[Magdalen] Prayer Request

[Ann Markle]

Prayers for Rachel, certainly. But I do have to add that I'm so proud of
her. She really did do everything perfectly. I'm a great believer in making
a huge scene if the victim of a crime, if at all possible. I was nearly
robbed in Rome (at the ATM near the Spanish Steps), and the robber actually
returned my ATM card before running away, when I shouted and made a scene.
Once my friend was robbed at an ATM here in Buffalo, and we chased the guy
and yelled at passersby until the police caught him. You tell Rachel that
she's my hero.

On Friday, November 4, 2016, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:

> Prayers, please, for Rachel, a young woman who is the daughter of a friend
> in Tennessee, who was assaulted Wednesday. She is injured and badly shaken,
> but alive. It could have been worse. She was very brave and did all the
> right things.
>
> Here are the circumstances, in her own words (She will not mind my sharing
> them here as she shared them on Facebook):
>
> Yesterday afternoon I did what I almost always do and I headed to Panther
> Creek to walk/run. I parked at the visitor center, and went my usual route
> across the length of the road and back down toward Old Wagon Trail. There
> was a man behind me on the road as I was walking towards the trail and we
> briefly talked about which side of the road was the safest to be on. When I
> turned onto the trail I took out an ear bud and assumed the footsteps I
> heard behind me belonged to the man I had just spoken to.
>
> About half way down the trail the person behind me seemed awfully close
> which was more annoying than anything. When we turned the first sharp
> corner on the path so that we were both facing Panther Creek Road the man
> came up quickly beside me. I was relieved assuming he was finally going to
> pass me. Instead he punched me in the jaw. I was very disoriented, but not
> so much that I didn't realize he was very aggressively grabbing and groping
> me. All I could do was scream for help at the top of my lungs. I choose Old
> Wagon because it's the most popular and therefore the most heavily traveled
> trail in the park. I take this route nearly every single weekday, and run
> into familiar faces on it all the time. It was around 1 in the afternoon on
> a beautiful day. I was sure that if I screamed loud enough someone would
> hear me. I have no idea how long we struggled, but he did finally get
> scared of the noise I was making and he took off.
>
> As he ran away I snapped a picture of him with my phone. He saw me do that,
> and ran back toward me. He had already tried to take me down with a punch,
> and he knew I wasn't going to stop yelling for help so this time he
> strangled me. I have never in my life been so afraid. I couldn't breathe or
> think and he kept demanding that I give him the phone. I finally held it
> out and he took it. He called me some names, and then told me to run in the
> direction we had been going, and he would go the other way. I did my best
> to run back to the visitor center and waved down a ranger in the parking
> lot.
>
> I begged the ranger to quickly close the front gate hoping we could catch
> him before he could leave, but he drove by as I was talking. I pointed him
> out and the ranger went after him immediately. We filled out a report, and
> they took pictures of my face, neck, and chest. He got away, but he had my
> phone. My father (who has lost a phone or 2) was able to use my Google
> account to track down my phone, and we called the police who used that
> information to find and arrest him. He confessed and is being charged with
> aggravated assault, sexual assault, theft, and evading arrest. I'm ONLY
> putting this out there because I have so many friends and acquaintances who
> run and hike in Panther Creek. PLEASE don't go alone. If you do tell
> someone where you are going and bring pepper spray. We can't let this
> happen to anyone else!!!
>


-- 
Ann

The Rev. Ann Markle
Buffalo, NY
ann.markle at aya.yale.edu