Bravery is a thing we sometimes pay unwitting homage to. Our police and our military are brave, of course. But we sometimes assign the word to professional athletes or entertainers — people who may be talented or do extraordinary things. But are they truly courageous?
When Lindsey (last name withheld), shown, went to have her automobile serviced on May 14, 2018, in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, she had no idea that her life was about to be changed forever with a trip to the auto-shop’s restroom. Lindsey entered the stall, heard someone enter the restroom and saw a pair of men’s shoes underneath the door of the stall. A struggle ensued and a rape occurred.
In a chilling video made by Christopher F. Rufo, Lindsey described the event: “So, I arrived a few minutes early to my appointment, that morning. I went up the ramp into the women’s rest room. I was in there, I would say, no longer than about 15 or 20 seconds, before I heard the restroom door open. I said, ‘Someone’s in here,’ and I felt a stronger push and pressure on my stall door, and I looked down and I saw men’s shoes.”
The rapist was a man named Christopher Teel, a 24-year-old transient from Texas, who was living in a city-funded homeless encampment. Teel was running from multiple warrants — something the city didn’t know or didn’t care about when they allowed Teel to squat in one of the city’s homeless encampments.
Lindsey: “He grabbed me by my throat and my shoulder, and he threw me down on the ground in front of the handicapped stall, and we fought for several minutes.”
Initially, the story caused a sensation in Seattle, with public demands for increased security in regard to the homeless population, which has quadrupled in Seattle recently. Lindsey remained silent as the case was investigated. Teel, apparently, was not difficult to find as the police arrested him and charged him with rape and false imprisonment a day later.
Lindsey: “He’s six foot five, he has a full foot on me. He’s 250lbs, so he has 120lbs on me. And I was losing, I was losing this battle.”
After the rape, Lindsey went to the city leaders, met with a city councilman for an hour, but says she was treated in a dismissive way. The crime against her, it seemed, did not fit the proper narrative for the leftist city. After all, she wasn’t Christine Blasey Ford accusing Brett Kavanaugh. She was a normal citizen who was attacked by a homeless person. As a Caucasian woman, she was lower on the leftist city’s intersectional ladder than the homeless. After being treated dismissively by city leaders, she sought out Rufo to tell her story.
Lindsey: “During the sexual assault, he said, ‘You want this,’ and he said, ‘God wants this.’ And I thought to myself that I didn’t want to die and I didn’t want to die on a linoleum trailer bathroom floor.”
Rufo, a documentary filmmaker interviewed Lindsey, calling it, “The most wrenching [interview] I’ve ever done.” After editing the three-minute-and-forty-five second film, it was posted on Facebook on April 22, becoming the lead story on all Seattle-area newscasts. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan commended “the courage of a survivor of sexual violence to speak out.”
Lindsey: “My assailant had been categorized as a homeless man. He was from Texas and I found out that he had a warrant out for his arrest going back to 2016, which was very troubling to me.”
After the video became public, a shocking thing happened. Seattle’s leftist community began accusing Lindsey of purveying a “false narrative” that the city’s homeless encampments were dangerous. Seattle journalist Erica Barnett — who describes herself as feminist — claimed that Lindsey’s story only drew attention because she is an “attractive blonde woman” and that her tears were theatrical. Seattle councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez claimed that the story sensationalized and created fear of the homeless community.
Thus, was Lindsey attacked twice. First by Teel and then by vicious leftist elitists in Seattle, who are more concerned about protecting their image as a progressive city who “cares” about the homeless than the violent crime that follows that population. That crime is associated with homeless encampments is not a talking point; it’s a fact.As the City Journal pointed out: “According to King County Jail statistics, homeless individuals are 38 times more likely to commit crimes than the average citizen (the homeless represented 0.5 percent of the population but 19 percent of jail bookings last year).”
Lindsey is a truly brave individual. That type of bravery deserves the last word: “I think we need to all acknowledge what we’re doing isn’t working. What we’re doing right now is actually harming the city. And, we need stronger leaders. And strong leaders, in my opinion, are out there.”
