I got mugged today in broad daylight, right on the Paseo de la Castellana! I was right in front of the Hard Rock Café not far from Plaza de Colon around 3:00 p.m. in the middle of the day!

I was walking back home when I heard the footsteps of someone jogging behind me. I made the “mistake” of not looking back and instead just moved towards the sidewalk so that the runner could pass. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the person lunge at me, young Caucasian male with dark hair wearing a down jacket of light blue and dark blue panels. Before I knew it, he had me in a choke hold. I then saw his partner approach and grab under my jacket for my digital camera. He was another young Caucasian male with dark hair shaved almost to the scalp. Before I knew it, I had passed out.

When I came to (a couple of minutes later?), a Spanish family (husband and wife, little girl, a second couple) was asking me if I was OK. They had already called the police and waited with me until the police showed up around 10 minutes later. They thought the assailants were Moroccans because they were not speaking Spanish. The police showed up in one of their tiny cruisers and took me to the Salamanca precinct, where I filed the police report and tried to cancel one of my credit cards. Finally, around 4:30, they were kind enough to give me a lift home.

I wondered if I could have done anything to change the course of events. If I had my wits about me, I would have turned around and they might have aborted. Should I have struggled? At least one of them had a knife, since they sliced the strap right off my camera case? As it was, I came away with a headache and slight dizziness when I woke up, rather than a knife wound in the side or worse.

Normally I try to be street smart, but never in a million years did I think I needed to be worried on the Castellana and Plaza de Colon on a Sunday afternoon! Since I am an Asian American, the attackers may have assumed I was a wealthy Japanese tourist (who have been frequent victims of these types of attacks).

Wow!!! I am glad you were not physically injured.

Hi there Eduardo! Don't spend too much time trying to figure out if you should have behaved differently. The muggers knew they had a plan. You didn't know they had a plan! You probably would have been injured if you had struggled. Better to lose a belonging than to lose your life. Just count your stars that there were helpful people around to help you out afterwards.

My Goodness, Eduardo! That's TERRIBLE!! And you LIVE IN MADRID!!! I'm SO sorry to hear this. The mother of a friend of mine had her purse snatched by a couple guys driving down the road and they dragged her about 25 feet before she let go.

Eduardo, I see you posted the identical account on The Lonely Planet's The Thorn Tree HERE . You joined their forum today and you posted today. I'm sure you're anxious to get the word out. Try the forums of EuroTrip.com as well.

But be sure to make clear you're talking about Madrid, Spain. I noticed both here and there you didn't mention that Plaza de Colón and Paseo de la Castellana were in Madrid, Spain until the very last line - some people won't read that far. I'm sure some out there have never heard of these two places. Be sure to include the country or at least the city name in your subject lines to bring attention to their importance and location.

Again, I'm SO sorry to hear of this terrible event. Hope it NEVER EVER happens to you again.

Sadly, MadridMan

Thanks to everyone for the sympathetic comments. It helps to cope with the psychological stress that will outlast the soreness in my neck.

This is very very disgusting It makes me upset to hear of this kind of things in my own city.

Eduardo, you couldn't do anything but what you did if they had a knife. I would have done the same.

I'm sure of two things: They attacked you because they thought you were japanese (which are by nature confident people), and because they saw the digital camera in advance.

Hard Rock Cafe is a very touristy place (more than a place frequently visited by spanirds). When in this kind of places I suggest if possible to hide your cameras and other appealing things.

Take care and if you need help contact me.

Fernando

I hope you're okay - I know how it feels. The time I was mugged in Seville, I KNEW it was going to happen but I didn't take precautions like I should have. We were leaving a bar around midnight, one AM and it was in barrio santa cruz. Being from New York, I was aware that two guys were following me and my three friends but what can you really do in that neighborhood? We just had to wait for it to happen... Two of my friends were walking in front and I was walking behind... They lunged for me because I have hair down to my waist and I had a bag in my hand while the friend I was walking next to had short hair and a bag slung over her shoulder. I was dragged about 20 feet by my hair and screamed louder than I've ever screamed in my life because I knew there was an outdoor cafe not even a block away. A minute or two later some big looking Spanish guys came over to chase them away and help me up. They didn't get anything from me and I wasn't seriously hurt - just a few scrapes from being dragged - but it was really frightening. The guys who helped me walked us back to the nearest main road to calm our nerves.

Hindsight is 20/20 but you know what? Looking back today, over a year later, I realize there is absolutely nothing I could have done to prevent that and I did the only thing I could do - scream for help.

Melinda

Hi.
So sorry to hear this, it happened to me a while ago in Madrid too.
One thing...you absolutely did the right thing..no doubt whatsoever.
Hope you are feeling ok.
best wishes
JamesC

I received this email from a woman in/from London the other day and she has given me permission to post it on the message board...:

Subject: Pickpockets in Madrid - and the police's attitude
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 18:13:15

Hi MadridMan

I found your website when researching a trip to Madrid for my sister's hen weekend. I read the warnings about pickpockets, and also the other people who commented about how it didn't happen to everyone. Also we are all from London and used to looking out for our bags etc, as most people who live in a city do.

Well, I thought I'd just write and say that me, my sister and a friend had just arrived at the airport and were taking the metro into town, when all three of us were targeted by a group who surrounded us. The tube was packed, so at first the little pushings and shovings were put down to overcrowding. But then our friend got wise, and just as the train pulled up she warned us to watch our stuff. Naturally the gang left at the next stop, taking my sister's purse with them.

OK, we thought, bad luck. But we were gobsmacked by the reactions of anyone we told. The taxi driver shrugged and said "that's life in a city", the guy at the hostal when we were checking in said "it happens to most people in Madrid, but that was a bit quick", but the biggest surprise of all was when we tried to report it to the police at Sol metro station. They flung a leaflet at my sister, telling her that they had way too many of these things to deal with in person, ring that number and then go and pick up the report later. He really couldn't have cared less, and said it was just happening too much to be dealt with.

We know, living in London, that these things happen. We put it down to experience and carried on with our weekend. But the way people just shrugged their shoulders as if to say "what can you do?" was almost the worst part of the whole experience. It just seemed to us that no-one is trying very hard to do much about it. And the reaction of the police was frankly unimpressive. We didn't want 5 star treatment, nor did we expect to get the purse back, but if the problem is reaching epidemic proportions, why is no-one doing anything about it? There were at least 7 police standing outside the police station in Sol doing absolutely nothing. I know the police can't be everywhere at all times, and there is only so much they can do, but we felt that if they had been riding seven tube cars, or standing on seven platforms, possibly seven less people would have lost their stuff.

We did go on to have a good time in Madrid, which is a city I have always liked, and Carnival was great. But it seemed that the place had got a lot more seedy since I was last there – especially didn't like the many groups of men standing around Buen Retiro Park offering me drugs when I just wanted to go for a walk - and my sister says although she had a good time, she doesn't particularly want to go back, which is not only a great shame for her, but also for the Madrid tourist office. It must be bad for the city's image if the problem has got so bad that no Madrileno is surprised when you tell them you've been robbed, and the general apathy we encountered will surely only make it worse.

Has anyone else experienced the sort of apathy we did, or did we just catch everyone on an off day?

Although we had a good time, and thank you very much for your website, the experience coloured our view of Madrid a bit. But thanks for the information – pooling people's experiences is a really good way of spreading information.
******************

The council should take notice of these kind of situations... It is a shame, it hurts the city image and tourism.

As long as I know there are some planned actuations to low these kind of crimes, but they are not enough or unsuccessful.

The thing is: Althought the crime rate has risen, it has raised even more when the target is a tourist.

I really can't understand why we have reached this situation...

Fernando