The story in the article below demonstrates why personal safety really is your responsibility and how taking action before an attack occurs, like taking a self defense class or practicing with some pepper spray can alter the outcome should an attack happen. That is exactly what the brave woman in this article did! She took action and then did not hesitate to defend herself when a would be rapist made his move on her!
A woman was attacked by a homeless sex offender inside a public bathroom at a park in Seattle on Sunday afternoon.
Police said the attack and attempted rape happened at Golden Gardens Park.
Officers said 40-year-old Gary Steiner punched the victim, Kelly Herron, in the face nearly half a dozen times, wrestled her to the ground, and pulled at her pants.
Herron said she was marathon training that afternoon when she decided to use the restroom. The suspect was hiding out in one of the stalls and attacked her from behind while she was washing her hands.
“(I) was cornered,” she said. “We’re down on the ground…I was clawing his face and screaming at him.”
They wrestled and Herron rolled into the next stall, jamming the door shut with her leg.
“Then I thought, once I got under here, I would be safe,” she said.
But Steiner followed her.
“(He was) beating me up and I was able to pull myself. I was on my back, I pulled myself out this way. That’s when I took the worst blow to the head and came out this way,” she added.
Herron said she had taken a two-hour self-defense class and that it saved her life.
Herron didn’t know about Steiner’s extensive criminal history.
“I’m processing all of it,” she said. “I’m really grateful I survived.”
No matter what you do, be it buy some pepper spray, carry a stun gun or learn how to defend yourself with a taser, you have to take on the responsibility of personal security.
Yes, the police and the law will help, but often after the fact. Police cannot be everywhere at all times. Read through our blog, if you have any questions contact us via our chat service. We are here to help you stay safe, the rest is up to you!