Watch this video first:
On November 28, 2014, eighteen-year-old Alonzo Brown violently kicked and knocked down a twenty-four year old woman who was carrying her 3-month old son, Jordy, so he could steal her cell phone. The baby was strapped across the chest of the woman in a sling, or baby carrier, while the woman was walking along the sidewalk of East Tremont Ave. in the Bronx, New York. It was broad daylight, and while there was no one else with them on the sidewalk, cars were passing by. The robbery only took a few seconds. Fortunately, neither the woman or her son were seriously hurt, and Brown was arrested. (He had 11 prior arrests, 5 of which were sealed before this incident.)
As I said in the above video, Brown is despicable. He’s a scumbag that has done this before, and will most likely be doing it again soon. People like this are out there and they are looking for easy targets. It’s your job to be a hard target! Don’t be a victim. The video illustrates something I’m always preaching, and that is that you are responsible for your own safety. Did you see how fast it happened? There is no way police could get there and stop him before that attack occurred. Brown didn’t even know he was going to rob someone until he spotted the easy target of opportunity walking past. You can’t shrug off the responsibility of your own safety. Many in our society promote the notion that we should just let the authorities handle things. That just doesn’t work. We must be responsible for our own safety. End of sermon for now.
Listen to my thoughts about Brown and scum like him:
Lessons we can learn from this:
First, this illustrates the importance of being aware of what’s going on around you. Get off your phone and get your head out of your apps! If you must call or text, do so someplace safe where someone can’t sneak up and hurt or rob you. Read the other things I provide on awareness and watch my awareness videos. And then Be Aware! Be Alert!
Second, when you have children with you, you must be more alert. You are not just responsible for keeping yourself safe, but your children as well. Yes, you teach them to be responsible for themselves and how to protect themselves as they grow up, but when young, it is your responsibility to keep them safe. This is especially important if you have a baby with you. And it’s not just bad people out there. There are many children hurt and killed each year, which could have been prevented, had their parents been aware of what was going on. When you are responsible for someone else, you need to increase your awareness.
Lastly, this video illustrates that criminals don’t care about you, your baby or child, or anything else. They only care about themselves and getting away with their acts without getting hurt or caught. Luckily because of the video cameras, this guy got caught. But as I said above, he’ll probably be back doing it again soon. Therefore, if you are a parent, or caregiver of someone who needs you to help protect them, you must take this into consideration when thinking about and planning for your self-protection. Your strategies and tactics for protecting or defending yourself will change if you must take care of someone else. For purposes of this page, I just want you to recognize the differences, and if you routinely carry a baby or look out after kids or someone else, how will that effect your abilities to defend yourself or them? If you carry a weapon, how would you access it if also carrying a baby? Would you want to, or would you pay extra attention to awareness and avoidance strategies? What if those strategies failed and you had to physically defend yourself while holding a baby or looking after a small child? You must think about these things and plan accordingly if you don’t want to get caught by surprise.
Read more tips on preventing cell phone theft here.
Alonzo Brown being arrested for this despicable act.