Tuesday, September 4, 2007
News Straut shout-out
Posted by Andisheh Nouraee on Tue, Sep 4, 2007 at 7:01 PM
Today's AJC has a nice feature on Atlanta Police Department Sgt. Richard Straut. It's about how Straut did not let a near-fatal bullet-wound to his brain in 1989 derail his police career.
It was an especially meaningful read to me because, last October, Straut was the only person at the APD who treated me like a human after I was held up at gunpoint.
Straut returned all of my calls and e-mails promptly, a courtesy that none of his APD colleagues could manage.
Crucially, Straut worked during his off-hours to decode a security video showing the man who robbed me while I was using my bank card at a gas station. The video was recorded using an obscure digital format that could not be viewed without special software. Straut found the software -- enabling police to circulate the robber's picture, and enabling prosecutors to easily force him into a plea bargain after he was caught. He's now serving 10 years in state prison.
Nothing about Straut indicated to me at the time that he'd suffered a bullet wound to the head. In retrospect, perhaps the reason he was so sympathetic to my situation was because he is sympathetic to crime victims.
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