ColumnAsk a person you know if they know someone who has been drugged with a “date rape drug.” Chances are, everyone knows somebody.
I’m not happy that statement is true, but them’s the breaks. Heck, I’ve been drugged twice in my life. Once by a date and once at a bar. And I would have loved—nay, been elated, thrilled, and full of joy—if someone would have seen these people doing their nefarious deeds. That’s why the story I’m about to tell you is so damn rad.
What happened
A group of gals were having a drink at Fig, a Santa Monica restaurant, when one of the women witnessed a man slip something into aa woman’s drink at another table after she went to the restroom.
Sonia Ulrich, one of the women in the group, recalled that one of her friends uttered, “that guy just put something in her drink.”
Ulrich recounted the entire event on her Facebook account the next day. No, it wasn’t for praise or notoriety—it was to make more people aware that anyone can drug anyone.
Now, back to the story….
Ulrich and her friends discussed what to do. Ulrich finally decided to go to the bathroom and tell the woman what her friend saw. Once the woman emerged from the stall, Ulrich approached her and said, “Hey! Um, this is kind of weird, but, uh, we saw the guy you were with put something in your drink.”
“Oh, my god,” the woman replied.
Ulrich replied, ”yeah, my girlfriend said she saw him put something in your drink and we had to say something. Woman to woman…you know. We had to say something. How well do you know that guy?” I was expecting to hear ‘We just met.'”
But the woman said, “he’s one of my best friends.”
Apparently, the woman and the man had known each other for a year and a half, and they worked together.
Luckily, the story ends well.
The two friends who remained at the table were able to tell a server who spoke to a manager.
The manager was able to tell the restaurant’s security team immediately and because of that, they reviewed the restaurant’s security tape and caught the man drugging the woman.
Although the woman had to sit through dinner with the man, the restaurant’s security was able to catch him and take him away from the woman, leaving her unharmed.
The moral of the story
This isn’t something that happens every-so-often. It happens All. The. Time.
At the end of her post, Ulrich shared that more than a handful of people at the restaurant told her that “it had happened to them,” and “it happened to my best friend.”
We all have to be aware of our surroundings and not be scared to speak up when we think we see something. Because if this story reminds us of anything, it’s that anyone can rape anyone… even good friends.
I’m not sure why that’s so hard for people to comprehend, but it’s true—according to the LA Times, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network reports that “nearly half of sexual assaults are committed by a friends of acquaintance.”
And the problem is that the “this can’t happen” perception leads victims of assault to think no one will believe them, or that it’s their fault.
So, let’s end this with Ulrich’s wise words: “…yes, you SHOULD say something.”
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Image by Sonia Ulrich via Facebook