Posted on 06/29/2005 9:04:57 PM PDT by SmithL
BERKELEY - Mike Tepper rode along Telegraph Avenue, past the spot where he nearly was killed early Sunday morning.
He noticed that blood stains remained on the street along with the skid marks made by the Chrysler used to run him over.
Those were sobering reminders of a harrowing incident that left Tepper, a freshman offensive tackle for Cal's football team, with a broken fibula, severe ligament damage and a dislocated tibia in his right leg.
The injuries seemed minor considering that Tepper had been run over twice. Berkeley police arrested Berkeley's John Ray Smith and Oakland's Calvin Kelly and charged them with assault with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of an accident and resisting arrest.
Tepper and a friend, Cal senior volleyball player Camille Leffall, were crossing Telegraph at Dwight Way about 1:15 a.m. when a Chrysler pulled alongside them. "The driver said, 'Hey, babe, what are you doing?' to Camille," said Tepper, who is 6-foot-6, 330 pounds. "She said she wasn't interested. We kept walking, but we only got about five feet when the car pulled up alongside us into the crosswalk. They kept hitting on her so I stepped in front and said, 'Hey, we're going to meet some friends. Can we just get by?' "
According to Tepper and police reports, as Tepper and Leffall tried to cross behind the car, the vehicle shifted into reverse and headed toward them. "I saw the driver had his hand on the steering column and I thought that this guy was going to punch it," Tepper said. "So I hit Camille across the chest and threw her."
Although Tepper managed to toss Leffall out of the direct path of the car, the front, passenger side of the vehicle blasted into them both. The severity of the impact was lessened for Leffall because Tepper already had sent her sprawling backward.
"We both got hit, but Mike got run over," said Leffall, who suffered cuts and scrapes and an injured back. "It's a good thing he pushed me out of the way, because my body couldn't have handled (being run over). I probably would have had my foot amputated.
"It was really nice of him. He was trying to protect me."
Tepper wasn't so fortunate. "The car hit me, and I hit the ground, and the tire ran over my leg," Tepper said. "I looked back to my right, and the guy puts it in drive and runs over me again."
Again, Tepper's right leg was crushed under the tire before the vehicle drove off.
Fortunately for Tepper, Berkeley Lt. Arnold Lui was a block away in an unmarked police car. He called to get Tepper assistance and took off after the Chrysler.
Lui said the driver of the Chrysler turned off his lights, but after several blocks hit another vehicle. The driver and passengers ran from the vehicle, but Berkeley police managed to apprehend four of them. Lui said he wasn't sure how many people were in the car. Leffall said there were five. Only Kelly and Smith face charges at this time.
Although Tepper won't be able to play football in 2005 because of his injuries and subsequent surgery, he said a quick response by Berkeley police saved his life. "It seemed like only about 10 seconds before two cop cars were there," said Tepper, who was recuperating at his apartment in Berkeley on Wednesday. "I was in shock, and Camille was crying. I looked at my hand, and the blood was like wet paint dripping off. Camille was saying, 'I'm so sorry.' I was telling her, 'You didn't run over me.'
"From what the police told me, the guys who ran me over were not drinking, not on drugs. They were sober. What kind of people would do something like that?"
Tepper was transported by ambulance to Alta Bates Hospital. "The police had put tourniquets around my calf, and when the ambulance got there, a nurse was pumping morphine into me. They all did an amazing job ... they saved my life. It took doctors at the hospital about an hour to stop the bleeding because it had ripped a blood vessel that leads directly to my heart."
On Tuesday morning, Tepper had surgery. "They put a plate and nine screws into me," Tepper said. "I can't put any pressure on my right leg for eight weeks. Then they will take out the screws and plate. In November, I should be able to begin jogging. It will be 2006 before I can start running again."
Leffall still is suffering from back pain and emotional trauma. "I have to walk past that intersection to go to school, and it is really, really tough," she said. "I don't think they found all the guys who were in the car, so I am constantly watching my back. This has overwhelmed me ... the emotions you have. We are getting hit by cars driven by crazed maniacs. It takes away your sense of security."
Tepper's father, Gus Tepper of Cypress, said he will keep checking with the Alameda County District Attorney's office to make sure Kelly and Smith are prosecuted. Court dates for the two have yet to be scheduled.
Although "outraged" by the incident, Gus Tepper said he isn't surprised that his son acted in such a heroic manner. "I am proud of him," Gus Tepper said. "This could have been a very ugly situation. But in other situations, Mike has done the same thing. At parties, if some guy is getting picked on, Mike will get in the way."
"To tell the truth, I don't know how I did it," Tepper said. "I just reacted.
"I credit that to Coach (Jeff) Tedford. He teaches us how to be football players with class. He just doesn't teach us football, he teaches us character ... how to be men."
Did you see this one?
Obviously NOT a California Girly-man. If it had been Affleck, the girl would have been dead twice.
Either that, or their precious "rights" were being violated. It's a "me, me, me" society.
If this were me, these guys would never make it to trial. And I'd be in San Quintin for double murder unless a jury bought my justification.
Hope this guy heals and gets back on the field.
What a story. Hope Tepper recovers and kicks some major league butt in football. Seems like a nice guy.
Yeah. Good kid.
What kind of people would do something like that?"
Cold blooded killers
There is an ugly, underreported aspect to life in Berkeley, and it is that thugs from across the East Bay go there to try to "pick up" women. It is just about the only place in the area where young (18 to 22 year-old), nice, good-looking women are out milling about on the streets, socializing. There are constant run-ins between these thugs and thug-wannabes, and the nice, decent undergraduates at Cal, just out on a date, or meeting friends, or walking home from studying, etc. This incident was bad, but there is much, much worse that happens. Viscious urban scum preying on naive suburban and rural kids. I would never sleep a wink if I had a teenage daughter walking these streets every evening.
Violent people.
They seem to be everywhere. Take precautions.
As a woman - I worry about thugs like that all the time.
I recently had a problem with a guy following me home from work late at night. He was trying to hit on me at a light -and I ignored him. Then - he began trying to run me off the road.
I was able to pull off into a neighborhood and shut off my lights and ducked down - and saw him looking for me on these neighborhood streets. I waited there like 20 minutes until I felt safe enough to leave.
There were no gas stations or crowded places open on this road. I was totally freaked out. I did write down his tag number - but what would I do - call the cops and tell them he scared me?
These violent, horrible people are everywhere.
yeah , things aren't reported,... I can tell you there are panhandlers and a sprinkling of buildings with dyfunctional "program" people in my Upper West Side Manhattan nabe , but most of the buildings have apartments in the high six figures to $2 mil,...again,with panhandlers stopping cabs and cars!! NUTS , oh yeah and violent crime
As I told one of my girlfriends a while back, that sort of scenario is when you pull out your firearm and visibly check the load. She had to work in a bad part of town where similar things happened, and it helped her at least four times that we knew of. The goblins usually remember a pressing engagement somewhere else and leave.
Technically, it might be brandishing, but no jury in the world outside of a blue state will convict.
Get a license to carry. Women NEED protection. You don't have to shoot him. He just has to see the gun and he will generally leave. If he doesn't, he's crazy and you may have to shoot him to save your life.
Dasher lives in a Blue State - the Bluest of Blue.
I was just telling someone else that I have owned Rottweilers all of my life and my last one died in August. I definitely feel the difference.
I'll look into getting another gun - I left mine with my father when I moved to Blue State Hell. Maybe buy in NV....
I don't usually cleanse my soul in public - but Mike Tepper's story reminded me of how dangerous it is here.
Thanks for all of your advice and support.
Dasher
Move.
Trust me - I've been thinking seriously about it.
Stanford fans?
If you do get something, don't get a snubby revolver. I don't understand why everyone recommends snubby revolvers for women, especially since most of them have to be in marginal calibers (.32, .38 Special) to be controllable by the intended user.
The Glock .30 in .45 caliber has less felt recoil than the classic snubby .38 Colt, is very controllable, and is about the same size. And it comes in a much more effective caliber.
Or a heart attack. :(
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