Mom Stops At Red Light In Chicago, Seconds Later She Regrets Her Decision

A Chicago woman says she was attacked by a group of people while she was stopped at a red light.

Susan Pedersen told police she was stopped at a red light near the University of Chicago when she was attacked by a group that she said was comprised of several dozen people. She had just dropped a friend off at the school when the attack happened.

“They were walking around both sides of the vehicle — in the front, in the back — and as they were walking across, they were hitting my car, using racial slurs and telling me that I didn’t belong in their neighborhood because I was white,” she told WLS.

The group, allegedly comprised of young African-Americans, kicked her car and violently shook it. Pedersen was with her children at the time and they screamed from the back of the vehicle the entire time.

One person was on a bicycle that was used as a battering ram to shatter the back window. The broken glass left Pedersen’s 3-year-old son with cuts.

The group fled the scene after a police officer arrived. Two juveniles were later arrested and charged with misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

“I’m very scared, very anxious, nervous. Just fearful,” the woman said. “This is something that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Many readers reacted strongly to the story, with some saying the woman should have defended herself using her car.

“Keep on driving,” one Mad World News reader commented on the site’s Facebook page. “Those animals only work in packs. It would have been nice if you would have run over some of those thugs. And they wonder why they don’t get help for their community?? They don’t deserve anything.” 

“I’m sorry they went through this…but as soon as they were surrounding the car she should have hit the gas..Why did she sit there and take it? I would run over them with no regret,” another wrote.

“As I read that story that is a hate crime right there and only two juveniles were charged with a misdemeanor but if anybody surrounded my car and the light turn green I put the pedal to the metal and if you’re in my way and got ran over that is your fault because you decided to surround my car illegally that is the price you will pay for committing a crime,” another added.

Sources: WLS, Mad World News/Facebook / Featured Image: r. nial bradshaw/Flickr / Embedded Images: Scott Davidson/Flickr, Matty Ring/Wikimedia Commons