Probably wouldn't have mattered. When you bleed out as quickly as she apparently did, despite being less than 10 minutes from a hospital, it likely meant that a major blood vessel was severed, or the heart itself was punctured or partially bisected. Could've also maybe been liver or kidney, which also have tremendous blood flow, but I doubt it. Even those take longer than 20-30 minutes to bleed out from. If I were placing bets, I'd say abdominal aorta puncture or bisection. For those, you could be stabbed while IN the hospital ER and still only have a slim chance. It's a huge volume of blood, and no way short of massive, invasive surgery within minutes to stop the bleed. |
That's quite a leap you're making. I'm a female runner as well, and I know enough to not run in unsafe situations. It's not that hard. And lol at "explicitly assert: don't attack, don't rape, don't shoot, don't kill, don't assault, etc." I'm sure they'll listen! |
| Victim has been identified as Wendy Martinez. It looks like she's fairly well connected in DC |
For example, Logan Circle before 8 pm on a Tuesday night. |
Really? So what did the victim do wrong here? She was running in a populated, largely safe urban neighborhood before dark. |
It's not a leap - it's exactly in the same vein. How many times do were still hear that women shouldn't dress a certain way? Go out alone? We're still trying to make women be accountable, instead of putting it on the shoulders of those, and the gender responsible. It's maddening that a woman can't go for a run in daylight, in a busy city with people around, or a trail, or rural iowa, or a golf course, or whatever... because men can't control themselves. There are no perfectly "safe situations" within a woman's control. |
Just because I always cross with the light in a crosswalk doesn’t mean I won’t ever be hit by a car, but I’m a lot safer than if I jaywalk mid-block on a busy street. Sometimes you do everything right and bad stuff still happens, which may be the case with this woman. Hearing about tragedies still can make people naturally take stock of their own behaviors. It’s a reminder, not a condemnation. |
| That is so sad, I feel so badly for her family. It sounds like it could have happened to anyone nearby. |
I lived 2 blocks from here for many years. It's a place where many people are walking alone all the time-esp at 8 pm. It's just a normal city street at a relatively occupied time. People live here, there are restaurants. Not like going running in the woods or at 5 am when no one is out. I doubt there is anything she could've done other than the luck of not being in that particular place and that particular time. |
If someone hits someone jaywalking mid-block on a busy street, it's almost certainly an accident. It's not like she just tripped and fell on someone's knife. Willful violence against a woman isn't her burden to bear. There are no perfectly safe conditions for women - the only perfectly safe situation is for men to not attack women. I'm so, so tired of the broken "be careful!" record, because it's simply not in our control. |
Are we sure it wasn't dark? Incident occurred around 8pm. The sun set yesterday at 7:13. Looks pretty dark out on the surveillance video, too. |
| Odd that so many are looking at this _solely_ through the prism of gender -- men attacking women -- when it might have been a racial hate crime (if the "colors" were reversed, that's the way WaPo would frame it), or just an example of the random risks of trying to go about your life in a culture where feral, drugged-out predators are allowed to prowl the streets unmolested. |
In other words, staying safe is something that ladies actually can't do. I've never heard anybody say, "Reduce your risk, ladies!" (Also, crossing mid-block can be safer than crossing at a crosswalk.) |
May she rest in peace.
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The perp looks like a woman, IMHO.
Here's the MPD's surveillance video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPVapzYxHk&feature=youtu.be |