Crime shows are typically so addicting because the subject matter is something usually so farfetched yet seemingly realistic at the very same time. People scour over these shows, books, and podcasts, often putting themselves in the shoes of the characters and wondering “What would I have done?”
Recently in San Francisco, however, one Law & Order junkie was put to the test, and she called upon something she saw in her favorite show to save her life...
Meet Julie
Julie Dragland was a PR Specialist for SEGA Networks from 9 to 5, but after hours, she had one true passion: true crime. It was her favorite way to relax. Throw on a documentary or gritty late-night drama and get ready for the next day. The San Francisco native had moved to Oakland, California. While it was pretty close to her old stomping grounds, just across the bay, new places can still feel like a world away…
Too Much TV
Julie’s parents, like many guardians, always warned her of the dangers of watching too much television. Especially as a young girl, they worried that she was being overexposed to troubling thoughts and images brought on by crime dramas and researched series. She agreed to a point but always argued that she was preparing for something potentially dangerous. She had no idea how right that was…
Boarding the BART
On day, at about 5 PM, Julie got on the Bay Area Rapid Transport (BART) train heading to see a friend uptown. It was a weekend day, so Julie wasn’t caught among the masses of rush-hour commuters. Instead, she had plenty of room all to herself. There were only 15 other passengers, but one of these commuters would later prove to be a rather sinister traveling companion…
New Frenemy
The 32-year-old rider was headed to Dublin, a city in the East Bay. As she rode through San Francisco, a woman got on at one of the stops. The woman was tall, with strawberry blonde hair, and was extremely beautiful. Julie was grateful that the woman sat behind her. You never know what weirdos could be riding on public transit, so the normal-looking lady seemed like a safe seatmate. That is until she made a move toward Julie...
Very Noteworthy
The woman reached over Julie’s shoulder and dropped a note in her lap. Confused, Julie picked up the letter to read it. She couldn’t believe or even understand what she was looking at. She didn’t dare turn around to look at the strawberry blonde woman. Silently, Julie turned towards other passengers to see if anyone had noticed, but there was no one meeting her gaze. She tried to think through her next move. She read the note over and over again…
Reading the Note
The note in her lap read the instructions pretty clearly. She looked over the handwritten note again. It said: “There are two guns pointed at you now. If you want to live hand back your wallet + phone NOW + do not turn around and be discreet. Do not turn around until after you have left Civic Center + you will live.” She had to think fast or risk losing everything she had on her person…
Losing Her Cool
“I started freaking out” reported Julie to the San Francisco Chronicle. She obviously didn’t want to hand over her wallet and phone, but what other option was there? Her heart was racing and she was panicking. She began to carefully and cautiously survey the train car for something or someone to help her out of the sticky situation, and one thing caught her eye…
Alone in a Crowded Place
The complete lack of any help was what got her attention. No one was watching her move, no one was carrying a suspicious package, or even looked menacing in any way. If she was supposed to be intimidated by someone, they certainly weren’t doing a very good job. Could she really be watched right now, or was it all an act? More than that, was it a risk she was willing to take?
Question Everything
"I started to question it a little bit, but I was still really scared," said Julie, "Is somebody really going to shoot someone for a phone and wallet?" Even though she doubted it, there was still a chance that there was a gun to her back, and she wasn’t willing to go down for the risk. However, she did have another idea, but she’d need to act quickly. The robber was waiting for her stuff…
Help Me!
She looked at the man across from her, who unfortunately hadn’t seen the entire exchange occur. They made eye contact and Julie mouthed “Help me!” to the fellow train passenger, but nothing came of it. He exited at the next stop, completely unaware. Julie was forced to figure something else out, so she called upon her knowledge of true crime and thought of a solution...
Criminal Activity
Julie finally decided that she wasn’t going to just hand over her items, not when she had a great idea in her back pocket. She was going to fake a seizure, an idea she got from watching criminal dramas. It would be a risky move, but not impossible. “If I fake a seizure or fake like I’m passing out,” she said, “I’m not even not complying.” She made the first move…
Seizing Up
She wanted to exit at 16th street, but with this new development, anywhere would have been fine. She began “seizing up” or at least appeared to be. A nice couple waiting nearby noticed and came over to help her, being good samaritans that they were. When she looked up at them though, they noticed that something was wrong, but what? Luckily, she had the perfect way to tell them...
Risking It All
“I slumped sideways and started shaking and crying, I closed my eyes and increased the vigor so people would pay attention,” recalled Julie. The convulsions might have put her in hot water as someone who falsely seized, but she would rather have that reputation with these strangers than being robbed. Everyone on the BART train was soon looking at her...
Stranger in Danger
As she lay in the arms of these strangers, Julie pulled the note from her grip and showed it to them. Her pleading look made them sure that they weren’t the ones being robbed, but rather she was the one truly in danger. They read and reread the red ink threat to themselves. She had roped them into her traumatic scheme, but could they get her out of it?
Civic Center Station Send-Off
As it turns out, they didn’t really need to. The next stop was the aforementioned Civic Center, which was Julie’s deadline location. The strawberry blonde woman casually exited the train car as if nothing had happened, and Julie was safe...or was she? Was there someone still on the train watching her every move, ready to pounce when she least expected it?
Watching the Footage
Well, pretty obviously, there were not two gunmen waiting for Julie on the train. The note was a scam popularized by people in the area who needed a quick buck and capitalized on the panicking for his or her life. The police searched the security camera for footage of the woman as well as scouring the Civic Center station. They couldn't believe what they saw…
Caught on Camera
She was nowhere to be found inside the train station, but the security cameras did not disappoint. The woman was clearly spotted on a train before the incident. The BART cameras had caught her in plain sight, but the sunglasses on her face skewed the results of identifying her any further. Julie wanted to move on though, and decided not to press charges…
Spread the Word
She turned to Twitter to warn others about the insane turn of events she had found herself in only hours before. “Someone just tried to rob me ‘at gunpoint’ on BART,” she wrote, “They sat behind me and dropped this note into my lap.” She told the users about how she thought up the idea of seizing and got the people on the train to help her out of the tough spot…
Television Pays Off
“I think it had something to do with watching a lot of Law & Order: SVU. I think I saw that in an episode. I was very impressed with myself,” she said. Honestly, even the police were pretty amazed by her quick thinking. Not many others were able to trick their robber into thinking they needed urgent medical attention. It worked out great for her, but not as well for others…
Didier's Dilemma
When Didier was locking up his e-cigarette store to go grab his afternoon lunch, a group of men walked into the store. “Sorry, we’re actually about to close,” he said. However, the group made it clear that the store wouldn’t be closing up while they were around. They were going to make sure of it, whatever it took to get what they wanted…
Cash Grab
The Belgium shop owner was aghast. The six men entered the store with weaponry and told him to give them all the money that he had in the register. At first, Didier was terrified and went over to the cash register, where the money was safely kept...for now. Instead, though, he had an incredible, but a very risky idea, that would get these robbers out of his store.
Closed For Now
Since it was only around 3 PM, it was daylight hours. In a 15 minute long conversation with the group of men, Didier proposed an alternate way to give the men their money without destroying his store, his livelihood, and maybe even taking his life. It was maybe the dumbest possible conversation, but it was one that worked because the robbers began rethinking their master plan…
Be Back Soon
He suggested to the group that they should come back later in the day when he would have made an entire day’s worth of money. In exchange, the robbers wouldn’t hurt him or the store. It seemed ridiculous at the moment, but it was even more ridiculous when everyone agreed to Didier’s terms. They would return later that night, at around 8 PM, for their full stolen stash of cash…
Money Talks
“I told them clearly that 3 PM is not the best time to hold up a store. You’ll take $1,000 bucks, but if you come back tonight you might be able to take more,” said Didier. Apparently his logic made sense to the thieves, who agreed to the proposal. They were sure that with more time they could double their profits, but they weren’t really thinking clearly…
Alerting Authorities
As soon as the group of gunmen left the premises, Didier called the police located in Charleroi, a town just south of Brussels, Belgium. He notified them of the hilarious situation and asked them to post up outside his storefront when his store closed. But would the robbers really be dumb enough to come back to a store they tried to steal from just a few hours prior?
After Hours
Well first, they tried to come back at 5:30 PM. Didier was worried that they had outsmarted him and were just going to rob him anyway. However, after he informed the gunmen that he wouldn’t be closing the store for another few hours, and the end of the day was his busiest time, they backed off and said they’d return later again. Didier couldn’t believe it...
The Worst Robbers In Belgium
“It’s like it was a comedy,” said Didier in an interview, “They’re being called the worst robbers in Belgium. When I called the police, they didn’t believe [the thieves] would come back.” In truth, he didn’t really believe it either. But, as promised, the thieves came back right when his store was prepared to close up for the day. They were met with such a surprise…
Fool's Gold
When they showed up to the store, police were inside waiting for them. There were five men arrested and one minor in the group who would have to be processed separately. Didier got to keep his store, his stash, and his life safe from the heathens. He never expected this to happen to him, but maybe he should have seen it coming way before it all went down…
Bank Teller Tells
Another man had a similar story of outsmarting a thief coming for his money, but in this case, the stakes were a little bit higher. Josh Marks from Columbus, Ohio was working as a bank teller in the center of the city. He thought his job was pretty boring, but he never really considered what it would be like if things ever got exciting. Unfortunately, one day they did…
The Other Side of the Glass
A man walked into Huntington Bank on June 4th in the city of Columbus. He handed the overworked and underpaid bank teller a note but averted his gaze. Josh started panicking. He had only heard about these things in television shows and podcasts, but he never thought he would be the one handling it from the other side of the glass...
Not Nearly Enough
The note informed Josh that the man was armed and wanted as much money as he could manage to sneak out. Without contest, Josh handed over a few big stacks of cash, praying for his life and trying to remember where the emergency panic button was under the desk. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, the man wasn’t satisfied with the cash given to him…
Cash Machine Robbery
The mystery man demanded more money. When Josh told him that there was no more money he could access, the man asked what it would take to get it. Josh informed the man that all transactions from the electronic machine would require a state-issued driver's license or other proof of identity. What happened next, Josh couldn’t believe…
Self-Identifying
The man reached into his pocket, causing Josh to panic. Instead of a weapon though, he pulled out a wallet, and then a driver's license. The 51-year-old man gave Josh his real identification card. Using his license to open the machine, Josh was able to give the money to the no-longer-mystery man. The man didn't even realize the mistake he had made…
Calling the Police
The police used the information in the system to track down the robber and promptly arrested him. He was charged with aggravated robbery and threatening with a deadly weapon. Thankfully, Josh’s quick thinking allowed him to save his own life as well as take down a criminal. Whoever said being a bank teller was boring work?