Delivery story 391 Beat up, robbed, screwed by boss, gas station attendant, chicago police, court, and teacher writes: When I was going to school at the University of Illinois-Chicago, I used to work at Coluta's Pizza on Diversey Ave. I did this to support myself while in school. One day, somebody called in to place an order to be delivered to a bad neighborhood. Another, older, more seasoned driver, took the delivery and brought it back to the restaurant and told the owner that there were a bunch of black guys hiding in the alley. It had all the signs of a set up. The next driver in the queue was me, so of course he sent me with the same order, but didn't bother to mention the guys hiding in the alley. When I arrived there I called the phone on the order bill, the guy answered the phone and he stood in front of the building, so I thought it was safe. I got out of the car and as I approached him with like three pizzas, sodas, and other food, I saw guys coming toward me from the alley to my left and from behind some cars to my right. I knew then what this was. I took one step back and the guy standing in front of me, the one who answered the phone, punched me in the face. I fell to the ground and about 6 to 7 guys proceeded to beat the crap out of me. They took the money and ran. I think they assumed I was unconscious because when they turned around and saw me getting up, they came back and proceeded to beat me up again. This time they got my car keys and took my car. I finally managed to get up and tried to flag some people down to get help but all they did was speed up. Outcome: Broken wrist and arm. Several contusions in my head and bruises all over my body. I almost lost an eye. I had braces at the time. The wires became loose when they kicked my face and a wire poked through my cheeks. About $3,000 worth of hospital bills. Lost car. Lost phone. SCREWED BY A GAS ATTENDANT: I walked about 2.5 blocks to a Citgo gas station and asked for help. The gas station attendant kicked me out because he had just mopped the floor and I was covered in mud and blood. (THIS WAS A MAJOR WTF!!) I walked to a pay phone and dialed 911 and waited for the ambulance. SCREWED BY OWNER: After getting out of the hospital, I went back to the restaurant and the owner said I still owed him about 20 bucks of the money they took, but that it was "OK" that I didn't have to pay him back. I talked to the guy and told him I had the hospital bill, I lost my car and cell phone, etc. I told him to help me out with some money. He gave me $250 f&%@ing dollars! After a couple of months (I went back to work in there after I got my car back) he came to me and asked me when am I going to pay him back!?! Naturally I said "f&%@ you" and never paid him back. SCREWED BY CHICAGO POLICE: After no one from the Chicago police contacted me about the investigation, I did my own investigation. I called my cell phone company because of course the criminals were idiots and used my phone, and asked for the records. One of the guys made a call to his girlfriend's house. I got the number he called and the address and the name associated with the address. I went to the police station, thinking that with all this information they will surely mobilize the force to go and look for those guys. The cop I talked with at the station told me that, well, he can't do anything about it because no detective has been assigned to my case. He also said that it would take at least a week for someone to start looking into the case. I, of course, got pissed off and I told him about all the information I had and he leaned forward in the counter, looked at me and said, "This is Chicago. Do you know how many cases we have just like yours?" SCREWED BY TEACHER: When this incident happened I was in the middle of midterms at school. With a broken arm, eyes almost shut because of how swollen they still are, and still in a lot of pain, the last thing I thought of was my exams. I had an exam scheduled and I talked to the professor and asked if he could give me an extension for the exam, but he looked at me and said, "I'd rather not. It wouldn't be fair to the other students." WTF!! I took the exam and did very poorly. I also did pretty bad in my other subjects from that point forward. My GPA went to shit and I was put on academic and financial aid probation. CAR RECOVERY: I got a phone call one day from the police telling me they had recovered the car. It turns out that one of these dudes, the one who punched me in the face, was using my car to drive around with his friends. One day he crashed my car while cruising around with his friends and smoking weed. All of his friends ran but he was too startled by the impact of the airbag that he stayed there in the driver's seat. The people whose car he crashed into had no insurance, as it was their Grandma's car which they took without permission. They took the kid, and for some reason, they took him home to pressure them into paying for the damage caused to the vehicle. When this kid told them the vehicle was not his and he got the vehicle from me, they called the cops. All this time, my car has been sitting in the middle of Chicago Ave with the engine running and doors wide open for close to two hours according to the policeman who recovered the car. OUTCOME OF THE CRASH: Car with both airbags deployed, front end destroyed, windshield completely shattered. Total cost, about $2,000. I did a lot of the work myself with spare parts from the junk yard. SCREWED BY THE COURT: They called me to the police station to go and identify the suspect and his friends. His friends had also been arrested because they kept on pulling the same stunt with other pizza, Chinese food, and Mexican food delivery drivers. One of the guys they beat up was a 22-year-old Chinese delivery driver who lost an eye when they shot him with a BB gun. I identified all of them. Now it was time to go to court, except the guy who stole and crashed my car will be prosecuted on my behalf since the other guys were involved in the incident where the guy lost an eye, and the attorney told me they usually only prosecute for the more serious charge, so that kid will be the only one prosecuted for what happened to me. (He wasn't with his friends when the other incident happened because he was already in jail, and of course, he ratted all of his "friends" out.) EVERY TIME I went to court, for a whole year, the hearing would get postponed because there a witness missing or because the defense asked for more time, etc. I lost school days, work days and a lot of other time. After a whole year of this, we finally got into the "trial," which lasted about 20 minutes. The prosecutor, acting on my behalf, pulled me aside before trial and told me what will happen. He is a minor. He will not get any jail time. He will get probation. That is exactly what happened. He got probation washing police cars. After all I lost, none of this seemed satisfying. The worst part of it was sitting in the court waiting area looking at him sitting across from me. He would sometimes look at me in what I think he considered to be an intimidating manner. He was so lucky we were in a court room. Next time I see him, I might lose control of my car. return to top