Last week, while walking his dog, my son became a crime statistic. For no discernible reason, four Black toughs from the other apartment complex down the street decided to follow my son back to our complex. When he got here, the animals (I have no other words to describe them) jumped him, hitting and kicking my son. The damages were my son had his nose bloodied, they chipped a tooth and the animals took his house and car keys.
So begins the monetary cost of this crime. $150 to rekey the locks the next day. A visit to the ER that I still don't know the cost of, but will likely cost $500-$1500+, considering the time in the ER plus a CAT scan to make sure no facial bones were broken. We just got back from the dentist, and a root canal and capping his tooth cost $342, and that was at a teaching college. It could have cost $1000+ if I had taken him to a regular dentist.
But worse than that, my son is now afraid to go out by himself. With his Aspergers Syndrome, he is a pretty naive kind of young adult. Even with something like Martial Arts training, I do not know if he has the wherewithal to actively defend himself against such acts. To have such a fact of real life thrust upon him so violently has changed him so that I may not be able to counteract what has happened to him.
He will be 18 very soon, and as an adult he must be able to go out into the world by himself, despite what has happened. We are measured in this world by not only in the deeds we do, but overcoming the obstacles that have been placed in our way. I fear that this obstacle will take a long time to overcome, if he can do it at all.
Everybody who knows my son knows that he is a sweet and innocent kind of kid. Everybody who knows him wants to find the animals that did this and do very violent acts upon them. I know that the police will do nothing, or very little, as no one was seriously hurt and no large amount of property was stolen. Not when there are hundreds of more serious robberies and other violent acts being performed on a daily basis.
I hold no false hope of making these animals face justice, and they get sent away for long terms. IF they get caught, IF it makes it to trial, IF they get a conviction, it will likely be time served and a small fine.
I am just sad, for my son and for the world he is inheriting. To let such thugs go around assaulting people with impunity makes my blood boil, and I sincerely hope they end up as victims of the very types of crime they perpetuate.