For 52-year-old Tracy Corbin, her bus trip home was the end of a day spent in Cleveland, Ohio.
The walk from the bus stop to her nearby home is one she has made for decades with no problems. That all changed Saturday night when she saw a group of teenagers turn around to follow her.
Corbin recounted Monday how the teenagers harassed her before attacking and robbing her just before 9 p.m. near South Arlington Street in an interview with Beacon Journal partner News 5 Cleveland.
As she walked home, the group caught up with her, so she stepped aside. That’s when one teenager threatened her if she called the police or pulled out a chemical spray.
When Corbin turned back toward the bus stop, which was closer than her home, the first punches landed.
“That’s when they started hitting me from behind and punching me and kicking me, and that’s when I fell to my knees, unconscious,” she told a News 5 reporter.
As her vision blackened, Corbin recalled how there was a tugging feeling on her purse, which she let go of before the teenagers fled the scene.
‘I was scared to go to my residence’
After the attack, Corbin said she knocked on two doors with no answer. A third neighbor answered, took her in and let her call the police.
Another neighbor who saw the group of teenagers run through a yard but did not see the attack didn’t think anything of it until she saw items from Corbin’s purse scattered in the grass. Then she called 911.
Now, three days after the attack, Corbin is scared to make the short walk from the bus stop to her home.
“The last two times I took a nap, I kept waking up with visions of people pounding on me and being scared,” she told News 5. “Yesterday, when I came back from my bus, I was scared to go to my residence; now you have to really be on the lookout.”
Corbin’s face is bruised and swollen, making it hard to see out of her right eye. Her hand is swollen. Bruises line her back, she said. She has a fractured nose and a concussion.
Although she has much of what was initially stolen, including the purse, the suspects got away with cash and her credit cards, she said.
“It happened so quick, I didn’t know how to react,” she said.
Akron police investigating the incident
Corbin told police she there were between 6 and 8 males and females all between the ages of 12 and 15, according to an Akron Police Department press release issued Monday.
Lt. Michael Miller said no arrests have been made and urged the community to come forward with any information.
“This type of thing, to see the severity of a victim’s injuries should, our hope is, to stimulate or draw or encourage the community to fill this gap that we need,” Miller said. “That gap is some information from the community to identify the teens responsible for this.”
A similar attack occurred in mid-July when teenagers attacked and robbed a man on Hammel Street, taking his phone and electric scooter, he said.
Both incidents remain under investigation.
I just can’t imagine raising kids that turn out like this. These have to be parents who don’t ask questions and just don’t care. All the parents of these criminals should be charged as well, do your damn job as a parent.