SOCIAL MEDIA SITE NEXTDOOR.COM DEMONSTRATES ITS VALUE TO NEIGHBORS While most panhandlers appear harmless, I learned a painful lesson recently how some can be violent.
The attack came out of nowhere, totally unprovoked, just as the thunderstorm hit Pacific Beach at 5:45 p.m. on Sept. 16. My husband and I sat in our Mustang, the first car in the inside lane, waiting for a green light to turn from Garnet Avenue onto E. Mission Bay Drive toward the I-5.
I had noticed a panhandler cavorting on the median trying to attract attention while holding a sign and flyers. He wore a gray T-shirt with a message in red, saying, “I haven’t won my first million yet, but ask me how!” He looked to be about 5-foot 7-inches, lean and wiry, in his 40s or 50s, with ginger-colored, curly hair and beard. I had ignored him, refusing to make eye contact.
As the light was about to change, I saw him kneeling by my front left tire, jabbing at it and sticking his sign into the tire well. He walked away as the light changed and the skies opened. After clearing the intersection, I stopped to look if I were dragging the sign. A woman in the car in the next lane called over and recommended I check my tire, since she’d seen the guy stabbing it.
I made a U-turn, stopped in a parking lot and discovered my pancaked tire, which my husband changed in the rain.
With all the storm-igniteded chaos in the city, I couldn’t get through to the police, finally filing a police report online the following day.
Determined to warn fellow residents so the same thing wouldn’t happen to them, I posted an account on our online bulletin board, Nextdoor.com.
That’s what ultimately solved the crime.
TV Ch. 10 news reporter Dan Haggerty, a Pacific Beach resident, saw my post and contacted me. We did an interview that ran on KGTV. After I left the interview at the station, Haggerty and videographer Alex Gray spotted the panhandler matching my description and shot photos and video. Haggerty sent me pictures, from which I was able to identify the attacker. I passed them along to the police.
Pacific Beach Town Council president Alan Harris also recognized the panhandler from my Nextdoor posting and reported his location to the police.
Armed with Haggerty’s photos and Harris’ tip, SDPD officers arrested Rex Manley, 38, a longtime petty criminal. Because he was carrying a concealed weapon, as well as drug paraphernalia, officers charged him with a felony, not just vandalism.
I’ve learned valuable lessons from this experience. Be aware of your surroundings and be able to describe a potential suspect. File a police report. In this era of social media and short-staffed police, use social media to alert neighbors about crimes and help catch criminals.
And how about dealing with panhandlers?
“The best way to deal with them is to tell them or gesture no. Ignoring them also works. [If] they get aggressive or violent, call the police, said Northern Division Capt. Jerry Hara.