this was an ordinary day for them. Fortunately he could not get out (parked too close) but it left me quite shaken.

I hope the police can prosecute him.

oakleaffy · 27/12/2023 20:15

@verylongshot How horrible. What a complete brute.
There is so much free floating aggression around these days- I was physically attacked once by an unknown woman in a shop {needed an ambulance}
What was so utterly frustrating, the CCTV in the shop wasn't switched on!

The perp got away with it.

A smashed phone is annoying, but at least you and your Granny are ok.

That's a relief.

Could you claim on your household insurance for it?? - especially with CCTV backup.
Hope they catch the cowardly perp.

AuContraire · 27/12/2023 20:16

What an awful man. I'm so sorry this happened to you, your mum and nan.

Did you manage to get your (smashed) phone back from the car park? If not, maybe try to get it? Might be useful evidence.

Tinseltomato · 27/12/2023 20:17

This is awful op hope you are doing OK. In my experience the police can be crap at stuff like this. You will have to really push them. I'd also ask for the cctv yourself. They might try and fob you off but I'm sure you are entitled to it.

Illbebythesea · 27/12/2023 20:17

God what a cunt. Sorry, but sometimes it calls for it… you know op maybe your misfortune will be a huge benefit to their children. Hopefully the social get involved as clearly they’re shockingly aggressive! So sorry, hope you’re ok… push, push and push some more.

WilmaWonka · 27/12/2023 20:17

Kirkeee · 27/12/2023 20:01

Sorry this happened OP. Is your phone due an upgrade anytime soon?

Doubtful as the OP said she’d only had it a few weeks! Unfortunately the OP won’t be compensated either.

OP that was absolutely outrageous behaviour. Not surprising you are shook up.

Was he waiting for your disabled space then?

Hard in the heat of the moment, especially with a disabled and elderly person in the car, but I wouldn’t have moved if a scumbag spoke to me like that and just sat there and not got out of the car with doors locked and called the police if he approached the car. Easy to say what you’d have done in hindsight though and you couldn’t have imagined it would escalate like that!

Hope the police take it seriously - assault, aggravated theft, criminal damage, threatening and abusive behaviour all at the very least.

I doubt it’s his first offence either.

Bordesleyhills · 27/12/2023 20:18

Hope it’s reported and he’s brought to justice - what a fright

Danielle9891 · 27/12/2023 20:19

If the police are able to identify them (hopefully they can) then press charges. I'd then take them to small claims court for the money for the phone.

You did the right thing driving away as the police could have been hours and this person could have done worse while you were waiting for them to arrive.

Delassalle · 27/12/2023 20:19

HalloweenIsDone · 27/12/2023 19:56

If your Nan videoed it on her phone why did she not call 999? As it was happening that would have been an immediate police response.

Because the police aren't going to magically appear in a matter or seconds and if they did all the man has to do is lie and say the women are making it up.

So under the circumstances the Nan kept a level head and decided that filming him as proof the man was the aggressor was the right thing to do.

Mrgrinch · 27/12/2023 20:21

So sorry OP, that sounds terrifying. I hope he is prosecuted.

Floopani · 27/12/2023 20:21

HalloweenIsDone · 27/12/2023 20:12

@floopani So we should all leave stuff that is happening immediately, film it and wait to report it later. It's was happening there and then. You dial 999 which she was being dragged out of the car.

I'd be fairly pissed off if my relative let me be assaulted whilst I was being filmed.

Police take over 15 minutes on average to respond to a 999 call, so yes. The incident was likely long over by then so OP would have still be assaulted but also had no proof.

Ideally, people around this OP in a busy car park would have called 999, it's much more notable that they didn't, than it is that OPs nan recorded it. I still think she did the right think recording it.

BestBadger · 27/12/2023 20:22

HalloweenIsDone · 27/12/2023 20:12

@floopani So we should all leave stuff that is happening immediately, film it and wait to report it later. It's was happening there and then. You dial 999 which she was being dragged out of the car.

I'd be fairly pissed off if my relative let me be assaulted whilst I was being filmed.

Police advice to an ongoing incident is generally to observe for the purposes of gaining evidence: description, registration etc.

I'm glad you're confident of an immediate police response, but even if it were, this would have been over by the time they responded. The only evidence being possible CCTV.

oakleaffy · 27/12/2023 20:24

Mynaddmawr · 27/12/2023 20:12

I'm so sorry this has happened to you, you must all be very shaken. How absolutely awful. I hope you press charges against him because he sounds absolutely unhinged and should be taken off the streets. Those poor babies also! Please take it easy and give yourself as much time as you need to process this. Different situation of course so may be no help, but I made a report to the police when I was followed to a secluded area and flashed by a man masturbating some years ago, I was very shaken and they were all extremely kind. A part of me wanted to forget about it to avoid the stress of contacting the police but I was glad to have reported. I hope you get some similarly lovely officers.

That's also really horrid.
Who wants to see some loser's pathetic genitals- the audacity to think that they can frighten women like this.
It IS startling to be confronted with nasty genitalia when on a walk.

Our lovely female English Teacher at school was flashed at on the Tube...she said ''Oh do put it away, I've seen bigger'' which was very brave and quick thinking.

Probably her being a teacher helped with the natural 'authority' of her tone..I hope so!

PickledMuffin · 27/12/2023 20:26

My lord. what a lunatic, hope you and your family are ok

Hastheslotharrivedyet · 27/12/2023 20:26

verylongshot · 27/12/2023 19:14

clearly got his face and his car in the video, Also forgot to mention his wife who got out of the car to join him, their two toddlers and a baby with her.

Utter mental bastards

Pushkinini · 27/12/2023 20:26

What a horrible thing to happen OP. Hopefully the police will go knocking on the perpetrators door very soon.

My DH (not disabled) was assaulted at a petrol station around 15 years ago. He was punched in the face and his jaw was broken because he asked a man not to queue jump. The police took it very seriously and although the man didn't get a custodial sentence, he did get a suspended one and a fine of several hundred pounds.

I hope you are all ok, if shaken up at the moment.