by Doris Miller
One afternoon, Dana and Teresa are driving back home from work together. They exit the highway and start to drive down a local street in Jamaica, Queens. As they are driving home, Dana decides to stop into a local store in the neighborhood. She pulls her car into a parking space and parks her vehicle. Dana, who is dressed in a short dark brown leather jacket, dark brown pants, black sneakers and a long thick braid hanging down her back, gets out of her vehicle. She and Teresa start to walk towards the store. They both reach the store and go inside where there are several people in there. Dana and Teresa go to pick out a few items. After they finish picking out some items, they go to stand on a line. As they are standing on the line, Dana notices a big guy, a black male, standing directly behind her. He seems to be standing too close to the pocket of her jacket. As Dana and Teresa finish their purchase, they turn to leave the store. When they walk out of the store, Dana feels her jacket pocket. She does not feel her wallet inside! She tells Teresa, "Hey! My wallet is missing!"
"Your wallet is missing? What do you mean your wallet is missing?"
"It's not in my pocket where I left it!"
Teresa feels Dana's jacket pockets and asks, "Are you sure you left your wallet in here?"
"Yeah I'm sure! I saw a guy standing too close behind me in the store! I think he took my damn wallet!"
"Oh really?"
"Yeah," Dana says. She then frowns and angrily says, "I'm gonna get my wallet back!" Dana turns away! She angrily storms back into the store as Teresa follows behind her! Dana and Teresa look for the fellow, but do not see him around anywhere. They continue to look for the fellow, but still do not see him anywhere in the store. They decide to go outside the store to see if the fellow had gone out yet. They look up and down the street. As they look up and down the street, Dana finally spots the guy! She angrily hurries towards the fellow with Teresa following closely behind her! Dana soon approaches the fellow! She angrily demands him her wallet back!
The guy tells Dana, "I don't know what you're talking about Miss! I don't have any wallet!"
"My wallet is missing from my jacket pocket and you were standing right behind me! Give me back my wallet," Dana angrily tells the guy! The guy keeps denying ever taking Dana's wallet! He and Dana start to get into a heated argument right in the street!
The store manager comes out of die store and approaches them. He shouts, "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?" A crowd starts to gather. The guy does not want all this attention, so he decides to give in and hands Dana back her wallet. Dana takes her wallet back and looks through it. She stuffs it back into her jacket pocket. Then she takes a large juice glass bottle out of a brown paper bag and bashes the bottle right onto the guy's head! Blood, glass and juice splatter everywhere as the guy screams and hollers out in pain! He falls to the ground like he is about to pass out! Teresa, the store manager and the crowd see this and start to gasp! They are all shocked and stunned! Dana then shouts to the guy, "THAT'LL TEACH YOU NEXT TIME!" She firmly walks away from the incident as if nothing happened! Teresa is still shocked! She does not know what to do!
As Dana is walking away towards her car, Teresa nervously hurries behind her! The guy continues to lay on the ground in agony! He continues to bleed all over the place!
Dana reaches her car and hops inside her vehicle! Teresa hops inside the car as Dana starts up the engine! Dana then pulls off very fast!
A short while later, the police and the paramedics arrive. A larger crowd has gathered. The police start to investigate the incident. They are questioning the crowd and the store manager, asking them did they see anything. No one in the crowd is sure of what happened. The store manager talks to the police as the injured guy still lies on the ground, bleeding very heavily! Blood is all over the place! Glass and juice are all over the place! The paramedics then put the guy onto a stretcher. They lift him up and put him into an ambulance! They then race the guy away to the hospital!
A few people give the police a description of Dana. They also give Dana's license plate number. A few eyewitnesses who do not want to be identified claim to the police that Dana had struck the guy after he handed her, her wallet back.
A couple of hours later, the police catch up with Dana and arrest her! Dana is kept at the police station all night long. She claims to the police that the guy had tried to rob her. She claims to the police that she was only acting in self-defense. Her family and friends are there at the police precinct, including her boyfriend Tony.
A couple of hours later, after everyone had sat around waiting all night long at the police station, Dana is finally released. She is released into her family's custody. She has a date to appear in court. Her family and friends then take her home.
Dana's court date arrives. She appears in court with her family and her friends. She still claims that the guy had tried to rob her and that she was only acting in self-defense. Charges are pending against Dana. She is then put on probation. She is ordered to do community services for three months for aggravated assault! She is ordered to work at a Community Center on the weekends for free, or face 30 days in jail! Dana is very upset about the order. She sits in the chair being very bitter! Her family and friends are all surrounding her, trying to comfort her! After court, Dana is released back into her family's custody. She will start to work at the Community Center on the weekends as part of her probation. She has to work there on the weekends for three months.
Chapter 3
Dana's Probation