Lara's Close Call
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 10:15PM A few months ago a friend of ours (we’ll call her Lara) was visiting a friend of hers down in Colorado Springs & was the victim of a date-rape drugging. Fortunately she made it back to her friend’s house before the drug(s) kicked in & the situation went any further south.
Lara left work in Denver to head down to Colorado Springs to visit an old friend of hers (we’ll call her Jenni) that she hadn’t seen in quite a while. A few weeks prior to this trip Lara had been in an auto accident & was still feeling the physical effects of the crash.
Around 8:30 they went out to dinner & spent about 2 hours eating & talking. (1&2) Lara had one beer with dinner & when they finished up they headed down the block to a bar to hang out & talk some more. At the bar Lara had another beer & Jenni had a few more drinks. Lara was approached by a large guy (G1) & after some very brief small talk he said “You’re going home with me tonight.” Lara replied that she wasn’t & his response was “You wanna bet?” At this point Lara turned around on her barstool & ignored G1.
Over the next couple hours a few people came & went talking to G1, one of which (G2) eventually stayed with him & became his wingman for the night. It was obvious to Lara that G1 was a regular at the bar & was well known to the bartenders.(3) Lara had to visit the restroom & had Jenni look after her beer.(4) G2 was talking to Jenni & G1 kept asking about Lara while she was gone, in a somewhat anxious tone.(5) When Lara returned she finished her beer & G1 bought her another. Lara took that beer directly from the waitress without G1 having access to it that she was aware of. The beer tasted kind of sweet which seemed odd to Lara at the time but she didn’t think much of it.
A little later G1 grabbed Lara’s ass & she just blew it off as him being drunk & stupid. When he went to pay his tab however, she had an overwhelming need to get out of there & get back to Jenni’s house. Lara was feeling very freaked out & they quickly got out of the bar, into Lara’s car & drove off.(6)
When they got back to Jenni’s house Lara immediately felt sick, vomited & passed out. She slept through her 5am alarm & didn’t wake up until 8:15.(7)
1- They had planned on Lara driving that night so Jenni could drink a little more. Jenni ended up being semi-drunk by the end of the night.
2-The dinner & bar locations were not regular haunts for either of our heroines & were not planned out in advance.
3-G1’s regular status may have allowed him to have an accomplice in the bartender which is not unheard of.
4-Jenni had been drinking more than Lara & probably wasn’t in much of a condition to keep an eye on Lara’s drink.
5- During our conversation Lara recognized G1’s anxiously asking about her while she was in the restroom as the first time she really felt like something was up beyond G1 just acting like an overly aggressive drunk.
6- Lara mentioned being afraid of G1 following her to Jenni’s house.
7- Jenni had no symptoms of being drugged.
I talked to our buddy SouthNarc about Lara’s experience & his response was “Wow, that guy just screams sexual predator.” & “She was a very, very lucky lady to make it out of there when she did.” I think he also threw out “bad situation,” “really lucky” & “that never ends well.”
Assessment:
You never know when things are going to go sideways so pay attention to your surroundings & if things feel wrong get out.
While people tend to focus on bad things happening in strange/new settings or being perpetrated by strangers, this scenario could just have easily unfolded in a place Lara was familiar with.
Some people need to realize that they rank higher on the potential victim scale than others. Lara is young, small, pretty & generally friendly. All of those contribute to pushing her to the top of that list.
People who are intoxicated may try to help (watching a drink in this case) but usually don’t do a very good job.
Most criminals are NOT lone actors. In this case the obvious accomplice would have been G2, but G1 could also have had an accomplice behind the bar doing the dirty work for him. This would be supported by the fact that he was apparently well known & very friendly with the bar staff. The real threat could be sneaking up behind you with a tire iron or, in this case, from behind the bar.
Lara exhibited a very common behavior in that she didn’t leave or definitively break contact with her attacker at the initial sign that something was wrong. On the other hand, she wasn’t afraid of seeming rude when she decided that it was time to get out of there. The intended victim usually has a number of opportunities to escape during the ramp-up to an attack. If you get lucky & a second opportunity is presented, take it. You might not get another one.
Lara did a good job of getting out when G1 was distracted & had the presence of mind to be concerned about being followed.
While Lara did get very lucky that the opportunity to leave unobserved presented itself, she made the most of it & avoided a very bad situation.
Our thanks go out to Lara for sharing this story & being open & frank about what happened.
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