A Dangerous Place to Live

Embed from Getty Images

—
The day after 8 people were killed and several injured in a terrorist attack in NYC, Patrick Dougher wrote the following on Facebook:

I rode that route where 8 bikers were mowed down and killed yesterday several times over this summer on my way up to the Cloisters. I know that this city has always been dangerous. Even more so during my youth and growing years. I have witnessed and experienced first-hand horrific scenes. I’ve seen people stabbed and shot to death. I’ve seen people hit by trains and cars. I’ve walked into drug spots minutes after they’ve been robbed and stepped over the freshly dead bleeding out as I looked for any money or drugs that may have been left behind. I’ve been stabbed (in the face when he tried to ram the knife in my eye and I turned my head at the last second) and slashed. I’ve broken my leg, arm, ribs, collarbone, and fingers in fights and accidents. Yes and I’ve been shot at several times. Had a gun pointed at my forehead misfire. Had a cop put his gun to my chest and beg me to say something.

All those incidents seem like distant memories that happened to someone else but the one tragedy that is forever burned in my minds sight happened in the late 80’s. I was out on a cigarette break from my job at an art store in Park Slope when I watched – almost like it was slow motion – a car come around the corner swerving onto the sidewalk as it mowed down 4 people including a woman pushing a baby carriage. Some kids from the local high school had stolen a car and didn’t know how to drive. They rammed and smashed a 16-year-old girl into the back of a parked van less than 10 feet in front of me. They dashed out of the car right an arm’s length from me but I was too shocked to move or stop them. It was surreality happening in real time. I snapped out of it in time to hold the broken hand of that 16 yr old girl. I told her it was going to be ok. Help was on its way. I whispered prayers to her. I stared into her violet-blue eyes as they clouded and she took her final gasping breath… I was the last face she saw. I will never forget that look or the feeling of her hand becoming weightless in mine…This is a dangerous place to live but I LIVE and have lived here…

—
Patrick Dougher was born and raised in Brooklyn. He is an artist, musician, and educator with over 30 years’ experience as a fine artist and drummer/percussionist and over 20 years experience in working for community-based arts and social justice organizations. To learn more about Patrick and his work, read this profile on him or visit him on Facebook.
—