Cops Debunk Bogus Crime Alert E-Mail
Arlington police set the record straight on warning circulating by e-mail
By ELLEN GOLDBERG
Updated 11:12 PM CST, Tue, May 12, 2009
Arlington police have been inundated with calls ever since an e-mail alleging a crime spree cover-up started circulating.
But the majority of the e-mailed crime alert about a man who was robbed after visiting an ATM is untrue, police say.
"The people who are forwarding it are thinking they are helping, but in this case they are heightening a situation," police spokeswoman Tiara Ellis Richard said.
The victim himself even told officers that many of the details in the e-mail are wrong, police said.
The e-mail claims police sent the gang unit when the victim called police, but Arlington police said the unit did not respond to the robbery.
Rather, couple of officers who working a gang detail were in the area and went to assist, police said. Richard said there is no indication the robbery was gang-related.
So what did happen? A man leaving an ATM late Friday night noticed the Chevy Impala in front of him sat idle when the light turned green at the intersection of Washington and Lincoln in North Arlington.
"He (the victim) opened his door to look out, and noticed that the driver’s side door was open in that Impala, and the man in the vehicle had his hands on his throat as if he was choking," Richard said.
Trying to be a Good Samaritan, the man got out of his car to help, but wound up getting hurt, Richard said. When the victim opened his door, he was hit in the head by a second man, who stole his wallet.
"They hit him in the head and face and asked for his wallet, which he gave them," Richard said.
The man then ran toward a nearby apartment complex as the driver of the Impala sped away.
The e-mail claimed that police told the victim similar robberies happen "very often" and that they were being covered up so people would not be scared to attend events in the city's entertainment district. But like the kids' game of "telephone," the assertion actually has its roots in a remark by a family member of the victim.
The family member told a neighbor that this sort of thing happens all the time. But the victim and his neighbors told police that no officer ever said such a thing.
Arlington police said this is the only case they've seen so far of someone faking a medical emergency to pull off a robbery.
"The e-mail indicated that this was a larger trend, and it's not," Richard said.
Lita Beck contributed to this report.
First Published: May 12, 2009 9:41 PM CST
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