Alpharetta woman's shouts help cops catch would-be rapist

By MARCUS K. GARNERThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 03/31/08

An Alpharetta woman's struggle and shouts helped police arrest a would-be rapist Sunday night, authorities said."He was obviously going to drag this woman off and rape her," police spokesman George Gordon said. "We absolutely applaud the victim for fighting back and giving us time to get on the scene."

According to police reports, a man approached the victim just before 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the Westside Commons town home complex off Westside Parkway and Maxwell Road.As she unloaded groceries from her car, the man put a sweatshirt over her head and tried to drag her to a secluded area where his car was parked, the report stated.

But the victim, in her early 20s, put up a fight."She was kicking, scratching, screaming ... whatever it took," Gordon said.

The attacker let her go and ran back to his car. But the victim's commotion brought out neighbors to her aid. She ran to her home, and Gordon said several calls came in reporting the attack. Within minutes of the incident, police identified a man fitting the attacker's description, and tried to arrest him. The man attempted to fight off two officers, and had to be subdued with a stun gun, police said.

Officers found pepper spray, a box cutter and knit cap in his car.

The victim was treated for small cuts and bruises.

Arnold Ray Harris Jr., 30, of Atlanta was charged with kidnapping, battery and sexual battery. Harris' charges are felonies, and he could face up to 30 years in prison. He is being held at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.

"We're just glad to get him off the street," Gordon said.

Lessons from Meredith Emerson's Murder

The savage and depraved murder of Meredith Emerson by Gary Hilton (see the whole story in the post below) in Georgia offers dramatic lessons for the rest of us.

First and foremost, Meredith's immediate and committed resistance almost allowed her to escape. The killer said she would not stop fighting and her continual resistance almost got the better of him.

Some important items to note:

• Hilton targeted Meredith "because she was a woman". If you are female, you are at risk.
• Meredith was hiking with her dog. While it's recommended that you hike or run with a dog, don't count on one for protection from an attack.
• Hilton has done this before. He is also under indictment for a similar murder in Florida.
• Hilton was armed with military-style knife and a baton. You should be trained and prepared to face an armed attacker.
• Hilton told investigators. "She wouldn't stop fighting. And yelling at the same time. So I needed to both control her and silence her." This is the bad guy's prime goal at the time of attack.
• Hilton initially controlled Meredith by repeatedly punching her in the face. If you Fight Like a Girl, you'll learn to protect your head while being able to attack his weakest spots with your strongest weapons.
• Unfortunately, she allowed herself to be tied to a tree where Hilton eventually beat her to death with a tire iron and then decapitated her. Don't let your attacker take you somewhere or to tie you up, no matter what he promises. It's a bargain you're going to regret.
• Hilton said he could not bring himself to kill Meredith's dog. But, he could "bring" himself to kill an innocent 24-year old woman. How can you attempt to reason with this type of deranged behavior? Don't count on being able to "talk your way out" of an attack.

Don't let Meredith's fight for her life be in vain. Learn from her situation. Get training in a realistic self-defense method.

RIP Meredith Emerson.

Killer says female hiker fought him to the end

Drifter’s confession shows 24-year-old victim ‘nearly got the best of him’

ATLANTA (Assoc. Press) - Meredith Emerson (photo below) used her wits and martial arts training when she was attacked in the north Georgia mountains by a drifter who eventually killed and decapitated her, the convicted killer told investigators.

Gary Michael Hilton described his four days with Emerson, and how she fought him from the moment he tried to overpower her as she hiked with her dog, Ella, according to the interviews that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Hilton pleaded guilty to charges he killed Emerson and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. He had agreed to lead investigators to her body if prosecutors didn't seek the death penalty. He also has been indicted in Florida in the slaying of another woman whose decapitated body was found in a forest on Dec. 15.
He told investigators he targeted the 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate because she was a woman.

For a time, they had hiked together on New Year's Day near the Appalachian Trail in Union County, but the 61-year-old Hilton couldn't keep up.

When Emerson turned and headed back down the trail, Hilton was waiting with a military-style knife. He demanded her ATM card and Emerson immediately went on the defensive, grabbing the blade and a baton Hilton used to counter her struggle.

"She wouldn't stop," Hilton (photo at right) told investigators. "She wouldn't stop fighting. And yelling at the same time. So I needed to both control her and silence her."

Police: ‘We didn’t get there in time’Hilton said he did that by punching her, blackening both her eyes and possibly breaking her nose. He said the blows also broke his hand.

When he thought he had worn her down, Emerson fought him again, he said.

Hilton said he calmed her down by telling her that he just wanted her credit card and PIN number, then avoided established trails as he led Emerson back down from the mountains and placed Emerson and her dog in his van.

Emerson bought herself three days by giving Hilton the wrong PIN for her ATM card, telling him each time that the numbers were correct.

On the day Hilton killed Emerson, he told her "she was going home." He secured her to a tree, walked back to his van to collect himself and make coffee, and when he returned, he said, Emerson told him: "I was afraid you weren't coming back."

He said he walked behind her and hit her several times with the handle from a car jack.
Hilton said he couldn't bring himself to kill Emerson's dog. When Bridges asked if Hilton had the same equivocations about Emerson, Hilton described the experience as "surreal."

"It was hard," Hilton told the investigator. "You gotta remember we had spent several good days together."

The concealed-carry bogeyman

"Lots of kids, when very young, worry about monsters under the bed. Even when Mom or Dad comes in to reassure them, the kids may still worry. But as they get older, they begin to check under the bed themselves. And eventually, after many monster-free nights, they figure out that the danger is purely imaginary and they stop worrying. You would think by now that gun-control supporters would have made the same progress on one of their most fearsome demons: the licensing of citizens to carry concealed firearms. But they seem to be trapped in a recurring nightmare that exists only in their minds."

Steve Chapman, "Concealed weapons a threat - to ignorance", Baltimore Sun, Nov. 29, 2007

Unpredictability and vulnerability

Remember that the professional may be predictable, but the world is full of amateurs.

So, while you work with and against "trained" fighters, your attacker will almost certainly be of the "untrained" variety. Does that make them less dangerous? Don't bet your life on it!

The street thug has learned his craft well, by actually employing his strategy against real victims in real circumstances. He knows what works and when it works, which gives him a huge dose of confidence.

Unorthodox or unexpected attacks can cause havoc with your "trained" responses.

I once saw Royce Gracie almost get KO'ed in a seminar (this was during the height of his UFC fighting days) when a raw beginner did a completely unexpected move and kneed Royce right in the face. The kid was not being malicious, it's just that he had no idea of what to do next so he did something completely unpredictable.

Expect the unexpected.

If you are female, you're at risk

I've talked with a number of women who brush off their chances of being raped.

"I'm too old to be raped". Or too heavy. Or not attractive enough. Similar variations on these themes.

But the reality is, if you are a female, you are at risk. Take the case two days ago in New York when a 59-year-old woman was raped when a masked man pushed his way into her house after she answered the door. There have been cases of women in their 80s and 90s who have been attacked, raped and robbed.

Why do the rapists do it? Because they can and they know that you cannot or will not stop them.

Don't brush off the threat no matter your age, your looks, your weight, your location.

Be aware, get trained, stay on guard.

U.S. Prosecutor Accused of Seeking Sex With Girl, 5

Fox News
DETROIT — A U.S. prosecutor was arrested in an Internet sting operation after flying from Florida to Michigan allegedly to have sex with a 5-year-old girl, officials said.
John David Roy Atchison, 53, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on a charge of interstate travel to have sex with a minor. He is an assistant U.S. attorney in northern Florida.
The arrest followed several weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities say.
The prosecutor is charged with using interstate communication to entice a minor to have sexual contact and with traveling across state lines with the intent of engaging in illicit sexual contact. The charges carry a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Atchison, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport as part of an undercover sting operation by the Macomb Area Computer Enforcement Team.
"There wasn't much reaction from him at all," said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel, whose department runs the team. He said Atchison was cooperative with authorities.
Atchison brought a Dora the Explorer doll, hoop earrings and petroleum jelly with him from Florida, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Click here to read the Detroit Free Press report.
According to court records, Atchison initiated an online chat Aug. 29 with an undercover officer posing as a mother interested in letting men have sex with her daughter.
In several conversations, he said he wanted to have oral, vaginal and anal sex with the woman's fictitious daughter, Hackel said.
"I'm always gentle and loving; not to worry; no damage ever; no rough stuff ever ever," Atchison said at one point, according to an affidavit filed in court.
"I've done it plenty," he said.
Hackel said his department brought in federal authorities after it became clear that the case involved an out-of-state suspect.
The arrest has come as a shock in Florida, where Atchison is president of a community sports organization, the Gulf Breeze Sports Association, where girls as young as 4 can participate in the soccer program.
Teresa Hawthorne, the organization's youth sports coordinator, told FOXNews.com no one from the association would comment on the case.
Atchison was a soccer and baseball coach, Lt. Rick Hawthorne of the Gulf Breeze police told the Detroit News.
Click here to read the Detroit News report.
"I'm shocked," Edwin "Buz" Eddy, the city manager of Gulf Breeze told the Pensacola News Journal. "That's about all I can say. I hope this is something that can be cleared up by some explanation. What that might be, I don't know."
Eddy told the paper that he had known Atchison for more than a decade and considered him a "pillar of the community."
Click here to read the Pensacola News Journal report.
Atchison's wife is a science teacher at Gulf Breeze High School.
The couple have three children high school age or older, according to the Detroit News.
The fact that an Internet child sex suspect is a law enforcement official shouldn't be unexpected, Hackel said.
"The people who are doing it come from all walks of life," the sheriff said. "It doesn't surprise us anymore."
Atchison asked for a court-appointed lawyer. A detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

NYC Cop Charged With Raping Teen Karate Student

Friday, December 28, 2007
Associated Press

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — A New York City police officer is accused of raping a teenage student in his martial arts school during a sexual relationship he claimed was one of the school's rites, police said Friday.
Middletown police said Trent Young, 39, sexually abused and then began having sex with the 15-year-old girl, a student at Iron Tiger Martial Arts in West Milford, N.J., in 2005.
Young, who also teaches karate at his Middletown home, was arrested Thursday on his way to work and charged in Orange County Court with felony counts of second- and third-degree rape, police said. He was free on bail Friday.
The girl told police she'd been a student at Iron Tiger for a year when Young asked her to sign an oath of obedience in 2005. She told police that Young made her take off all of her clothes as part of the oath, and then sexually abused her. She said he then told her to get dressed and that the encounter was part of a test.
Young then began a sexual relationship with the girl, leading her to believe it was part of the karate school's program, police said. Young is accused of having sex with her 20-40 times at various locations, including his home and at the school.
Investigators said Young told a second 15-year-old to take off her clothes as part of her obedience oath, but she refused.
There was no answer at Iron Tiger Martial Arts Friday and police were not sure who is representing Young in court.
The New York City Police Department declined comment Friday, but Middletown police said Young has been with the NYPD for nine years and worked in the 26th Precinct in upper Manhattan.

Disengage Safely from the Fight

"The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory."

Napoleon Bonaparte

The argument or fight is over. You've either won or gained a position of tactical superiority (a good break in the action when you've got an advantage) and you feel it's time to go to a safe place or call the police.

Be careful here. There are plenty of real-world examples of the good guys getting clocked by the bad guy, who just seconds before was pleading for mercy. You turn to leave and -- BAM! Blindsided.

You have to "remain" in the fight long enough to make a safe withdrawal:

• Don't relinquish your superior position until you are sure he cannot counterattack;
• Don't turn your back on the attacker when leaving;
• Don't let your guard down as you round the block, get into your car or even while driving home;
• At the first safe opportunity, call the proper authorities to summon police or emergency medical services if needed;
• Keep your mental guard up the next couple of days in the event that your attacker is planning an act of revenge (sometimes called a "comeback").

Okay, Brad, what exactly do you mean?

Let's say you've been confronted by an unarmed adversary. You've tried to talk your way out of the situation. You've even tried leaving (or you are in a position where you cannot leave). The situation is rapidly deteriorating and it's apparent that he is going to try to grab or hit you.

Get your hands up to cover your face and your centerline and move backwards to gain distance (good) or circle away from his strong hand (better).

If he is, in fact, going to attack you he MUST close the distance between you two. If he doesn't close, then he's simply woofing.

Here's one scenario:

1. I keep my hands up;
2. I move off at an angle forcing him to turn and track me for his attack;
3. When he launches his attack, I do a foot check to his front leg and aggressively move into a clinch;
4. I get to the side to evade his blows and decide to tactically disengage or, if he's still attacking, take him down. If he has friends or I'm in an unfriendly place, I want to use a takedown that allows me to dump him and remain standing. If it's just him and I'm not liable to get stomped by the crowd, I might decide to take him down and follow him to the ground (many times you don't have a choice and you both end up going down in the tussle);
5. I work to gain superior position on top (knee ride, side mount, top mount);
6. I work for his back by persuading him to roll over onto his stomach (by either manipulating one of his arms or some slaps to his face);
7. I can now be temporarily safe from his blows when I have his back. The level at which you feel you will be seriously hurt or even killed will dictate what you do from here. At the lower levels of force you might elect to disengage without further techniques. At the higher levels of force you might be required to strike the guy to end the attack or apply a neck restraint;

Now -- here is the critical part. You feel like you are temporarily safe or you've "won". You stand up looking down at your vanquished foe. That's when he rolls over and kicks you in the groin, throws dirt in your face, pulls a weapon, gloms onto you and beats/stabs/kicks/shoots you to pieces.

Be careful. When you get up off of his back, keep your weight on him. Keep your weight centered on your chest in the middle of his back, swing both your legs to one side of him and assume a push up (press up for our UK friends) position on him.

Pull one leg up under you (like a sprinters start position) and quickly push off of the attacker. You keep your weight on him to pin him to the ground until you and press off and gain distance from him.

Keep your guard up and retreat.

When there is trouble and you are not professionally required to stay and resolve the issue or protect someone, I would recommend you leave as soon as safely possible. You have an altercation, he gets kicked out. You stay to party (Hey, why should I be the one who has to go?) and he comes back with his friends (human) or his special friends (Smith and Wesson).

Disengage safely and live to party another day.