I was biking along 23rd from whitney past the church. I was on the
south side of the road (against traffic) where the snow was smooth.
He was walking from whitney along 23rd towards the alley behind the
church. I saw him and calculated that he was on a collision course
but he adjusted a bit and I went across in front of him. I turned
around him to go north along the lane running north between Whitney
and Montreal Avenues. As I entered the lane he shouted something at me.
I ignored him and started to bike faster. He shouted again, I
hollered back, "I can't hear you" and pedaled harder. He shouted at
me "Look hold on, just a minute."
By now I was going as fast as the
snow would let me go without falling off the narrow car tire track
into the soft snow. I peeked behind and saw him chasing me so I kept
going and looking forward. This was not the first time I'd been chased by someone like this on my travels and it always surprised me that they tried. I couldn't hear if he was still following,
I was about 10 meters from 24th when I looked back and saw he was
right on my tail. This was unusual, I normally left pursuers behind after a half block, but I couldn't go at any speed in the dark and soft snow. He was reaching for my bike and I kept pedaling and
felt him touch my jacket trying to grab me. I started yelling in a
high shrill voice: "No, f--- off, leave me alone, Noooooo F--- OFFF
NOOOOOOO" several times. The light at the end of the alley glowed and I knew I had to get there and pedalled as hard as I could, not looking back, still screaming.
When I got to 24th I decided not to try and
continue outrunning him as he was clearly not going to give up. I
pulled into a driveway by a double garage on the north east corner of
Montreal and 24th. The garage is next to the laneway and opens onto
24th st. Standing astride my bike I faced him down. He approached me
and I said "What, what do you fucking want anyway?"
He said "D'you got any money?"
"No I don't have any f---ing money. f--- off!"
"How much money do you got?"
"I've got none, f--- OFF." I was feeling very angry by now and
starting to get concerned about just how far this might go.
He was about 5'10 and very thin, probably only 150# if that. He wore
unnoticeable pants over unnoticeable runners, the pants bunched up
around the tops of the runners. His head was covered in a navy blue
fleece hoody with a scarlet straight necked shirt showing at the neck.
Over the hoody was a puffy blue coat with red at the zipper seams.
He said, "Lemme check your pockets."
I swore, "No you can't fucking check my f---ing pockets. f--- off!"
(I swear a lot when I'm angry, it has good effect.)
He said again, "gimme your money."
I said "f--- off you shit, I don't have anything for you."
He asked "What do you have?"
"I told you, I've got nothing for you, so go away!"
At this point he reached into the left side of his jacket through the
front, drawing it open with his left hand, slowly and deliberately. He
was not stoned or drunk or anything. I watched, wondering what I'd
have to fight with next and why he was continuing this, but realizing
my fancy bicycle was probably encouraging him to think of me as a
well-heeled white woman worth something.
He pulled out a knife. It was about 10" long with a 5" red-toned wood handle fastened to the
full tang with 2 beaten brass rivets. The blade was scored and scratched by frequent bad sharpening and the sharply pointed tip curved up slightly. It was a very typical vegetable chopping knife.
When he first brought it out I thought it was a stupid dinner knife
and noticed otherwise even as I spoke: "What, you call that a KNIFE?"
He pointed it at me and told me "Gimme your money."
I said "no, you can't have anything, I f---ing told you, I don't have any money!!!! I'm not giving YOU anything!" I reached with my left hand and grabbed the blade with my heavy snowboarding winter gloves and yanked it out of his hands and threw it over my bike across the drive way just short of the snow pile I wanted to bury it in. As I did so my bike slipped on the slick icey driveway and took me down backwards away from him in a stumble.
He was very surprised to have
lost the knife so easily but saw where it landed and walked over to retrieve it. I struggled to get my bike back up. There was no way I could have made a fast escape on that surface so I stood my ground as he came back, angry and frustrated at how things weren't working for him. He pointed it at me again.
"Gimme your money" he demanded more forcefully but with some uncertainty, as if these magic words just had to be uttered the right way.
"No," I shouted, "I'm not f---ing giving you anything!" I stood with the bike between us, my right hand holding the handlebars and he brought his right arm up and wide and tried to slash at me but I blocked him solidly with my left arm and leaned towards him with a fiery look in my eyes. I was thinking and clearly expressing that I valued my life less than my umbrage.
The young man, who probably was under 20 but no longer had any of the baby fat of teen years, and whose face had that drawn starved look that artists use for wood land pixies, then backed up tried threatening me with the knife one more time. He pointed it at me in a feint and I said: "Oh what, you're gonna stab me now? That's a good way to end up in jail."
"Nobody will know who it was" he countered.
"Oh yeah," I continued in the same loud shout I'd been using all along, "You think nobody's noticed by now with all this noise?" I knew we were standing in a pool of light and so did he. He backed up and we started walking, pacing each other towards Montreal avenue. He headed for the south corner and I for the north corner.
"Go on then," he said, "get going already!"
"I'm going," I replied, "I'm just keeping an eye on you till I know YOU'RE gone!"
He walked south on Montreal avenue along the east sidewalk and I got on my bike and pedaled hard north along Montreal to Rusholme then into the parking lot and into Persephone Theatre where I called 911 as soon as I had the door locked and the alarm turned off.
I am not certain of the time although I would estimate that it happened between the hours of 12:30 and 1am. I would say that it was not more than 2 minutes, if that, before the time of the 911 call which should have been recorded and noted in the police files.
I did not receive any injuries whatsoever and my emotional state afterwards is not one of fear but of anger and some concern. I will find myself getting nervous and probably fighting some panic attacks as the time passes, but as I've been in dangerous situations on a number of occasions and learned to get over them without having to alter my life, I expect I will continue my life uninterrupted after this one. I will, however, be more aware that laneways seem inviting to these fools and I should choose to continue along a well lighted
street even if the traction is lousy should one of these alarming seeming figures be in the vicinity as they so often are around this area.