Shaw Listserv: “Package stolen on 5th St, confronted thief”

From the Shaw Listserv:

“This past Friday, while circling the block to find parking, noticed a package in our door. After parking while walking the 50ft from our parked car on the 500 block of R St. to our house, my wife and I passed a young African American male walking a bike with a brown mail package in one hand walking westward on R St. I didn’t think much of it – its important to me not to unfairly profile people. I got to our door and saw our package was gone – removed in the last 60 seconds since we’d seen it from out car.

I turned around and ran down R St. to 6th to look for the kid who I’d just saw and spotted him on the the other side of Rhode Island walking north on 6th St. I saw the package in his hand, but the brown wrapping was removed and it was a white shirt-like box. I was in front of the Chinese food place on 6th, looked to my left to the garbage bin, looked in it – and saw the brown wrapping addressed to me. Enraged, I ran across traffic on Rhode Island, coming up behind the man/kid picked him up and threw him on the ground, screaming at him like a maniac. He said he was sorry several times at which point I released him, grabbed my mother-in-law’s birthday gift for my wife and stormed back across Rhode Island. At my wife’s urging, I did report it to the police – who said I should’ve probably called before I confronted him. I should’ve stayed and called the police and taken a picture, but I wasn’t in that state of mind at the time. We couldn’t find him. He took down my information. The police said these kids usually come from a different area of town – so they aren’t recognized. This kid/man seemed about 18, red t-shirt, black do-rag on head, athletic shorts, walking a black bike.

I was surprised at how angry I was – but it enraged me to feel violated in front of my face, in my home. And its important to me not to negatively profile every young African American kid in the neighborhood who looks like they might live in public housing because – like all of us – most are not behaving this way. But it pissed me of to have this happen.”