It's been a crazy last month here in Lake Highlands. We have all been super edgy and not sleeping well, due to recent crime events. And last night was a Lake Highlands Self Defense Seminar that was put together due to the recent events in our area. Back in February, a woman was attacked in her home at 12am and was sexually assaulted. Obviously the man had been watching her as he knew her husband was out of town. Then the next week the news announced that the police had caught the guy, and we all were sleeping better. BUT, then they announced, nope, he's not the one, although he was the one who was attacking women in Lakewood and the M Streets since 2008.
Then another sexual assault happened on March 15th on a Friday night at 10pm on the same street! And then another one 3 days later not too far from our house at 7am after her husband left for work! Luckily that victim fought him hard, scratched his face and practically bit his finger off. There were helicopters flying overhead all morning searching for him, cops on horseback combing down our streets and schools on lockdown.
They didn't find him, so as you can imagine, every woman was scared to be home alone. The victims were in their 20's and 30's too, close to all of our ages! My moms group (Lake Highlands Early Childhood PTA) was posting on our FB how we needed some sort of speaker to help us learn self defense and safety tips. So I called my Dallas Rape Crisis counselor friend Monica and the local cops about it. The cops were amazing, they found a self defense agency, Chamberlain Self Defense, and scheduled a class at the local high school!! My Rape Crisis friend also agreed to come out and we partnered with the Lake Highlands Jr League and president Stephani Walne. It went from a small little affair with just a few moms wanting to attend, to almost 800 women expecting to show up!! To be honest, I was super nervous about it all as I am NOT an event planner or speaker by any means.
But it went really well, my heart racing as I spoke briefly in front of a large crowd. The 20 instructors were amazing and we learned a lot of great tips!! It was very intense as we had not psyched ourselves out to defend ourselves laying down and pretending to get raped. In fact, some friends of mine said they broke down when they got home and some during the class since it was more emotional than they realized. And Monica did a great job at being their for everyone's support!
Here are 2 articles about it and I was featured in them (don't judge the pics please :). We also kept the big media out as we wanted the women to feel safe.
http://lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/2013/03/photos-notes-from-a-self-defense-class-organized-in-response-to-lake-highlands-attacks/
http://www.lakehighlandstoday.com/index.php/news/article/the_best_defense_a_good_offense/
I am so lucky to live in such a great community too! Todd went out with some other dads and hung 'Wanted" flyers around town and luckily some great person came forward and called the Tip Line about seeing this man (with a scratched face). So the police were following him for a week. We had officers patroling down our street daily, in cars, bicycles, etc. It was great to see and I felt safer with their presence. AND SO GLAD he was FINALLY caught on Tuesday after cops pulled him over, he fled on foot and they arrested him, he admitted to them, and gave details only he would know about the events. So we are confident he is the one!!! Great job Dallas Police.
Then another sexual assault happened on March 15th on a Friday night at 10pm on the same street! And then another one 3 days later not too far from our house at 7am after her husband left for work! Luckily that victim fought him hard, scratched his face and practically bit his finger off. There were helicopters flying overhead all morning searching for him, cops on horseback combing down our streets and schools on lockdown.
They didn't find him, so as you can imagine, every woman was scared to be home alone. The victims were in their 20's and 30's too, close to all of our ages! My moms group (Lake Highlands Early Childhood PTA) was posting on our FB how we needed some sort of speaker to help us learn self defense and safety tips. So I called my Dallas Rape Crisis counselor friend Monica and the local cops about it. The cops were amazing, they found a self defense agency, Chamberlain Self Defense, and scheduled a class at the local high school!! My Rape Crisis friend also agreed to come out and we partnered with the Lake Highlands Jr League and president Stephani Walne. It went from a small little affair with just a few moms wanting to attend, to almost 800 women expecting to show up!! To be honest, I was super nervous about it all as I am NOT an event planner or speaker by any means.
But it went really well, my heart racing as I spoke briefly in front of a large crowd. The 20 instructors were amazing and we learned a lot of great tips!! It was very intense as we had not psyched ourselves out to defend ourselves laying down and pretending to get raped. In fact, some friends of mine said they broke down when they got home and some during the class since it was more emotional than they realized. And Monica did a great job at being their for everyone's support!
Here are 2 articles about it and I was featured in them (don't judge the pics please :). We also kept the big media out as we wanted the women to feel safe.
http://lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/2013/03/photos-notes-from-a-self-defense-class-organized-in-response-to-lake-highlands-attacks/
http://www.lakehighlandstoday.com/index.php/news/article/the_best_defense_a_good_offense/
I am so lucky to live in such a great community too! Todd went out with some other dads and hung 'Wanted" flyers around town and luckily some great person came forward and called the Tip Line about seeing this man (with a scratched face). So the police were following him for a week. We had officers patroling down our street daily, in cars, bicycles, etc. It was great to see and I felt safer with their presence. AND SO GLAD he was FINALLY caught on Tuesday after cops pulled him over, he fled on foot and they arrested him, he admitted to them, and gave details only he would know about the events. So we are confident he is the one!!! Great job Dallas Police.
