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Woman sexually attacked in what she thought was a ride share car in Allston
By adamg on Sun, 09/25/2016 - 1:31pm
Boston Police report a woman who hailed a ride share vehicle and got into a vehicle outside Tavern in the Square on Brighton Avenue early Saturday was sexually attacked by a passenger in the car.
Police say the suspect in the 12:30 a.m. incident is black, slim, in his early 20s and about 6' tall, with short hair. He wore a long sleeve flannel shirt.
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Comments
That was a matter of when
That's precisely why I never participated in UberPool when I drove UberX. It was an assault on a woman by another passenger waiting to happen, and it happened.
Thoughts are with the female victim,
and also with the poor bastard driver who doesn't make nearly enough money to deal with the fallout from this incident occurring in his vehicle. Uber will offer little support to both the female victim and to the driver.Keep your head on a swivel, ladies. The driver won't attack you, because you know his name and you can prove that he was your contracted driver. Unless, of course, the driver is (expletive) stupid.
But you can't (to my knowledge, I've never used UberPool as a passenger) track the other passengers. That's legit some guy you've probably never met in the back of that dark private car with you.
This woman is more brave that some of the female passengers that I ferried about. I once picked up a trio of women at The Country Club. Two lived near Brigham Circle, and one lived in Allston. They initially asked me to go to Allston first just so that their lone friend wouldn't be by herself with me in the car.
They were so afraid of me, they were willing to overpay for an inefficient two-stop trip. I talked them into the correct route, and all three women were delivered to their homes safely. And I'm the driver. I couldn't imagine being a lady and sharing a ride with a strange passenger like that.
I'm all for female independence, but men are still bigger. Learn how to defend yourselves. Bend his finger backwards or just straight up go for the berries if you have to.
Did you read the story? It
Did you read the story? It wasn't a Uber but a car she thought was her Uber. she didn't take the time to check the driver or license plate to see if they matched. I'm not blaming the victim just pointing out how things could have been different if people utilized the tools available to remain safe.
I reread it
Saw the "what she thought was" part. My advice remains germane.
There is a WORLD of
There is a WORLD of difference between giving advice to a specific woman in advance, and telling her after the fact that she is stupid.
If it's your preteen daughter there's good reason to say "hey check license plates and don't get in if someone else is in the back."
If it's a stranger and she's already been assaulted then... What are you doing, man? Do you think any woman in her position doesn't feel stupid enough already? Does she need you personally to point out her mistakes in hindsight? Does ANY woman?
Humans make poor choices and mistakes all the time. I can think of plenty of times in my past (mostly stone cold sober when I trusted a male acquaintance enough to ride in his vehicle) that turned out fine for me, but if they hadn't, all humanity would crawl out of the primordial ooze to call me stupid for trusting anyone for 5 minutes when I was 19.
Then they complain when we don't want to talk to strange men at all... Why won't those ice queens just give nice guys a chance???
Every woman on earth has heard your advice before. You cannot help by telling women what to do. How about telling men what to do? Or just biting your tongue. Both better options than whatever you think you're doing now.
Your advice isn't news.
here lady
take my advice on this, at least:
stop assuming any of the bolded is happening when he posts here.
Her comments reads like
Her comments reads like someone who has had a bad expedience and now sees the boogieman around ever corner.
I've made bad decisions in my life too, but I feel people can learn from them and try not to make those same bad decisions themselves. Its called passing on wisdom.
tbh
i thought she had valid remarks and got a completely different takeaway from it than you did
i dont think telling *~femalez~* to keep their head on a swivel and learn to defend themselves is passing on wisdom, i think its more like telling somebody that got hit by a car that they'd be better off looking both ways before crossing a street.
Just because you pass it on, doesn't make it wisdom.
Every woman grows up being told-- repeatedly-- to carry her keys in her fist, to not go straight home if it seems like a guy is following us, to be aware of our surroundings et cetera et cetera et cetera endlessly and you know what? We're not idiots. we get it. But sometimes in our lives of near-constant vigilance, we relax for a minute, or just forget. And then, if something happens to us, we get to be told that it wouldn't have happened if we had our keys in our fist, hadn't been walking alone, et cetera et cetera et cetera.
You want to pass wisdom on? Go tell every guy you see to not rape women.
You're not a woman
Why don't you listen to them for a change.
You must be a guy
The boogie man never dies for women, just gets realer and scarier. And it's a result of how unsafe women feel in general and not bitter reactions from bad experiences. We're trying not to get raped, not learn from being raped.
Where in either the story or
Where in either the story or the following comments did anyone mention the victim was stupid?
Have you ever used Uber or Lyft?
I can only speak for Uber as I haven't used Lyft but they provide you with the driver picture and car make and license plate number. Use those two pieces of info to make sure you are getting into the right vehicle.
Also the BPD report doesn't say if the vehicle was even an Uber or Lyft car.
Well, the story is "after the fact"...so
I get it. We all make mistakes. I, as a woman, probably have made my fair share in my youth. But I see no reason to not say that one is better off making sure they are getting in the correct ride share vehicle or you ride at your own risk. And if you are that drunk, call a cab or a friend or the police or someone if you can't make good decisions.
This story (i.e. usually a woman getting in the wrong ride share vehicle and getting assaulted and/or raped) is a reoccurring one, unfortunately. Anything anyone can do to prevent that gets kudos in my book. And I would prefer, as a woman, to have my fellow women empowered enough to know that it is better to look twice than ride once. It is not victim blaming. It is being in the moment.
The
"Drunk people can't tell a regular car from their Uber" is such a cliched trope these days, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a planned, targeted attack.
"Hey let's wait outside of some bar at closing time and wait for some drunk chick to think we're her Uber!"
Uber's vehicle requirements mean that Ubers tend to be the same few car models. If you had a late-model Prius, for example, this would be a really easy scam to pull.
That's adorable that you
That's adorable that you think drivers never borrow their cousin's account and would even face consequences if they didn't. "Oh that chick was drunk and crazy and not even a virgin, I mean, look how she was dressed!"
If a driver tried to convince me to change routes to let him be alone with a friend I would get all of us out immediately and call the cops. Not because I think he's a criminal but because if the paper trail doesn't start early enough, we all get raked over the coals for "not reporting it" even when nothing happens until much later.
Women have been thinking this through a wee bit longer than you have, chum. Don't be such a creepy creeperton. If I choose to overspend in self-defense, you need to drop the paternalistic act and respect the adult women paying your got-dang wages, whether being treated as a potential predator hurts your little fee-fees or not.
I suggested it one time
I would not have persisted in trying to save them money had they insisted twice. And if they had said "we'd feel safer" initially, I wouldn't have proposed the alternate route at all.
Next time take a taxi and
Next time take a taxi and STFU
anon
idk if youre the same anon that i said made some valid points, i hope you arent, but you're a douche bag just the same as he is.
thank you for listening.
as far as respecting adult women 'paying my wages', having a fare tell me they wanted to double the distance on a route would set off alarm bells for me and i would suggest that they find another driver more comfortable with such an arrangement. whether that would hurt their 'little fee-fees' or not.
If a driver tried to convince
If a driver tried to convince me to change routes, and I didn't want to, I'd say, "no, please take the route I requested".
Willy - your comments were breathtakingly ignorant
We live in a culture that not only blames sexual assault victims but also tells potential victims, especially women, that it is their duty to make sure they are not assaulted. You comments and recommendations not only demonstrate a lack of fluid and crystallized thinking but also have a misplaced focus.
Your message is clear: Hey women, listen to me: "you should be trying harder not to get raped." Survivors of crimes like rape and assault frequently find themselves facing blame not only from others, but also from another, more personal source: Crime victims often blame themselves for what they've been through. But why? Why, in spite of the fact that the crime is always the fault of the person who committed it, does victim-blaming continue to happen.
It is attitudes such as those you have expressed that contribute to societal misogyny and the stereotypes about female behavior being a contributor to crimes committed against them. You have some odd ideas about rape or sexual assault (“if she didn’t put herself into the situation it would not have happened. It is your type of thinking that contribute to the misconceptions about rape and sexual assault it — addressing your own thinking would be more effective than worrying about what women are or should be doing.
In other words, you perpetuate the idea that we cannot control or prevent criminal behavior so you want the victims or potential victims want to believe that they can avoid another assault if they just do what you say. Experience as taught me that people who have not been victims of crime believe it couldn’t happen to them, so they come up with reasons why they are different from the victim.
Unlike policing victims’ behavior, educating people about rape and sexual assault can make lasting progress toward prevention. Once we recognize that sexual assault can happen to anyone, we can stop wondering what the victim did to deserve it and start wondering what allowed the perpetrator to go through with it. Instead of coming up with with things for women to do to mitigate their risk of being attacked, how about engaging in some critical thinking regarding about educating the public about crime and what we should can effectively to crack down on the assailants.
The idea that women can prevent rape or sexual assault by learning to physically defend themselves is a deeply entrenched male trope. Holding women accountable for preventing sexual assault hasn’t worked and so long as men commit the majority of rapes, men need to be at the heart of our tactics for preventing them. Let’s stop teaching ‘how to avoid being a victim’ and instead, attack the culture that creates predators in the first place.
Of course, keeping individuals safe from violence and rape is an admirable goal. But when women are constantly told about the rape prevention strategies that they’re supposed to follow, it’s all too easy to assume that there must have been something a women should have done differently before being violated.
You offer nothing more than the uneducated judgment that It’s women's responsibility to avoid becoming a victim, and if they fail at that task, it must be their fault. Your attitude is exactly what leads society as a whole to blame survivors — instead of placing the blame squarely where it belongs, with the perpetrators of the crime
Holy shit
If I'm new to Boston and someone tells me I probably shouldn't go jogging down blue hill ave in Mattapan at 3am, are they in the wrong? Are the "potential" victim blaming?
Yes
Considering that you probably don't live in the area and only know about Blue Hill Ave from other people who don't live in the area.
Hint: it is actually well lit and fairly safe choice at that hour. Which you would know if you lived there.
Warnings vs. Blaming
If someone cautions you about the potential dangers of an area or an activity, it a warning. If you are jogging in a potentially dangerous area and are mugged, if someone says you should not have been there, it's blaming.
In the first case you are simply being given information…in the second case, you are a victim being blamed for contributing to your own demise. The reason you were mugged is because someone committed a crime and not because you were in a specific area. The same act could happen anywhere…it's the actions of the criminal that is to blame and not the fault of the victim.
Consider the young woman that was abducted in South Boston a while back…was she at fault for being killed? Crimes against people are not dependent on geography or normal activity.
Under your implied scenario, apparently unless we mitigate our activities and account for every possible dangers, we take part of the blame if something bad happens. Your attempt to trivialize the argument that victims, women in particular, must take responsibility for the actions of other bad people is illogical at best and disingenuous at minimum. You really ought to go back to the Boston Herald comment board, trolls are welcome there.
No good deed goes unpunished
(Expletive) 2016 humanity. I mean, I didn't come to an internet comments section looking for or expecting a straight up beej, or even sympathy, but Good Lord.
Mansplaining Trolls are out in Farce!
Now now boys. Don't you have some hotpockets to demand from upstairs?
Women don't need your advice, your imposed limits, opinions about safety, or permission for shit all anything. Got it?
Now go wipe your cache, brush your teeth, and get to bed. 1st period algebra exam tomorrow!
Equal opportunity offender
I'll lecture a man with what I perceive to be my superior knowledge too.
i like that
you've found it appropriate to combat a privileged gender talking down to somebody- with gender specific cliches and insults
i suppose your fly trap is filled with vinegar too?
consider my shit post a little brown stain on your white knighting
Jesus Christ
Hey Will, FYI- even though you are a MALE (yuck), you shouldn't get in random cars with strangers late at night. It could be dangerous.
You know the same incident
You know the same incident could have happened on the T, in a cab or walking down a well lite street. Attention wasn't paid.
But guess what... It doesn't mean its OK to do this to anyone, anywhere, at anytime!
Green and Yellow Cab is a safer service, check out the software
Green and Yellow Cab is a safer service, check out the software... click on "Reservations" in the left sidebar at
http://greenandyellowcab.com
i like you, man
i like you, man
sorry, but
Uber is an 800 lb gorilla.
Lyft barely competes with Uber and you barely compete with Lyft.
Try again...
This company doesn't even service the neighborhood where the pickup happened (Allston).
Maybe y'all across the river have legitimate, trustworthy cab services but here, in Boston, we do not. And your legitimate, trustworthy cab services do not like to cross town or geographic lines.
No, they'd like to
They're just legally barred from picking up in Boston.
Sort of
It's that they're legally not allowed to unless specifically called upon by the end user. If I lived in Somerville and was in Allston, I could easily call Green/Yellow Cab to come pick me up. They cannot solicit riders in Allston, they need to have been specifically called. I think they're not even allowed to pick up passengers who hail them as they're driving by empty of fare passengers if they're not in their jurisdiction.
Hackney Carriage Rules and Flat Rate Handbook
Rule 403 Hackney Carriage Rules and Flat Rate Handbook Effective August 29, 2008
Hackney Carriage Unit Boston Police Department
tel 617-343-4475
http://www.cityofboston.gov/tridionimages/rules_tcm1-3045.pdf
Correct
This is correct. I live in Allston but use Bay State Taxi, which operates out of Brookline. (Unlike Boston Cab or any of the other operators in Boston proper, Bay State drivers can usually find their way to my somewhat obscure address for a pickup.) I have their app on my phone, and have found it an excellent option.