Crucial Tips Against Muggers (via email)

Because of recent abductions in daylight hours, refreshyourself of these things to do in an emergency situation. This is for you, and for you to share with your spouse, your children, everyone you know. It never hurts to becareful in this crazy world we live in.

1 . Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point onyour body. If you are close enough to use it, do!

2. Learned this from a tourist guide in New Orleans . If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you.... chances are that he is moreinterested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and startwaving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody elsewill. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping,eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, ormaking a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS!) The predator will bewatching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him toget in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tellyou where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR , LOCK THEDOORS AND LEAVE.

4a. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it . As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
a. Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat
b. If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door . Most serial killers attack their victimsby pulling them into their vans while the women are attemptingto get into their cars.
c. Look at the car parked on thedriver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If amale is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you maywant to walk back into the mall, or work, and get aguard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot.This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be avital organ. RUN, Preferably ! in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP. It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane,or a limp, and often asked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police becauseit was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her"Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get runover. The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night. Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby.