Victims unsure whether to resist

At any time of the day or night in Philadelphia students may be victims of crime. Many people disagree on what to do when confronted with an attacker. Some say resist, others say be compliant. Last week, a student who was being mugged not only fought off his attacker, but also held him until police arrived at the scene. Of course, College junior Lance Dunlop also happened to be an ex-paratrooper from Israel. Dunlop said the very night he was attacked, he had been telling his friends never to fight back against muggers. When confronted with an attacker, however, he found it "instinctive" to resist. He described his training in Israel as "classical conditioning." University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said yesterday that how students react toward their assailants is a "personal choice." He added that he encourages students to think about possible situations and decide beforehand what they will do. "Safety is a very personal issue," Kuprevich said. "It's something we all deal with. I think it's safer for people to simply think about what they themselves are comfortable with [doing] and go from there." College junior Takehiro Matsutani practiced martial arts as a member of a Karate team in Japan two years ago and said he is continuing his training on campus. Matsutani said he was not sure what he would do when confronted with an assailant. "We have to defend ourselves, but traditional martial arts does not have much power agains guns," he said yesterday. "If there's one guy, I may try to defend myself, but if he or she has a weapon, I don't think I can resist. The bullet is much faster than kicks or punches." University Police Officer Owen Chadd said he knows of many cases when fighting back against attackers failed. "We had a case of a nurse accosted by a group of males," he said. "She resisted them and they broke her kneecaps with a baseball bat." "It's hard to say, fight back or don't fight back," Chadd added. "Departmentally, we don't advocate fighting back. Personally, I think it depends on the situation." He said it is difficult to determine when resisting an attacker will help or hurt a victim. Linda Hyatt, associate director of the president's office, said she was attacked three years ago in Center City right after she finished taking a UPPD self-defense course. She said she managed to fend off her attacker using tactics she learned during the course. "I was grabbed by someone who refused to let me go," Hyatt said yesterday. "I brought my heel down on a place on the person's foot that I had been taught was vulnerable. The person let me go." Hyatt said the self-defense course focused more on being prepared mentally for an attack, rather than on fighting techniques. She said she learned a few simple defense moves, but that the class taught her more how to avoid crime. Dunlop said he still does not advocate fighting back against assailants. "It was better than 50-50 in my favor," he said last night. "I was basically taught [in the army] to kill the guy before he gets to [me]." Dunlop added that he did not think fighting against assailants was the answer to reducing crime. "I'm really a pacifist," he said. "I think reaching out to the community is important, especially working with kids and giving them hope. It's no wonder kids are growing up to mug us when many don't have a chance at college, or a piece of the American dream."