Crime

I was going to write a fun post about animals and other cute things, but something happened yesterday that is more on my mind.

When I posted last fall about our first visit to Lindquist Beach, I noted that, at least on a Tuesday morning, there were so few people there that I thought it might not be the safest place. We have been to Lindquist numerous times since then, and, while it isn't nearly as crowded as some of the "tourist" beaches, there have been plenty of people there, and we've felt perfectly safe - it's probably our favorite beach on St. Thomas.

Bob & I drove in yesterday morning just after 11 a.m. and noticed a man running from the beach toward the trees at the end of the parking area, then saw a lifeguard running the same direction, then saw the security guard from the entrance running after them. We rolled down the window, and the first man called out for us to call 911. As Bob dialed, he asked what we should tell them. The man said, "Tell them a guy just tried to rape a woman!" Once the 911 operator was on the line, that man came over to talk to her, and said a man had come out of the trees, attacked a lady, then ran back into the trees (wearing only underwear) when he realized there were people coming after him.

It was nice to see that 2 different police cars appeared within just a few minutes, and we spoke to them, to the lifeguards, to the man we'd first seen running, and to the woman who'd been attacked - she seemed to be okay, other than being understandably shaken up.

The lifeguard had seen the attacker near one end of the beach and recognized him as someone that other lifeguards at other beaches had reported having trouble with - and didn't think he looked quite "right". After the lifeguard established eye contact with him, the man had ducked into the trees. A few minutes later, the attacker came back out of the trees at the other end of the beach (it's a U-shaped beach) near the woman, who was at the far end of that part of the beach and not too near other beachgoers. He took off his clothes & jerked off her swim suit bottoms. She began screaming & yelling, which drew the attention of others on the beach. As they ran to her aid, the attacker pulled on his underwear (leaving his other clothing in the bushes) and ran into trees.

The police brought in dogs, who followed his scent a little way before losing it, and also brought in a forensics unit (who knew they had one of those?) but hadn't found the attacker by the time we left the beach - and that was several hours later.

Our assumption is that the attacker had to have been strung out on drugs to attack a woman in broad daylight on a public beach. As I've noted before, St. Thomas has a drug problem. There is just a sad segment of society who see no future and think they have no other options. It's depressing to observe.

Again, we do live in a safe area and do take reasonable precautions - but it's not all sunshine and beautiful beaches.