Senator James, A State Senator from the 35th District In Atlanta, had an unusual experience…
She chased a criminal down after work one day.
Senator James Runs Crime Down
Bille Anthony Sinclair
Politicians will often pay lip service to the national epidemic of guns, drugs and violence by touting their legislative victories in the war against car against crime. But Donzella James, a state senator from Atlanta’s 35th District, has struck a blow against the wave of violence. The feisty leader ran crime down–literally.
Here’s what happened:
One afternoon, as she and her assistant exited an office building in Atlanta, they observed a peculiar, young man darting across a parking lot. She dismissed this, initially, and proceeded to her car but felt uneasy when the man changed direction and stalked the assistant down a stairway.
Fearing the worst, she jumped into her car and bolted to the lower level. She was horrified as she witnessed her friend being assaulted by the man. Donzella sprung into action.
When the senator banged her horn, the assailant fled with the woman’s purse. The chase was on.
Undaunted, she was on his heels as he dashed across Martin Luther King Drive. He tried to lose her when he sprinted up a hill and scaled the fence, but Donzella was not to be denied. James blew her horn, incessantly, while tracking her prey in hot pursuit.
In the midst of the commotion, she managed to flag down a worker who contacted a security guard.
Afterwards, she cleverly blocked the attacker’s escape from the fenced in area and parked until police officers arrived at the scene. He was apprehended, eventually, in a desperate getaway attempt to a nearby building.
The episode left her exhausted but she wasn’t rattled during the incident.”I had no fear because I was determined to stop him…he had to be caught,” she said.
Donzella concedes, however, that she should have been more cautious due to the likelihood that he was carrying a weapon.
Her encounter speaks volumes about responsibility for safe communities. If the polls are on target, each one of us will know someone who will be a victim of crime at least once in life. Copyright 2005
Bille Anthony Sinclair
