BREAKING: YET ANOTHER SEXUAL ASSAULT WENT DOWN SAT NIGHT

As you know if you read this blog with any regularity, we don't really dig real actual news around here, but as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get much more real than the Summer of Sexual Assaults.

In case your ass hasn't been paying attention: it's time.

Late last night, I received the following forwarded email update from Aaron Brashear (whose efforts to keep the community updated and informed are nothing short of phenomenal):

I want to inform you that on Saturday, September 3rd at approximately 5:00 pm a female called the 72nd Precinct to report that at approximately 1:00 am, while walking on 7th Avenue towards 17th Street, she was approached from behind by a male Hispanic that reached inside her skirt and grabbed her buttocks. She immediately called for help and the male ran on 17th Street. She followed the suspect and observed him enter a cream/beige color SUV (no license plate information) that was double parked. She describes the vehicle's make as a Chevy. He's described as a male Hispanic, 5'8", wearing a grey colored T-shirt, no further description.

Also important to note, she exited the subway on 9th Street and 7th Avenue. She stated that she was aware of the previous attacks and purposely did not use her headsets.
Please be on the lookout for this type of vehicle and if is seen please call 911.

Here's what you need to know:

• With the above news, there have now been SEVEN documented attacks in our area and around Brooklyn: one this weekend, one last weekend and five addtional. 
• The police believe that this is the work of one individual (though unsure if this latest attack falls into that hypothesis as well). 
• There are a growing number of people within the community who are unsure if all of these incidents can be pegged on one guy, and there is talk that this is simply the Police's attempt to tidy up this situation as soon as possible. For the record, I have no fucking clue what to believe...I'm just scared.
• There is also concern that this individual (or individuals) is getting bolder with each attack he gets away with. Again = VERY GOOD CAUSE TO BE SCARED AND STAY SCARED. 

Look, I don't want everyone to freak the fuck out and not leave their apts or anything, but the bottom line is this: we all need to be careful. Like really careful.

So when you're walking home from the subway, keep your goddamned headphones out of your ears, take off your sunglasses, and pay attention to what is going on around you. This most recent victim was attacked at 5pm in broad daylight, so this is not necessarily only something that happens to people walking around late at night (was reported at 5pm; incident happened at 1am). Heather D was nice enough to point our attention to the "Brutus the Bulldog Self Defense Keychain" in our last post, and I already ordered one. Gretchen left this link which hooks you up with all the spots where you can purchase legal pepper spray in NY. And a neighborhood watch group called Safe Slope has also formed:

"Safe Slope is a Brooklyn-based group providing services and resources to help empower and protect the communities of South Slope/Greenwood Heights/Windsor Terrace/Park Slope. The group formed in response to the multiple assaults and attempted assaults that have impacted our community since March 2011. We want to come together as a community to make our streets safe from violence."

Please just be careful out there, ppl.