So said a mugger at this corner of the Dwight neighborhood as he warned his victim, a 28-year-old Yale School of Management student, not to call the cops. Read on to hear the student’s tale of the latest in a string of street crimes involving Yalies.
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It was time to take Nomar for a walk. The early walk, the 5:30 p.m. walk.
Nomar’s owner goes back out with the pug (whom he named after a baseball star from his hometown of Beantown) again each night around 9:30. He’s careful then. He looks around to make sure no muggers are lurking.
But at 5:30? He hasn’t usually paid much attention. Seemed too early. He’s lived on Dwight Street for two and a half years. He felt safe at 5:30 p.m.
Until Monday.
On Monday, Nomar and Nomar’s owner, a 28-year-old Yale School of Management student (who asked to remain anonymous), were at the well-lit corner of Chapel and Dwight. A young man dressed in black approached them.
“I don’t want to you cause you any harm,” the man in black said. He asked for money.
Nomar’s owner figured he was a beggar. He said he said he had no money.
“Give me your fucking money,” the man in black shot back.
Then he “grabbed something in his jeans,” Nomar’s owner recalled Tuesday. He didn’t show what that something was. He “insinuated” it was a gun.
Nomar’s owner didn’t ask to see the evidence. As the man in black continued swearing and pushing for money, Nomar’s owner pulled out the $150 he’d just withdrawn from an ATM. He handed it over.
“Don’t call the cops,” the man in black said as he fled down Chapel. “I’ll have you shot. This is my neighborhood.”
This is my neighborhood, too, thought Nomar’s owner. He went to call a cop. Then he spotted a squad car a block away.
He told the cop in the car what happened. The cop invited Nomar’s owner into the car. They drove around the neighborhood looking for the man in black. No luck.
On Tuesday, Nomar’s owner was back walking the pug as usual. Only now, he was paying more attention to his surroundings on the early run.