I have to add my own anecdote to this. Seven or eight years ago I was living in the North End and there was a scum ball running around assaulting women.
BPD finally "allowed" women to come to a table they had set up in the park where they could get a permit for pepper spray. When they got there some of them (including my wife) were denied for unpaid parking tickets and one that I know of was actually arrested. I went to Roach's and bought pepper spray for every woman in the building. I was amazed to find that some wouldn't accept it.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/02/taking_the_offense_may_be_womens_best_defense/
By John C. Drake
Globe Staff / August 2, 2008
The two longtime friends - a flight attendant and a meeting planner - stood their ground and faced each other in a North End gymnasium Wednesday. They grappled, trying to knock each other down. One whirled, to fend off an attack from behind.
By the end of the evening self-defense class, 41-year-old Erin DeRosa, the event planner, and 37-year-old Jennifer Scofield left together, confident what they learned could help them if they are targeted by a man police believe may be a serial attacker in the North End.
Three indecent or sexual assaults against women have been reported on the streets of the historic neighborhood this year, and police have said they believe the attacks are connected.
The most recent was early on July 4 when a man approached a woman from behind on Foster Street, knocked her down, and assaulted her. Another woman was attacked in June while walking near Richmond and Fulton streets, and a third woman was sexually assaulted in January, on Charter Street, about five blocks from the site of the June attack.
The assaults have contributed to the fear among some women in the North End. Fourteen women went to the free class Wednesday night - organized by City Councilor Sal LaMattina and taught by his brother Robert "Tokyo Joe" LaMattina, a karate grand master.
The women said they believe the attacker is looking for vulnerable women who live in the North End, not the tourists who flock to the neighborhood.
Scofield and DeRosa each live alone in separate parts of the North End, but they walk together as far as they can and call or text each other immediately to say they got home safe at night. Both said they walk in the middle of the street when there's no traffic to avoid an attacker's hiding spots.
And they said they refuse to feel afraid on their own streets in a neighborhood that is still close-knit, despite an influx of young professionals and daily streams of tourists.
"I'm just not going to put up with it," Scofield said. "I don't think I'm a weak person, but this is just going to make me even stronger."
Laura Alfrig, a 26-year-old attorney, said she has stopped listening to her iPod when walking home at night.
"I'm just hoping it will be empowering to not feel like such a victim walking around at night," Alfrig said of the class. "And hopefully if - God forbid - something horrible happened, I could just at least scare my attacker and not be such a target."
Boston Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll described as "very active" the investigation into the 2008 attacks, which have been connected to a July 2007 sexual assault in which a woman was attacked from behind. She said police have increased patrols in the area. City officials also say they are planning to install brighter lighting in some North End alleys.Continued...
The 14 women gathered in a gymnasium at the North End's Nazzaro Community Center for the one-hour mix of motivation and martial arts lessons - advertised in fliersposted around town and notices in a neighborhood newspapers. They learned to punch, to claw, to kick, to flee.
"If you defend yourself, you'll feel better than having some low-life take advantage of you," Robert LaMattina told the women after explaining a defensive maneuver called "the nutcracker."
They peppered him with questions: What if he comes up from behind me? (He taught them a maneuver for brushing aside and pushing away the attacker.) Is it a good idea to carry mace? (Probably not, he said, because the attacker could use it on his victim.)
"Your best self-defense is to run," said the instructor, who runs a chain of self-defense studios out of Nashua. "Remember that. Use your legs."
The group, which included teenagers and older women, hung on every word. Several women said they will add the tips to their arsenal of lifestyle changes they have adopted after the attacks were reported.
Sal LaMattina said he may offer a second class in the fall if more women are interested. The Boston Police Department also offered a one-night safety course July 22 at the ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Center. Police sporadically schedule a 12-hour self-defense class over four weeks when enough residents show interest.
"It's unfortunate we have to do this," Sal LaMattina said at the gym Wednesday. "We have a lot of young professional women out there walking alone at night. Hopefully when they're walking, they'll be more aware."
A similar series of assaults occurred in the North End in 2002; the attacker was never captured
"The fact that it's happening again and we have people that are so brazen to do this in such a well-populated area is surprising to me," said DeRosa, who has lived in the North End 14 years and says she now gets uneasy just parking her car and walking to the front door. She uses a tandem spot behind her house, so it takes her about 10 minutes to move other cars and park her own, which she now worries is a long time for her to potentially be exposed.
All of the women at the gym received free metal Kubotans, small self-defense key chains used to sling keys across an attacker's face or strike him on the neck. Scofield said it will be especially handy since Kubotans are allowed in checked baggage on a flight, while she has to leave her pepper spray behind.
She also gained some confidence.
"If some man sees me walking with my shoulders back, my head up, walking tall, as opposed to somebody that's hunched over, he's going to think twice," she said after the class. "This is a strong woman walking down the street."
John C. Drake can be reached at [email protected].
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
BPD finally "allowed" women to come to a table they had set up in the park where they could get a permit for pepper spray. When they got there some of them (including my wife) were denied for unpaid parking tickets and one that I know of was actually arrested. I went to Roach's and bought pepper spray for every woman in the building. I was amazed to find that some wouldn't accept it.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/02/taking_the_offense_may_be_womens_best_defense/
By John C. Drake
Globe Staff / August 2, 2008
The two longtime friends - a flight attendant and a meeting planner - stood their ground and faced each other in a North End gymnasium Wednesday. They grappled, trying to knock each other down. One whirled, to fend off an attack from behind.
By the end of the evening self-defense class, 41-year-old Erin DeRosa, the event planner, and 37-year-old Jennifer Scofield left together, confident what they learned could help them if they are targeted by a man police believe may be a serial attacker in the North End.
Three indecent or sexual assaults against women have been reported on the streets of the historic neighborhood this year, and police have said they believe the attacks are connected.
The most recent was early on July 4 when a man approached a woman from behind on Foster Street, knocked her down, and assaulted her. Another woman was attacked in June while walking near Richmond and Fulton streets, and a third woman was sexually assaulted in January, on Charter Street, about five blocks from the site of the June attack.
The assaults have contributed to the fear among some women in the North End. Fourteen women went to the free class Wednesday night - organized by City Councilor Sal LaMattina and taught by his brother Robert "Tokyo Joe" LaMattina, a karate grand master.
The women said they believe the attacker is looking for vulnerable women who live in the North End, not the tourists who flock to the neighborhood.
Scofield and DeRosa each live alone in separate parts of the North End, but they walk together as far as they can and call or text each other immediately to say they got home safe at night. Both said they walk in the middle of the street when there's no traffic to avoid an attacker's hiding spots.
And they said they refuse to feel afraid on their own streets in a neighborhood that is still close-knit, despite an influx of young professionals and daily streams of tourists.
"I'm just not going to put up with it," Scofield said. "I don't think I'm a weak person, but this is just going to make me even stronger."
Laura Alfrig, a 26-year-old attorney, said she has stopped listening to her iPod when walking home at night.
"I'm just hoping it will be empowering to not feel like such a victim walking around at night," Alfrig said of the class. "And hopefully if - God forbid - something horrible happened, I could just at least scare my attacker and not be such a target."
Boston Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll described as "very active" the investigation into the 2008 attacks, which have been connected to a July 2007 sexual assault in which a woman was attacked from behind. She said police have increased patrols in the area. City officials also say they are planning to install brighter lighting in some North End alleys.Continued...
The 14 women gathered in a gymnasium at the North End's Nazzaro Community Center for the one-hour mix of motivation and martial arts lessons - advertised in fliersposted around town and notices in a neighborhood newspapers. They learned to punch, to claw, to kick, to flee.
"If you defend yourself, you'll feel better than having some low-life take advantage of you," Robert LaMattina told the women after explaining a defensive maneuver called "the nutcracker."
They peppered him with questions: What if he comes up from behind me? (He taught them a maneuver for brushing aside and pushing away the attacker.) Is it a good idea to carry mace? (Probably not, he said, because the attacker could use it on his victim.)
"Your best self-defense is to run," said the instructor, who runs a chain of self-defense studios out of Nashua. "Remember that. Use your legs."
The group, which included teenagers and older women, hung on every word. Several women said they will add the tips to their arsenal of lifestyle changes they have adopted after the attacks were reported.
Sal LaMattina said he may offer a second class in the fall if more women are interested. The Boston Police Department also offered a one-night safety course July 22 at the ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Center. Police sporadically schedule a 12-hour self-defense class over four weeks when enough residents show interest.
"It's unfortunate we have to do this," Sal LaMattina said at the gym Wednesday. "We have a lot of young professional women out there walking alone at night. Hopefully when they're walking, they'll be more aware."
A similar series of assaults occurred in the North End in 2002; the attacker was never captured
"The fact that it's happening again and we have people that are so brazen to do this in such a well-populated area is surprising to me," said DeRosa, who has lived in the North End 14 years and says she now gets uneasy just parking her car and walking to the front door. She uses a tandem spot behind her house, so it takes her about 10 minutes to move other cars and park her own, which she now worries is a long time for her to potentially be exposed.
All of the women at the gym received free metal Kubotans, small self-defense key chains used to sling keys across an attacker's face or strike him on the neck. Scofield said it will be especially handy since Kubotans are allowed in checked baggage on a flight, while she has to leave her pepper spray behind.
She also gained some confidence.
"If some man sees me walking with my shoulders back, my head up, walking tall, as opposed to somebody that's hunched over, he's going to think twice," she said after the class. "This is a strong woman walking down the street."
John C. Drake can be reached at [email protected].
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
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