My Terrible Night




I stumbled onto this website looking at self defense websites. Browsing a few
of the stories, I got to thinking that my experience on July 14th, 1995 would
fit right in, though it's not a work of fiction. I've shared this account a
few dozen times in various self defense classes I've helped teach over the
years, but I don't think I ever put it on paper. I'm going to give it a try
here. It's been over 10 years since I've shared it. I really rarely think
about it anymore.

I was 19 years old in the fall of 1994 and going to Henry Ford Community
College in Dearborn Michigan, working to get my two year degree in nursing
when I needed a Phys Ed credit for my associates degree, and I decided to sign
up for Ms. Spiro's Woman's self defense class. I head from a couple of friends
it was a great but very intense class and thought taking it would be more
practical than taking volleyball or weightlifting.

So for 16 nights on Wednesdays that fall, I went to the Dearborn Heights Gym,
and we learned and trained in self-defense. It was very intense, and we
practiced many scenarios including getting surprised by a rapist in bed,
techniques for dealing with an armed attacker, and dealing with multiple
attackers. Many of us cried during the class, including myself twice. All in
all in was a great experience, and I left feeling very confident in myself,
not only in what I could do, but in what I thought I could avoid.

So I had graduated in mid-June and was working at a local hospital, had a
regular shift and was happy to be making good money. It was Friday night and
literally it was the hottest day it had been in years; I think the temperature
reached 101 that day.

A couple of girl friends wanted to go to a club in downtown Detroit that was
in the Leland hotel. I normally wasn't into the club scene but was in the mood
to go that night and told them I would meet them there. I made a habit of
driving myself to places where others who had cars and drove might get drunk,
so I wouldn't be stuck in a car with a drunk person.

So I got there, parked, went in a danced for quite a while. The hotel was
pretty crowded, there seemed to be some other event going on at the hotel and
the parking lot was full. I had a relatively good time dancing, though late in
the evening some guy got a little to physical for my taste on the dance floor
and caused me to abruptly leave it.

It was about 1 pm and I was ready to go. The two girls I was with wanted to
stay later, but I had to work at 10 AM so I left. I had drunk a little bit, I
had a fake ID I used to get in, but I wasn't impaired I don't think.

I started walking to my car, and I thought I was pretty aware of my
surroundings, but I had to walk down a dark alley at one point to get to my
car. What had been a busy vibrant area a few hours earlier was now very
abandoned. It was so hot I was really dressed scantily with a miniskirt and a
halter top, and I had flat dancing shoes on.

I started down the alley and got about halfway down, when my worst nightmare
occurred. Out of the shadows, these guys literally must have been hiding, came
a couple of figures. I immediately knew I was in trouble, and my heart started
racing immediately. I couldn't make out there faces at all but immediately got
my hands up and into a fighting stance. They more or less blocked my way, one
of each side in front of me. One of them said something like "Hey Baby," and I
said something like "Back up." I remember I took a step or two back, and then
suddenly someone wrapped their arms around me getting me in a bear hug. It
felt like his stiff member was poking into my back also.

At this point instinct completely took over and I just started fighting. I
remember with the guy behind me who had got me in a bear hug, I was able to
twist myself a bit to free some space and hammer fist his balls. He seemed to
be wearing very short shorts and I think his penis was sticking out, because I
grabbed for his nuts to squeeze and pull them, and I was able to grab his raw
scrotum. I squeezed and yanked forward hard, and the guy let out a terribly
loud scream or shout, something like that, and he fell to the ground besides
me. I thought I heard one of the other guys yell out his name.

I got struck in the left cheek hard, and it caused me to turn and move to the
side. I am a bit fuzzy on what exactly happened next, but these two figures
kept coming at me threatening to hurt me, and I tried to avoid getting between
the two. I thrusted my palms hard into their faces when I could, and then I
tried to left my knee up into their testicles.

I got hit a couple of more times, I think the guys were trying to slap or
punch me and then control me. I swear I heard my own nose break at one point.
After what seemed like forever, and I know I got a couple of good knees in too
their crotches, I made my hands into the shape of a bird's beak and thrust
into their eyes. I could tell by the feelings on my right fingertips and by
the sound he made that I had hurt one of my attacker's eyes good.

He stopped moving and stayed stationary while he seemed to have his hands up
by his face. It was difficult to see, there was some moonlight, but we were in
the shadow of a fairly large building. As he stood there yelling, I lifted my
knee up between his legs and caught him with a good knee, it literally seemed
to lift him off his feet.

I'm 5'7" and I was about 125 pounds back then. I'm not real strong, then or
now, but I was a varsity swimmer and my legs were pretty strong. This figure
bent down after I kneed him, and his head was right at hip level, just where I
wanted him, so I powered my knee right through his head. I knew as soon as I
struck him that I'd hurt him bad, and he just hit the concrete and didn't
move.

There was only one left, and he was just standing there. I took a step toward
him to ty to finish him off, and he literally took a couple steps back and
turned and started running. I got to say, it was probably about the single
happiest moment of my life, rivaling when I got married and when I had my
kids, when I saw this guy running off and I realized I was going to survive
this.

I quickly turned my attention to the two persons on the ground. The one guy I
had kneed still wasn't moving. The first guys whose testicles I yanked was
hard to even see, I had moved a couple dozen feet away, but he was still on
the ground, so at that point I just ran back to the club.

After I told the bouncers they had me sit down and called an ambulance for me
and the police. A couple of them went to see if my attackers were still there.
After I sat for a minute, my friends who were still there came up to comfort
me, and I completely broke down and started crying. My hands were shaking
uncontrollably. They must have shaken for half an hour. The police took a
brief statement, and then I went to the hospital.

I was at the hospital all night, and I was released in the morning. Other than
a broken nose and some severe bruising, even my right knee was bruised, I was
ok. I literally didn't fall asleep though until the afternoon of the next day.

As for the three guys, at least as far as I know, that attacked me, the two
were still in the alley when the police arrived. I'll not list what injuries I
heard I gave them, but they were both in the hospital for a little while, one
for over a week. I do have a certain amount of pride in what I was able to do
that night, in that my defending myself made these dangerous men have to face
justice, but it was really just a bad night.

Two of them faced some significant jail time, over a year, but that was really
more because one turned on the other two. The two tried to claim it was a
misunderstanding and that I had attacked them. I wasn't sexually violated
thankfully so it was hard to prove sexual assault, though I'm certain that's
what it was.

Even though I hurt these guys pretty good, I wondered for a while if one of
them might try to great some kind of revenge and pay me a visit. I've long
since stopped worrying about that however and I've lost track of where these
guys are.

This event brought me back to Ms. Spiro's class, where I came back to most
classes and relayed my story to the students. It was as much about not taking
unnecessary risks as it was about my success, because I never should have been
out alone like that at night, in that area.

After a couple years, I became an assistant instructor in the HFCC class, and
when the school discontinued the class, I continued to teach off and on for
several years, though I haven't done so since 2008. It got to be too difficult
to do so with my young kids.

I'm happy to say over the years that several of my students successfully used
their skills, and I am not the only one who has completely laid an attacker
for the police to pick up. Even at my age, I'm 44, I have every confidence I
could successfully defend myself if I ever needed to again, and I am stronger
than I was back then.

My husband thinks I can. He saw my do a couple of demonstrations at various
class graduations he attended, even back when we were dating. I was blessed to
find my husband, a good strong man who is not intimidated by a woman who can
physically handle herself, not all men are like that I've found out over the
years. I'm not a man hating feminist and I don't think it's wrong for a man to
compliment a woman.

I hope though I never have another night like that again.