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Military wife confronted - was her fear 'unreasonable'?

(snippet)Picture a young woman going about her daily errands. She leaves a local business, crosses the parking lot to her vehicle, unlocks it and slips in, but suddenly she can't close the door. A man has slipped up the side of her vehicle and shoved a Bible into the doorjamb to prevent her from closing the door. Obviously startled, she looks at this man who has noticed her husband's dogtags hanging from her rearview mirror. He asks her if they are hers. Her apprehension grows as this man speaks with a heavy Middle-Eastern accent. She tells him they belong to her husband. He glares at her, "He has killed people in my country" and starts mumbling to her in a foreign language. She is now terrified because she can't close the door and leave and she can't exit her car without hitting him with her door. She tries to squeeze out and he suddenly chucks the Bible at her, striking her saying "You're going to need that."

She flees into a nearby business and calls the local police. They arrive, take her statement (she's shaking and crying so bad she can hardly sign the paperwork), locate and arrest the man. They cannot question him because he refuses to even say he understands his Miranda rights.

He is currently in custody and other agencies are being called in.

He obviously targeted this woman because of her connection to the US military and this happened yesterday.

http://darleen.redstate.org/story/2005/5/17/21361/2935

I'm sorry to say my issuing DDA turned down this case for prosecution. (the man never made a direct enough threat to rise to a clear conviction of PC422 (criminal threat) and she didn't have any injuries from being hit by the Bible so even the minor PC242 would have a tough time being prosecuted)

This woman will undoubtedly be traumatized for some time to come, and who knows if others have experienced the same fearful situation. Would the statement "she's on her own" (no matter what happens later) pretty much fit here? More reason than ever for each of us to make sure we have "protection" readily available, even if it's only pepper spray. This woman had no idea what the man's intentions were when he shoved the Bible into the doorjamb. Each of us should be ready for any such incident and what could happen with a more forceful or violent attacker.

By the way, keychain sprays and mini-canister air horns (boat quality) can be purchased for less than $10.00. I know, because I bought one this week!