Crime in Sunnyvale?!

Sunnyvale is one of the 20 safest cities in the US. I've been living here for six months and I have actually experienced this sense of safety. I know for sure that you can walk on the streets of Sunnyvale alone at night and not be one bit scared. I have even cycled (i wanted to burn some fat :P) from home to office in the middle of the night without any problems whatsoever.

Last night, however, things changed. This is what happened...

I went to the gym at around 12 in the night (24-hour fitness) for a quick workout before heading to bed. Just as I finished and was getting ready to leave, a Hispanic guy came into the gym. He was a short guy and he seemed quite perplexed. Since I was the nearest to the door, he came over to me and said something that I could not understand. Just then I noticed that he was bleeding quite profusely under his right eye. It was a ghastly sight.

My attention returned to what he was saying and I heard the word "Espagnol". Of course! He was looking for someone who knew Spanish. Meanwhile, he was trying to explain something to me using signs. He moved his hands about in a pedaling manner, probably meaning cycle. Then he showed a '2' with his fingers and also flexed his muscles. That probably meant '2 strong men'. And then he showed me what looked like  a punch. I kinda understood what happened at that point.

I asked him to relax and went to look for a Spanish-speaking person at the gym. I found a Hispanic lady who came over and spoke to this guy. After a short while we realized that this guy was riding his bike back home when two African American guys stopped him, beat him up and took his bike. And now, this guy wanted us to help him file a police complaint. I requested one of the people working at the gym to help him out with the call to the police, reassured the guy (using signs, of course) that everything's going to be fine and headed home.

This may seem like a really small, minor incident, especially compared to Chennai, India (where I'm from). But in Sunnyvale, you don't see such things too often. No matter how safe the place seems, there are always some precautions you need to take. You never know what might happen.

As for me, I sure as hell wont be riding my bike around at 12 in the night!

psycho.

Tags: safety, sunnyvale, crime