Look To This To Be Cited As An Example For WOT

[Kathianne]

The hug solution:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071202356_pf.html


A Gate-Crasher's Change of Heart
The Guests Were Enjoying French Wine and Cheese on a Capitol Hill Patio. When a Gunman Burst In, the Would-Be Robbery Took an Unusual Turn.

By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007; B01

A grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open gate and put the barrel of a handgun to the head of a 14-year-old guest.

"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he demanded, according to D.C. police and witness accounts.

The five other guests, including the girls' parents, froze -- and then one spoke.

"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, blurted out. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"

The intruder took a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupéry and said, "Damn, that's good wine."

The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, who described the harrowing evening in an interview, told the intruder, described as being in his 20s, to take the whole glass. Rowan offered him the bottle. The would-be robber, his hood now down, took another sip and had a bite of Camembert cheese that was on the table.

Then he tucked the gun into the pocket of his nylon sweatpants.

"I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said, looking around the patio of the home in the 1300 block of Constitution Avenue NE.

"I'm sorry," he told the group. "Can I get a hug?"

Rowan, who lives in Falls Church and works part time at her children's school, stood up and wrapped her arms around him. Then it was Rabdau's turn. Then his wife's. The other two guests complied.

"That's really good wine," the man said, taking another sip. He had a final request: "Can we have a group hug?"

The five adults surrounded him, arms out.

With that, the man walked out with a crystal wine glass in hand, filled with Chateau Malescot. No one was hurt, and nothing was stolen.

The homeowner, Xavier Cervera, 45, had gone out to walk his dog at the end of the party and missed the incident, which happened about midnight June 16. Police classified the case as strange but true and said they had not located a suspect.

"We believe it is a true robbery," said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, who is in charge of patrols in the Capitol Hill area. But it's one-of-a-kind, she said, adding, "I've never heard of a robber joining a party and then walking out to the sunset."

The hug, she said, was especially unusual. "They should have squeezed him and held onto him for us," she said.

Rabdau said he hasn't been able to figure out what happened.

"I was definitely expecting there would be some kind of casualty," Rabdau said this week. "He was very aggressive at first; then it turned into a love fest. I don't know what it was."

Rabdau, a federal government worker who lives in Anne Arundel County with his family and lived on Capitol Hill with his wife in the 1980s, said that the episode lasted about 10 minutes but seemed like an hour. He believes the guests were spared because they kept a positive attitude during the exchange.

"There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time," Rabdau said. "Then it miraculously just changed. His whole emotional tone turned -- like, we're one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?"

After the intruder left, the guests walked inside the house, locked the door and stared at each other. They didn't say a word. Rabdau dialed 911. Police arrived quickly and took a report. They also dusted for fingerprints -- so far, to no avail.

In the alley behind the home, investigators found the intruder's empty crystal wine glass on the ground, unbroken.

[JohnDoe]

hahahahaha! Maybe turning the other cheek does work??? lol

And that is Christ saying it works, Kathianne, the liberals can't take credit for it!

I really thought this piece was from the Onion, when reading it in disbelief! lol

[Kathianne]

hahahahaha! Maybe turning the other cheek does work??? lol

And that is Christ saying it works, Kathianne, the liberals can't take credit for it!

I really thought this piece was from the Onion, when reading it in disbelief! lol

Yah, sounds like the Onion. Truth is, I wonder if the first one offering the glass of wine was a French diplomat, a hostage negotiator, or a psychologist. :laugh2:

[nevadamedic]

The hug solution:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071202356_pf.html

Awesome story. It actually makes you think about how you would handle a situation.

[JohnDoe]

k,

My sister is a special ed teacher.

When she first graduated, she had a job in a juvinile detention center in New Jersey...tough job.

Then she went on to teach the learning disabled in a Miami high School...lots of juvenile delinquents there too.

At night she worked a second job at another high school teaching English, as a second language to adults, for extra bucks.

One night, as she arrived home she was ambushed at the front door by a guy with a gun, pointed at her head, he was about 20, a cuban refugee, (about the age of many of her students), he proceeded to Rob her, going from room to room, when he got to her bedroom, she had alot of jewelry, real and alot of fake stuff, he kept asking her if this was ''real gold'', and she ended up telling him her real gold pieces were fake and he believed her...

She owned 2 guns but could not get to them.

At gun point he forced her out of the house and tried to put her in the trunk of her car, and he waved to a Caddilac at the end of the street with 6 gangsters standing around it.

This is where her experience came in, she told him, that under no circumstances would she get in that trunk, she told him she was frightened of closed in spaces and even if she knew he would pull the trigger and kill her, she would not be able to keep her mouth shut in that trunk, that she would be screaming at the top of her lungs bloody murder if he put her in that trunk!!! And she explained that He would not want to draw attention to himself at every stop sign/light with her screaming and kicking in the trunk, would he?

At that point, he forced her in to the driver's seat, he in the passenger and she had to drive to a teller and withdraw the max on her money cards, she befriended him, and said she played the part that her bleached blonde hair depicted and acted dumb, like she didn't know where they were going and was completely lost, of which HE believed...he believed she was honest because of the way she told him of why she would not get in the trunk, but she was also playing the part of mother, firm....Like, ''I am NOT getting in that trunk!''...

To make this long story short, he had my sister drop him off in his own damn neighborhood and had her promise not to call the cops for 30 minutes, of which she did....promise, that is, but as soon as he got out she went to the nearest pay phone and called the cops. Turns out a neighbor called the cops on the Caddilac at the end of the street, the cops found nothing, but had the cadi's home address, the same area where sis dropped off the guy, cops then had her in a cop car with tinted windows, knocked on the house door, 5 guys in their pj's and undies were dragged out and sis identified her kidnapper/robber... he was a 3rd time convict, never to be paroled or released once sis testified against him at the trial... 3 strikes your out thing.

Thank goodness.

But you mentioning a psychologist made me think of my sister's working experience with the learning disabled, of which this dude would have been labeled according to sis....he was quite dumb, very slow... and how she was able to survive the whole thing, due to this experience....

So, perhaps the guy offering the wine did know what he was doing after all!

I was screaming at my sister that she was an idiot to play the dumb blonde and befriend him...and why couldn't she get to her gun? Or set off the damn house alarm, which she had, an alarm system...!!!!!!

She said it all happened too fast, and that she was trying so hard to remember every inch of his face and the gun at her nose, that she couldn't even tell the cops what he was wearing, shorts or jeans, she just knew every line in his face and the make of the gun, her head never moved from looking at those 2 things!!! lol, I know it is not funny, but it is funny, when listening to her tell it. I mean, the whole ordeal, with kidnapping was for over 2 hours and she couldn't tell ya what he was wearing but could tell you how long his eyelashes were and in what direction they were slanted! lol, it is still funny to me, how well she really did, under the circumstances.

[Kathianne]

k,

My sister is a special ed teacher.

When she first graduated, she had a job in a juvinile detention center in New Jersey...tough job.

Then she went on to teach the learning disabled in a Miami high School...lots of juvenile delinquents there too.

At night she worked a second job at another high school teaching English, as a second language to adults, for extra bucks.

One night, as she arrived home she was ambushed at the front door by a guy with a gun, pointed at her head, he was about 20, a cuban refugee, (about the age of many of her students), he proceeded to Rob her, going from room to room, when he got to her bedroom, she had alot of jewelry, real and alot of fake stuff, he kept asking her if this was ''real gold'', and she ended up telling him her real gold pieces were fake and he believed her...

She owned 2 guns but could not get to them.

At gun point he forced her out of the house and tried to put her in the trunk of her car, and he waved to a Caddilac at the end of the street with 6 gangsters standing around it.

This is where her experience came in, she told him, that under no circumstances would she get in that trunk, she told him she was frightened of closed in spaces and even if she knew he would pull the trigger and kill her, she would not be able to keep her mouth shut in that trunk, that she would be screaming at the top of her lungs bloody murder if he put her in that trunk!!! And she explained that He would not want to draw attention to himself at every stop sign/light with her screaming and kicking in the trunk, would he?

At that point, he forced her in to the driver's seat, he in the passenger and she had to drive to a teller and withdraw the max on her money cards, she befriended him, and said she played the part that her bleached blonde hair depicted and acted dumb, like she didn't know where they were going and was completely lost, of which HE believed...he believed she was honest because of the way she told him of why she would not get in the trunk, but she was also playing the part of mother, firm....Like, ''I am NOT getting in that trunk!''...

To make this long story short, he had my sister drop him off in his own damn neighborhood and had her promise not to call the cops for 30 minutes, of which she did....promise, that is, but as soon as he got out she went to the nearest pay phone and called the cops. Turns out a neighbor called the cops on the Caddilac at the end of the street, the cops found nothing, but had the cadi's home address, the same area where sis dropped off the guy, cops then had her in a cop car with tinted windows, knocked on the house door, 5 guys in their pj's and undies were dragged out and sis identified her kidnapper/robber... he was a 3rd time convict, never to be paroled or released once sis testified against him at the trial... 3 strikes your out thing.

Thank goodness.

But you mentioning a psychologist made me think of my sister's working experience with the learning disabled, of which this dude would have been labeled according to sis....he was quite dumb, very slow... and how she was able to survive the whole thing, due to this experience....

So, perhaps the guy offering the wine did know what he was doing after all!

I was screaming at my sister that she was an idiot to play the dumb blonde and befriend him...and why couldn't she get to her gun? Or set off the damn house alarm, which she had, an alarm system...!!!!!!

She said it all happened too fast, and that she was trying so hard to remember every inch of his face and the gun at her nose, that she couldn't even tell the cops what he was wearing, shorts or jeans, she just knew every line in his face and the make of the gun, her head never moved from looking at those 2 things!!! lol, I know it is not funny, but it is funny, when listening to her tell it. I mean, the whole ordeal, with kidnapping was for over 2 hours and she couldn't tell ya what he was wearing but could tell you how long his eyelashes were and in what direction they were slanted! lol, it is still funny to me, how well she really did, under the circumstances.

Wow, of such things some survive. In some ways your sister's experiences mirror my own, though mine do not have the criminal element, thank the Lord.

I taught an 'alternative program' at a pretty risky school. It was night classes, for those 18 and older that had dropped out, but wanted to try for a hs degree. My classes were psych and constitution. To this day, I keep in touch with one of my students from then, he's now commissioned officer in USN. At the time, all I knew is 'something I said' clicked. He's been like mr. constitution ever since.