Reward Fund for Midtown attack on Aaron Timlin & Jackie Strez

**Alley** · July-29-11, 06:11 PM

if you have any information, or are interested in contributing to the reward fund, visit the FB page via the below link:

from http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q...25389187496613

"Just the slightest detail, which viewers might not even notice, that is inaccurate in a news report can really make a difference. Ch 4 said Aaron yelled at a speeding car that prompted the attack on us Monday morning. This is inaccurate information provided by the police. The three attackers came from a PARKED car across the street. The attackers had been hanging out in and around the car since earlier in the evening when our neighbor noticed them. She thought it suspicious and let her dog out in the front yard as a signal. Aaron and I arrived home and were getting out of our car to go inside our house. The three attackers came across the street, got in Aaron's face and said, "You want to mess with us?," the female antagonizing with, "You don't want to mess with them, they're going to mess you up." We did not provoke any argument. It was clear when we attempted to politely remove ourselves from the situation that the attackers intended to do harm to us regardless. They were possibly on drugs, as Aaron remembers the girl being unusually hyper. They punched him in the mouth and the face several times. He attempted to go toward the house when the attackers kicked him to the ground, and punched him in the back of the head. I attempted to stop them, trying to get to Aaron, then they knocked me down and at some point cut my face. I yelled, "We're neighbors! We're neighbors! Why are you doing this to us?" So when OUR neighbor heard us screaming now, she called the police, saw them kicking us on the ground, came outside and pepper sprayed them in the face. The attackers ran back into their car [[the same car our neighbor saw them sitting in earlier in the evening) and drove off, running over the curbs. They probably could not see from the pepper spray in they're eyes and faces. When the police were there, not one of the approximately 8 officers left us to follow a car that could have been easily spotted since they probably were not driving straight. Maybe they phoned another cop car to search for it, we don't know, I would be giving them the benefit of the doubt. Angered by this, Aaron ran out in the street, shook up and upset, seeing what happened to me and that the police were not doing anything about the car. He started yelling for the criminals to come back, and yelled at a car speeding down our block at a crime scene because he was filled with rage. To which police did not even try to calm him, only apparently wrote in the report something that is falsely interpreted. He did not provoke a fight by yelling at a speeding car in the street, but that is what officers wrote down.
The police report also says that I was "uncooperative."
The first thing the police said to me was they were going to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital. At that point I did not realize I was cut. The whole attack was a blackout to me and Aaron, it seemed to happen in a flash. I looked down and saw blood all over my shirt my hands and pants, and noticed my face dripping, then felt a gash under my eye. I was still in shock. They said they were getting me an ambulance and I told them I did not have insurance. The DMC was three blocks away; I told them I would walk there or we would drive ourselves. They then told me that there was nothing they could do for me. They did not take a statement from Aaron or I. When I asked the officers what they were going to do- if they were even making a police report [[because they were not aiding in any other way), one of the officers answered me with, "You're being uncooperative." I asked the officer, through tears and confusion what he wanted to know and expressed frustration for not being able to remember everything that happened. They stood around with hands on their hips and guns. One officer gave me a card with a report number and they all turned around, got in their cars and pulled away. Aaron, I and two of our neighbors walked to DMC, where we were met by the first people to show concern for us and were quick to help get us taken care of. There I found out, by the doctor's analysis of my wounds, that I had been cut by a sharp knife, one long slash from my forehead to my breast.
I have to say, we have been avoiding making public all the negativity we've received from the police we dealt with. After all, we want their help in finding the three that jumped us.
I wanted to get out a statement to the public from our mouths before I hear any more false/slanted reporting. Though I recognize there are great people in the police force, so far with this incident, the one's we are supposed to turn to for help and justice in emergencies, have only lessened our faith in the system and given us more struggle and burden than we would have had without them. We seek their help in finding our attackers, but they have blamed us as victims. They have not taken our statements on our own crime, written a barely comprehensive report based on no real facts, treated us without dignity and respect, and left us wondering if there will really ever be an investigation.
Thanks only now to the help of a FRIEND on the police force, maybe something can be done.

P.S. We just found out now, that the interview we had with Channel 7 did not air because the police told the news that we provoked the attack.

**Alley** · July-29-11, 06:15 PM

Jeez, of course I meant "reward FUND" not reward for the attack. I don't know how to edit the title >.<

**dtowncitylover** · July-29-11, 07:09 PM

I hope those thugs are found and brought to justice.

**gnome** · July-29-11, 09:25 PM

I am sorry you have had this experience. Being a victim of an attack can be very confusing and can make you question everything and everyone. Your feelings are completely understandable.

**Zacha341** · July-30-11, 03:54 AM

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/28697534/detail.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43935551...during-attack/

**rjk** · July-30-11, 05:58 AM

I have a feeling I'm going to take a beating for this, but I'm going to ask the question anyways.
What was your thought process concerning the photos on your FB page? Not that you posted a photo of yourself, but how they are presented. Considering what happened to you, there's a really wierd artsy, fashion magazine quality to the photos.

**jsmyers** · July-30-11, 09:14 AM

This hits kinda close to to home for me. Aaron was my landlord for a year. I lived near second and Alexandrine in the old house he owned there. I rented the 1st floor, which was previously rented by his sister. This was in 2005-2006. There were also apartments on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

I suspect that he lives in one of them now.

**Alley** · July-30-11, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by rjk

I have a feeling I'm going to take a beating for this, but I'm going to ask the question anyways.
What was your thought process concerning the photos on your FB page? Not that you posted a photo of yourself, but how they are presented. Considering what happened to you, there's a really wierd artsy, fashion magazine quality to the photos.

I just passed the story along. This is not my FB page, nor did this happen to me.

DC48080 · July-30-11, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by Alley

I just passed the story along. This is not my FB page, nor did this happen to me.

This didn't happen to you?????? In the original post [[posted by you) you told the story from a first hand perspective.

A few of many examples from your original post:

"Ch 4 said Aaron yelled at a speeding car that prompted the attack on us"

"Aaron and I arrived home and were getting out of our car to go inside our house"

"We did not provoke any argument. It was clear when we attempted to politely remove ourselves from the situation that the attackers intended to do harm to us regardless"

"I attempted to stop them, trying to get to Aaron, then they knocked me down and at some point cut my face"

"Why are you doing this to us?"

Which is it? Did it happen to you or not?

**terryh** · July-30-11, 01:09 PM

Im glad they were pepper sprayed! Hope they get caught. The attackers were probably hanging out all day boozing,smoking and snorting. Individual city cops can be just as adolescent, antagonistic and apathetic as the citizens they deal with on a daily basis. In many cities a nosy neighbor need only to report a carload of suspicious characters sitting in a park car for a protracted period of time and a scout car rolls by to investigate.............

**Russix** · July-30-11, 01:31 PM

The car is key here, was it a second or third generation Ford Escort and what body style?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Escort_[[North_America)

**wolverine** · July-30-11, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by DC48080

This didn't happen to you?????? In the original post [[posted by you) you told the story from a first hand perspective.

A few of many examples from your original post:

"Ch 4 said Aaron yelled at a speeding car that prompted the attack on us"

"Aaron and I arrived home and were getting out of our car to go inside our house"

"We did not provoke any argument. It was clear when we attempted to politely remove ourselves from the situation that the attackers intended to do harm to us regardless"

"I attempted to stop them, trying to get to Aaron, then they knocked me down and at some point cut my face"

"Why are you doing this to us?"

Which is it? Did it happen to you or not?

DC48080:
It's not written first hand when quotation marks are used. I'm not surprised people missed that the entire story was quoted in typical DYes fashion.

Here's a little refresher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark.

And oh yeah.....

Be nice.

**JenniferL** · July-30-11, 02:07 PM

Ten years ago, I felt somewhat safe walking around that area. Not anymore.

**Alley** · July-30-11, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by DC48080

This didn't happen to you?????? In the original post [[posted by you) you told the story from a first hand perspective.

A few of many examples from your original post:

"Ch 4 said Aaron yelled at a speeding car that prompted the attack on us"

"Aaron and I arrived home and were getting out of our car to go inside our house"

"We did not provoke any argument. It was clear when we attempted to politely remove ourselves from the situation that the attackers intended to do harm to us regardless"

"I attempted to stop them, trying to get to Aaron, then they knocked me down and at some point cut my face"

"Why are you doing this to us?"

Which is it? Did it happen to you or not?

How about you simmer down and pay attention, notice the 'from' before the given link, and the quotation marks.

**adamjab19** · July-30-11, 07:47 PM

Shit DC calm down.

I was wondering the same thing [[and almost posted about it this morning) did they dress up for the facebook pics?

**aaron** · July-31-11, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by rjk

I have a feeling I'm going to take a beating for this, but I'm going to ask the question anyways.
What was your thought process concerning the photos on your FB page? Not that you posted a photo of yourself, but how they are presented. Considering what happened to you, there's a really wierd artsy, fashion magazine quality to the photos.

I appreciate the question. We were asked by a painter friend of ours if she could photograph Jackie for a painting. She wanted Jackie to dress up and so we decided to have a picture taken together, since we don't dress up as much as we would like. The photos with the blood were taken as soon as we arrived home from the hospital. We felt it was important that people learned what happened in our neighborhood. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words". The "fashion" photos were taken the next day. We decided from the beginning that this incident was not going to ground our spirits from flying and that we would make something positive come from it. Jackie is an actress and I work in the visual and performing arts. We will always respond to challenges and hardships with imagination and creativity. Our lives are what we make them and we can't have an adventure without stories. Sometimes the stories are hard to bare, but as long as we understand that they are our stories we will bring to them everything we have - all that we feel, fear and love, all that we create and all that we can imagine to make our lives and the lives of others as awesome as life can possibly be.

**Lowell** · July-31-11, 10:49 PM

Nice non-acrimonious reply. Thanks for not taking the bait and going for the positive instead.

I am very sorry for your misfortune and admire your spirit, strength and ability to move on.

**Russix** · August-01-11, 04:50 AM

Originally Posted by aaron

I appreciate the question. We were asked by a painter friend of ours if she could photograph Jackie for a painting. She wanted Jackie to dress up and so we decided to have a picture taken together, since we don't dress up as much as we would like. The photos with the blood were taken as soon as we arrived home from the hospital. We felt it was important that people learned what happened in our neighborhood. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words". The "fashion" photos were taken the next day. We decided from the beginning that this incident was not going to ground our spirits from flying and that we would make something positive come from it. Jackie is an actress and I work in the visual and performing arts. We will always respond to challenges and hardships with imagination and creativity. Our lives are what we make them and we can't have an adventure without stories. Sometimes the stories are hard to bare, but as long as we understand that they are our stories we will bring to them everything we have - all that we feel, fear and love, all that we create and all that we can imagine to make our lives and the lives of others as awesome as life can possibly be.

Hi, since reading this, I've actually seen a burgundy ford escort at Marcus Market with 2 males that matched the description and 1 female that atleast matched the age group. Before I go sounding the alarm [[we did call the cops and report the license plate number) I would like to know what body style the escort was if you can remember. The late 90s were a cross over between generations. The pre 97 escorts came as a 3-door hatchback, 4 door sedan, 4 door station wagon, or 5 door hatchback. These cars would be considered "boxey"er compared to the cars made after 97 which had rounder trim and only came as a 4 door sedan or 4 door station wagon. It was also mentioned that this was a "beater" car, so any details on an obvious dent or damage to the car would be a dead giveaway. I've tuned alot people in to this attack and any more info would greatly assist in spotting them.

**Maof** · August-01-11, 07:38 AM

be nice is right. alley doesn't post here often and maybe this is why. hope things turn out for your friends alley.

**aaron** · August-01-11, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by Russix

Hi, since reading this, I've actually seen a burgundy ford escort at Marcus Market with 2 males that matched the description and 1 female that atleast matched the age group. Before I go sounding the alarm [[we did call the cops and report the license plate number) I would like to know what body style the escort was if you can remember. The late 90s were a cross over between generations. The pre 97 escorts came as a 3-door hatchback, 4 door sedan, 4 door station wagon, or 5 door hatchback. These cars would be considered "boxey"er compared to the cars made after 97 which had rounder trim and only came as a 4 door sedan or 4 door station wagon. It was also mentioned that this was a "beater" car, so any details on an obvious dent or damage to the car would be a dead giveaway. I've tuned alot people in to this attack and any more info would greatly assist in spotting them.

Below is the description our neighbor gave of the car. She had noticed the car before we arrived home and chased the attackers back into it with her pepper spray. I remember the color and that it was 4 door, but I remember the female the best because she was standing under the street light and yelling in my face before I was punched and later knocked out. She was about 5'9" with flat shoulder length hair and long bangs. She was well built with broad shoulders, round face and large lips. She had dark eyes that looked angry. We may have spotted her a few days ago. We called the police but by the time they realized what they were going to do and where they were going to meet us [[25 minutes on the phone with them), she was gone.

Neighbors description of car:

"Late 1990's burgundy 4 door sedan. A smaller car like an Escort or a Cavalier."

**Zacha341** · August-01-11, 08:18 AM

OK got the car, now on the woman: was she black or white, light skinned, brown or darker skinned? I live nearby and would like these crucial details. And to echo others here, I am very sorry this had to happen to you and your friend. These creeps will run upon trouble from someone as ready as they are. There's alot of violent people trolling around and they need to be taken off the streets.

Originally Posted by aaron

....She was about 5'9" with flat shoulder length hair and long bangs. She was well built with broad shoulders, round face and large lips. She had dark eyes that looked angry. We may have spotted her a few days ago. We called the police but by the time they realized what they were going to do and where they were going to meet us [[25 minutes on the phone with them), she was gone.

Neighbors description of car:

"Late 1990's burgundy 4 door sedan. A smaller car like an Escort or a Cavalier."

**English** · August-01-11, 08:37 AM

Aaron, welcome to DetroitYES. Hate that this happened to you and Jackie.

**aaron** · August-01-11, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

OK got the car, now on the woman: was she black or white, light skinned, brown or darker skinned? I live nearby and would like these crucial details. And to echo others here, I am very sorry this had to happen to you and your friend. These creeps will run upon trouble from someone as ready as they are. There's alot of violent people trolling around and they need to be taken off the streets.

She was dark skinned. Also, whomever got that license plate number, if you can share it with me that would be helpful. We are finally meeting with an investigator tonight. aaron@thecaid.org

**aaron** · August-01-11, 08:17 PM

Originally Posted by jsmyers

This hits kinda close to to home for me. Aaron was my landlord for a year. I lived near second and Alexandrine in the old house he owned there. I rented the 1st floor, which was previously rented by his sister. This was in 2005-2006. There were also apartments on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

I suspect that he lives in one of them now.

Hey, Jason. Hello. Yes, we stay in the third floor. It's hot up here. This all happened in our front yard as we were coming home Monday morning. We ain't leaving. In fact we are planning a candle lit dinner in the front yard where the attack occurred. We're going to post an invite on Facebook soon. I think we are going to call it "Candle lit dinner under a Corridor Moon." Donations will be accepted to go towards a scholarship fund for a Detroit high school senior to use for tuition for peace and conflict studies and social justice.

**KOMPOST** · August-01-11, 08:26 PM

As much as it pained me to hear about this horrific incident, I am equally emboldened and inspired by Aaron and Jackie's response to it.
Seriously, beautiful.
A step toward peace when the common reflex is war.
These two have illustrated another wonderful thing about this uncommon city we call home.
Peace.