I always wondered how safe the ISU campus has been over recent years. Primarily over the past couple of years that I've lived here. Only because on the rare nights that I venture into Campustown late to get a fajita I see the plethora of drunken college students stumbling from bar to bar. With so many dorms and/or student living close by, it's never a good combination. This recent story was the perfect example.
Tania Lee was in her apartment at Fredericksen Court when would-be assailant Philip Sirgusa trespassed with bad intentions. He tried to strangle her and she thought it was her roommate playing a joke. Until he started to drag her out of the room. Then she knew it was real. That was also when her survival mode kicked in. As well as her self-defense classes.
Lee managed to lock the guy up and pin him down. She said once she pinned Siragusa, he punched her in the face, broke free and ran from her apartment. She believes it scared him when she fought back. The scumbag was caught within a couple of hours later by Iowa State Campus security.
The first thing that struck me about this story was the location of the incident. Fredericksen Court is right down the street from where I live. This guy was going apartment to apartment trying every door until he came across one that was unlocked and just walked in. What if he would have tried that with the homes that were close by? Even though he STILL got his butt kicked AND arrested and charged, he should consider himself fortunate that he wandered into that apartment rather than this house. Not so sure he would have been alive enough for the police to arrest him.
Mad props to Lee though for actually fighting back and refusing to become a victim. Let us not forget that the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy made his trademark plaguing college campuses. Whose to say this idiot wasn't attempting to be the next one to do that? Lee's actions could have potentially thwarted another similar killing spree.
Don't get me wrong...there is something to said about the fact that her apartment was unlocked in the first place. She took self-defense classes so I'm sure one of the basic things they taught her was the importance of home security. I'm just going to chalk her temporary lapse in judgment of leaving that door unlocked to a brief moment of absent-mindedness. Hopefully, this incident will serve as a serious reminder her to not let that happen again. But for now, thank goodness she was able to avoid becoming a statistic while making that moron one.
