Anne Peyton Bryant was one of the women who was sexually assaulted in Central Park on June 11, 2000 in the aftermath of the Puerto Rican Day parade. Following is a short piece which she wrote for the July 23 issue of The Washington Post. If, as Ms. Peyton claims, she is really ready and able to fight for her life against any would-be attacker (e.g. a crowd of drunk, stoned young men) she must have moved to a state where she can carry a concealed handgun.

This is a nice, short, piece to pass along to fence-sitters. If you can access the hard copy of the Post, it’s on page B3.

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I used to trust the police. Until one time I needed them, that is. On Sunday, June 11, in that now-infamous incident after the Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City visibly disraught and my clothes in disarray, I appealed to seven or eight officers for help. One after another, they brushed me off.

After being pulled to the ground and sexually assaulted by a crowd of rowdy punks, my companion and I repeatedly tried to tell the officers what had happened to me and to alert them to the rapidly excalating volatility of the crowd. Finally we gave up and headed home, stopping on the way at the New York Police Department’s 17th
Precinct to report the assault. There, an officer encouraged me to come back the next day, when I had “calmed down.”

Sixs weeks later, I am angry, disillusioned and full of questions. I like awake at night asking myself: “Am I naive? Were my expectations too high?” And my heart screams back, “No way!” Yet, when I read the conclusions of the police department’s investigation into what happened that day — which resulted in no more than slaps on a few wrists — my sense of personal safety is inspired further.

So, a few weeks ago, I attended my first self-defense class for women. Over the next 1 1/2 hours I learned to “draw the line” (basically to let any would-be attacker know I’m ready, willing and able to fight for my life), and how to strike to maim. Pity the fool who tries to jump me again.

I will never be the same woman who entered that crowd at Central Park South. And I’ll never look at the police the same way. What does it mean when a law-abiding citizen like me feels she needs to take matters into her own hands? What does that say about our so-called civilized society?