I have made a point of staying away from the DTES for most of the last year. I know from experience that if you dare to show up on East Hastings Street or anywhere in that area with a camera then you are inviting trouble, serious trouble. But, "DTES issues" continue to spread through the central business district, Yaletown, Downtown South, the West End and beyond.
When I was assaulted a while back on Davie Street I didn't really feel too seriously threatened because the guy was kind of small and pathetic and obviously mentally ill. He ended up running away from me.
Today was different. I came as close as ever to being seriously hurt by yet another crazed individual. This time he was younger and several inches taller than me.
I was on Seymour street across from the Bay trying to get pictures of 601 West Hastings. I would step out onto the street between parked cars to try to get the best view looking down the street. My camera was not in anybody's face. I really make a point of avoiding that kind of thing and will wait and wait and wait until I can get a shot without being in peoples' faces.
But, one crazy guy thought I was trying to take pictures of him and started yelling at me and came up and started saying he was going to kill me. He looked fully capable and willing to inflicit serious damage.
I did not say anything. I just stood there and looked him right in the eye. At one point he was inches away from my face screaming at me but I didn't budge. He starting going away.
I then lined up another shot and took it and that set him off again and he charged me. So, my sense of self preservation finally kicked in and I quickly moved out into the middle of Seymor Street stopping traffic.
This guy then proceeds to charge at me several times like he was going to nail me and then just stopped short. All this is going on in front of a couple lanes of stopped traffic on Seymour Street in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, horns honking.
Finally he went away and then I waved to the cars and went back onto the sidewalk and headed home. There were some people in front of the Dollarama that had been watching and one of them asked me if I was okay. I just said yeah and kept going.
On my do list for the next week, buy pepper spray.
Seymour Street, March 27 ’21, my pic