A woman's true safety story - posted in my friends group -

October 21, 2002

WOMEN'S SAFETY -- A TRUE STORY

(Here's a forward I received and thought it'd beimportant to share with all of you.)

This actually happened to one of my friend's daughters. Her daughter, Lauren, is 19 years old and a sophomore in college. This happened to her over the Christmas/New Year's holiday break. It was the Saturday before New Year's and it was about 1 p.m. Lauren was driving to visit a friend. While on the highway, Lauren was actually following behind a state police car at just over 65 mph since she was following behind him.

Meanwhile, an UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on. My friend and her husband have 4 children (high school and college age) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get to a gas station, etc. So Lauren had actually listened to her parents' advice, and she promptly called #77 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there were 2 police cars, one unmarked behind her and one marked in front of her. The dispatcher checked if there were 2 police cars where she was. There weren't, and she was connected to the policeman in front of her. He told her to keep driving, remain calm, and that he had back-up already on the way. Ten minutes later, four cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground...the man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes.

I never knew that bit of advice, but especially for a woman alone in a car: You should not pull over for an unmarked car in a secluded area. In fact, even a marked car after dark should follow you to a populated area. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a "safe" place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (such as putting on your hazard lights, or calling #77 like Lauren did). I am so thankful that my friend was just sitting at our book club meeting telling us this scary story, rather than us at her house consoling her! Be safe and pass this on to your friends. Awareness is EVERYTHING.

(Author Unknown)

PLEASE DO NOT DELETE THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE SHARED IT WITH ALL OF YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS...IT COULD SAVE THEIR LIVES.

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