I rode straight into gun shoot out in Brooklyn yesterday. The kinda thing you tell yourself would never happen, but I came within 20 ft of some a#%hole shooting a gun. I'm still freaking out, it's actually depressing.
Was riding my Raleigh on the greenway out to Coney Island, the only real stretch I can bike without cars in this part of Brooklyn. Got to a park about 3 blocks from the beach, overlooking a creek with some shipwrecks. I kept following the shore and popped out at the other end into "projects" or low income assisted housing or whatever.
Thought for a second, this is a real scary looking neighborhood. Peeled south to find the main drag, Neptune Ave. Just as I came up to the corner, I hear a POP. Someone runs across the street. Hmmm, people don't run from toy guns or firecrackers. That instant, I see this guy with a gun across the street, ahead of me. I hear 2, 3 and eventually 5 or 6 shots go off quickly, he's pointing at the sidewalk over my right shoulder. I see his arm flailing with a gun. (I have bad peripheral vision so it's all blurry, but I can tell what it is.) It all happens in a flash.
I'm banking left and pedaling, trying to race out of that intersection as fast as I can. i'm thinking, don't stop, don't stop, keep going. I didn't want to hear that sound again, and shut out thoughts of what else he might do. Just get out.
After a few minutes, police and ambulance with sirens blazing pass me heading towards the scene -- or were they? Did this really happen? I didn't slow down until I was back on the greenway.
I got home and told my wife right away. I was scared, and depressed. How could a nice placid ride to the beach turn into a near death experience? It's not like you're thinking you're gonna get caught in a cross fire every day -- just because you live in New York. But this really hit home. I doubt I'll ever go near there again. It just sucks from a biking perspective.
My wife says to keep riding and just stay out of bad neighborhoods. I don't know, I'm having a hard time getting over this. The park was lovely, I hung out with a harmless old lady. Couldn't have imagined I'd nearly get shot only three blocks away.
Some of us live in big scary cities, right? Please cheer me up.
