Shame on me!
On the night of the Miss Cagayan de Oro beauty pageant held at the Atrium, Limketkai mall, I was accosted by a pickpocket.
I had two cameras. Â One in my fanny back in front of me, that was covered by a pack of cigarettes, so I was fairly confident a pickpocket could not get deep down into my fanny pack without me knowing it.
After shortly arriving and finding a good location, Stage Right, to take photos of the contestents and video them, using my Sony DCR-TRV340 (which has a tape motor malfunction and can only record to Sony memory sticks, but has a whopping 25x optical zoom) I used mostly that to take photos.
After a while of taking videos and photos I checked my fanny pack to find that it was fully unzipped. Â I left this to my own mistake, zipped it back up, and continued taking photos, but after a few minutes I decided to check my fanny pack again and it was again fully unzipped. Â Knowing at this point that someone was trying to pick my fanny pack, I grabbed the right hand and the neck of the man in front of me and asked him, quite quietly, “Do you wish to die?” Telling him further that I would yank his head from his body.
The fear and guilt that glittered in his eyes clearly showed me he was the culprit, yet I let him go, and to such act, I owe an apology to other attendees. Â There were plenty of police around. Â In my selfish state of mind I would lose photo opportunities to turn this guy in.
In retrospect, I realize that the guy was working with his back to me, so he had an accomplice. Â Had I had my wits about me I could have probably easily identified the accomplice, and snatched them both over to the side of the atrium to call the PNP officers to detain them. Â I believe I have a 24 hour period to file blotter case against them.
But I did nothing, and let the man go. How many other pockets did he pick that night?
It is easy to 2nd guess oneself. One thought was that had I hauled this guy off and had him arrested, he might have pulled some icepick or knife and really hurt me.