Ganesh Kharel remembers glancing up at his attackers as he lay bleeding on the sidewalk in uptown Harrisburg. The punches and kicks rained down on him. He screamed for help.
That was the experience of a 56-year-old refugee who left Bhutan six months ago to come to the United States in search of a more promising future for his family and himself.
Now he no longer wants to live in Harrisburg.
It’s been a rough start to the year in Pennsylvania’s capital city. Strong-arm robberies — robberies without a weapon — went up significantly in January after a year when homicide totals were at the lowest levels in a decade, according to Harrisburg police.
There were 16 such muggings in the city in January, compared with nine in December — a 43 percent increase. Robberies with a weapon decreased slightly last month.
Victims suffered broken jaws, cuts and bruises. No arrests have been made in the recent midtown and uptown robberies, but three detectives and a supervisor are investigating the cases. There’s no evidence any of the cases are connected, Harrisburg police Lt. Robert Fegan said.
The robberies appear to be the work of young men, likely teenagers who are looking for easy targets. Those targets include immigrants, the elderly and people walking alone.
“A group of guys isn’t going to approach someone who is 6-foot-4, 250 pounds,” Fegan said. “They pick out the weak ones.”
In response, police have beefed up patrols in the affected areas, Fegan said. Some officers will walk the streets, and there’s also a dedicated street crimes unit that will be focusing on the robberies.
At least one business has been affected by the crime wave.
Randy Straub, co-owner of the Soup Spot at North Third and Herr streets, said revenue drops when muggings increase. To offset the shortfall, he’s had to lay off employees and cut his staff’s hours.
Much of his customer base is walk-in traffic, he said. The restaurant expanded last year, moving from its original take-out-only location a few doors down.
In addition to the financial effect, an employee and a former employee were mugged after leaving the eatery in two separate incidents in the last six months.
The impact of his business has motivated Straub to create a midtown crime watch group. So far, Straub said he has about 40 people interested in joining.
“I want it to be safer for people to come and eat and safer for my employees to go home,” said Straub, a West Shore resident. “It makes me wonder if I chose the right location.”
The muggings have not affected Cribari’s, a new Italian restaurant on Reily Street where Jeff Utzman is the executive chef.
But there are several things that contribute to its good fortune. The restaurant is in a well-lighted area, Harrisburg Area Community College is nearby and Midtown Cinema is across the street. With the traffic and lighting, it doesn’t appear to be an attractive area for thugs, he said.
Common sense goes a long way in preventing being a crime victim, Utzman said.
“Don’t walk down [a dark] alley,” he said. “Always keep your keys in your hands. Don’t leave yourself out there like a lame duck.”
Courtesy : The Patriot-News
