You’re thinking the attackers were black yutes, right? But they weren’t. The bat-wielders, who are not physically described until the 21st paragraph of the 21-paragraph
(Gosh, whatever happened to the journalist’s rule of Who, What, When, Where and How? I guess Who now comes last, if it comes at all.), are “Asians.” What kind of Asians? Dunno. Most likely Hmong, since a coalition of lovely liberal Christians helped turn Minnesota and Wisconsin into a Hmong paradise thirty years ago. As the woman, who is in her forties and has cancer, was out jogging in a public park, the Asians suddenly charged her from behind a tree and began swinging baseball bats at her head. She successfully fended off the attempted blows to her head with her arms and hands, which were very gravely injured. The whole article is below.
St. Paul police seek 3 in woman’s baseball bat beating at Lake Phalen
Mary Gottfried, August 1
The woman pleaded with the strangers wielding baseball bats: “I have cancer. What are you beating me for?” But they didn’t say anything.
She said they tried smashing her head over and over, but she held up her hands for protection during the early Friday attack near Lake Phalen in St. Paul.
Her hands and arms took the brunt of the blows, and she was left with “too many broken bones to remember,” said the woman, who asked to be identified only as Tammie because her attackers remain on the loose.
Tammie’s middle finger was severed, and she has multiple fractures in both hands and a broken wrist. She had surgery at Regions Hospital to put pins in her left hand.
“I thought they wanted to kill me—the way they were trying to smash my head in,” said Tammie, who is in her 40s.
The attack happened about 12:30 a.m. near Johnson Parkway and Lake Phalen, according to a police report. Afterward, a police dog tried to track the assailants but lost the scent at Earl Street and Ivy Avenue, the report said.
Peter Panos, police spokesman, said he wasn’t aware of similar attacks in that area.
Tammie, who lives near Lake Phalen, said she walks around the lake as often as she has the energy. Her breast cancer has spread and she had chemotherapy Thursday. Her anti-nausea medicine makes her jittery, so a walk was welcome, she said.
The chemotherapy also makes Tammie sensitive to light, so she normally takes walks after sunset but stays on well-lit paths.
She usually takes her 110-pound Labrador retriever/ German shepherd mix along, though he didn’t want to go this time because it was too hot, Tammie said.
Tammie was planning to walk with a friend, but there were dogs running loose, which frightened her friend, who decided not to come.
During the walk, Tammie said, she saw three people—two males and a person with longer hair, who could have been male or female—hiding in a tree’s shadow. She said she didn’t want to turn her back on them because she had a bad feeling.
As soon as she saw two of them holding wooden bats, Tammie said, she started running toward the street.
They caught up with her before she made it and two of them began beating her with the bats, she said. They were winding up before hitting her in the head, Tammie said.
“As determined as they were to hit me in the head, I was determined they wouldn’t,” Tammie said of trying to protect herself. “It seemed like it lasted forever. I was surprised they stopped because there were no cars coming.”
After the attack, one of them ran back and stole her earphones.
“I figured they wanted it as a souvenir,” Tammie said. She hadn’t been carrying a purse, and the radio she had was inexpensive.
Afterward, Tammie walked toward the street and shouted, “Help! Help!” to passing cars. No one stopped at first, which was disheartening, Tammie said, crying as she recalled the events.
Tammie started to walk home, but a man stopped and said he would call police. She said he waited until officers arrived.
Paramedics took Tammie to Regions. She was discharged later Friday.
The three attackers were Asian, and all were about 5 feet 5 inches tall and 135 pounds, Tammie said. The person whose gender she wasn’t certain of had long hair, pulled back. They all wore dark clothes, and one of the males wore a striped shirt. Tammie said they appeared to be teenagers or young adults.
Witnesses or anyone with information about the attackers can reach police at 651-291-1111.
Mary Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.