Safety in numbers? It depends on what you’re counting. For a Louisville family, the number of violent marauding teens who descended on them last Saturday evening seemed somewhere in the range of 50 to 100, though police fix the number closer to 200.
CBS affiliate KTVL notes that Viola Loeffler, her five children, and her boyfriend, Ron Carter, were anything but safe, when the mob of black teens materialized out of nowhere and suddenly surrounded their car.
“This is like something out of a movie,” Viola Loeffler told reporters. “I’ve never seen something like this before.”
The incident occurred around around 8 p.m., at an intersection. Loeffler explains:
Right before we got to the stoplight, we noticed about 50 to 100 teens coming to the middle of the street. It was a one-way street so we couldn’t go any further. All of a sudden, one of them throws a garbage can on our car.
From there, the situation rapidly devolved into unprovoked violence. Carter, who was driving, made the mistake of exiting the vehicle, at which point the pack moved in on him.
Then all of a sudden, I’m getting attacked. At that point, I jump in the driver’s seat and heard them throwing rocks at my car. The rocks were hitting the kids inside the car.
Meanwhile, Loeffler and her five children, still inside the car, went into what she describes as “survival mode,” adding, “I tried to analyze the situations as quick as possible and figure out the safest way to get everyone safe.”
Loeffler briefly entertained thoughts of getting behind the wheel and attempting to drive off, but the car was surrounded. It was at this point that one of mob attacked her. “The boy comes out of nowhere, punches me in the eye, knocks me out,” she said.
Somehow, the family made its way to a food mart where they were able to summon help.
Loeffler says her children, all under the age of 12, witnessed everything. “One of my kids is going to have to, she needs counseling. She’s been having nightmares these past few day, waking up shaking and crying. There needs to be better guidance for these kids around here. I’m very glad that we’re alive.”
Louisville Police say the approximately 200 teens have been involved in at least 17 incidents. There has been at least one arrest and police are looking for other suspects.
