Lessons From NYC Actress' Death (Nicole duFresne shouldn't have taunted mugger...)

CBS News ^ | February 3, 2005 | Tom Hays

[Gondring]

As an actress, Nicole duFresne had roles in dozens of way-off-Broadway productions.

But it was an unfortunate real-life line witnesses say duFresne uttered before her slaying — "What are you going to do, shoot us?" — that has brought her to the public's attention.

Authorities have refused to speculate whether the 28-year-old actress and playwright's defiant stand against a bandit prompted him to shoot her to death last week on a New York City street.

"Regardless of what the victim said or did not say, the person responsible for her death is the one who pulled the trigger," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said earlier this week.

Safety advocates, however, have cited the case as a lesson in how not to respond to a holdup.

On Wednesday, the Washington-based National Crime Prevention Council responded to widespread reports about duFresne's last words by circulating a list of tips on how to survive a mugging.

"It demonstrates that confronting an attacker is probably the worst thing you can do," said council spokesman Todd Post.

DuFresne, a Minnesota transplant who had lived in Seattle before coming to New York, listed "stage combat" as one of her skills on her Internet resume. She was leaving a bar with her fiancé and another couple at about 3 a.m. Jan. 27 when they were accosted by a group of youths who had already tried to rob another person earlier in the evening.

Witnesses told police that when the group demanded the other woman's purse, duFresne responded with: "What are you going to do, shoot us?" Police said she also might have gotten into a brief shoving match with the shooter before he fired a bullet into her chest.

Police arrested the alleged triggerman, Rudy Fleming, 19, and two teenage girls they say took a cell phone and credit cards and helped hide the murder weapon. All three have been charged with murder and robbery.

On its tip sheet, the crime prevention council advises potential victims to stay cool and comply with robbers. At the same time, people should take mental notes on what the assailant looks like so they can provide a detailed description to police, the sheet says.

A robbery "is more about power than anything," said Alfonso E. Lenhardt, president of the nonprofit council, known for its McGruff the Crime Dog mascot.

"It's a tragedy, but in this case it sounds like (the suspect) felt he wasn't getting the respect he was due," Lenhardt said. "When a gun is in the hands of a desperate person with low self-esteem, they're going to react that way."

The others charged in the killing are Ashley Evans, 18, and Tatianna McDonald, 14. Two young men were charged in the earlier robbery attempt, while two other youths are considered by police to be witnesses.

A graduate of Emerson College in Boston, duFresne was a founding member of the Present Tense Theater Project and acted with the LAByrinth Theater Co., according to her online resume. She wrote a play called "Burning Cage" with Mary Jane Gibson, the woman with her and her fiancé at the time of the shooting.

"Burning Cage," about two women in an asylum who are targeted for brainwashing experiments with LSD, toured in 2002 at fringe theater festivals in Canada and the United States.

DuFresne's other play, "Matter," is about an amnesiac whose apartment is taken over by a violent and seductive intruder. It was performed in Brooklyn in 2003.

[bvw]

You started out that sentence so well. It ended in hopelessness "she didn't have street smarts and made herself an easy target". Also false, that's not what happened. But even it the scene went down --with her boldly mouthing off to the thug with gun ...

NOTHING she did there and then contributed to her death. ANYTHING she did was her call to make -- she was the one there -- and ZERO correlation to her murder. There are NO lessons to be drawn. But gee willies there are plenty of lemmings willing to draw them anyway.

[international american]

"As for a deterent: IF THE DEATH PENALTY MEANT 'DEATH'
that might help, but I am truly interested in getting
laws passed that would put pedophiles in prison for
LIFE on their FIRST CONVICTION."

[onyx]

I think the Hells Angels call theirs "crank"
because of the ingredients...lol...one ingredient
was the now banned "anti-freeze."

I'm telling you... the crap (poison) that goes
into meth was never intended for human consumption.

It is no wonder how crazy and violent folks become on it,
even with casual use. Think of this: the teeth ROT
from the gums upward. Nasty stuff.

[international american]

BTTT

[LauraleeBraswell]

Harsher penalties for criminals deter others from commiting crime.

Owning a gun is not criminal. Guns keep the system in balance.

CITIZENS with GUNS are the DEATH PENALTY for CRIMINALS.

[onyx]

Absolutely right.
"Anonymous" gun ownership is our right.

[JRochelle]

Teeth rotting from the gums upward?
And people do this stuff?
I like my teeth, so I'll pass on the meth.

Is meth very addictive?

[international american]

I own half of a bail bonds agency, although I am not active in it. My retired cop buddy runs it. In the past year, request for bail due to posession of meth have quadrupled. I met a beautiful 23 year old girl in the office, whom we had bailed. She had full dentures.

[Dave278]

"A robbery "is more about power than anything," said Alfonso E. Lenhardt, president of the nonprofit council, known for its McGruff the Crime Dog mascot."

Hmmm, Funny. I thought it was about a scum bag that is too dysfunctional, and no good, to get a legitimate job trying to use force of some type to take my stuff without my permission. Neat fact though. Said turd will receive a lead injection at the same time he is receiving said property.

[judgeandjury]

"It's a tragedy, but in this case it sounds like (the suspect) felt he wasn't getting the respect he was due," Lenhardt said.

Well, pointing a gun at somebody isn't the right way to go about trying to earn that person's respect.

[onyx]

Oh yeah, highly addictive.
It's speed... revs up a person.
Causes sleeplessness.
Not unusual for meth addicts
to stay awake and spun for 72 or more hours straight.
Then they crash for 24 or more hours.

I used teeth as an example because everyone
knows our teeth are hard and meant to last
a lifetime. Imagine then, the damage the
meth must do to other softer organs? Those
who inhale it must have horrid nasal passages.

And it fries the brain.

[Ciexyz]

Alcohol probably affected her thinking, and she was nervous, too. Who knows what we'll say in a time of great stress.

[Dave278]

Meth has several things such as Drano, lithium metal, brake fluid, ether and many more poisons in it.It really is poisoning those ignorant enough to use it. Can you imagine the cancer rate of those that survive the abuse now. They are gonna grow a third eye or something.

[Southack]

"Everything is playing the odds. Your odds are much better if you don't get into a debate with the mugger."

Very true.

You can increase your odds in a wide variety of ways, simply by thinking ahead.

Under non-violent thoughts, tops on the list is to *always* carry a fake wallet with you. Keep some expired credit cards and twenty or more one Dollar bills in it. That much green will buy you the time and distraction that you need to casually escape street muggings. Freely hand over that wallet when challenged.

Insure everything else (e.g. jewelry) and give it up if asked.

Under semi-violent responses, tops on the list is a dog. You are much, much less likely to be mugged (much less successfully) if you are walking or driving with a decent-sized dog or two.

Under violent responses, tops on the list is a handgun that is ready to fire (e.g. a revolver that requires no cocking). Do *not* choose this option if you can't devote time for safety and proficiency training. Do *not* choose this option if you think that "dialog" after you pull a gun is the answer. Guns are for killing, not for waving.

So from non-violent through semi-violent to violent, there are fine, clever, very efficient ways to not be a rape or robbery victim. I've barely scratched the surface.

But nowhere on the list is taunting or bluffing. Loud mouths are for civil discourse, at best, and have no place in life or death conflicts.

Go taunt the felon after he's been locked up behind bars, *not* while he threatens your very existence. In the meantime, outsmart such villans by thinking and *acting* ahead of time.

If you can't or won't pack heat or go out with a dog, then for heaven's sake at least carry a fake wallet. Hand it over and hold back your laughter until after the perp is out of hearing range. Some nurses even put a smelling salt capsule in their coat pocket to be broken in case of an attack; others a vial of deer urine (the smell is so overpowering that it generally prevents rapes and straight robberies).

[cyborg]

true

[JRochelle]

Wow, thats awful. Their lifespan must be cut in half by that drug. I can't handle mountain dew.
That stuff would kill me.

[exnavychick]

Some nurses even put a smelling salt capsule in their coat pocket to be broken in case of an attack; others a vial of deer urine (the smell is so overpowering that it generally prevents rapes and straight robberies).

Novel approach. I have never heard of that. I feel a google comin' on....lol! Thanks for sharing that.

[onyx]

23 years old with a full set of dentures....
WOW!

I hope your partner is careful with y'all's "loans"
(bail money). It's been my experience that these
speed freaks are not all that reliable...lol.

They're always in a hurry, but always late.
Doper time does not run with the clocks.

Ever see those folks with the lights (what are they
called? the ones that hang over workshops etc.) outside
during summer night "tweaking" away fixing cars and such
at 3:00AM like it;s the most nornal thing to be doing?

I had a neighbor, who did her GARDENING all night long,
until one night when she was picked up with an ounce in
her purse. Itb was hilarious how the rest of the neighbors
were so shocked. I mean, here is a skinny woman doing
gardening at night? Hellooooooooooooo.

[JRochelle]

Where does one get a vial of deer urine?

[Southack]

"I have been in Ventura for over 20 years. I heard of meth, but I thought it was used mostly by the Hells Angels and gangbangers. The last few years, it has moved into the middle, and upper middle classes."

The purpose of meth, Ecstasy, and cocaine has and always will be for ugly men to get laid by beautiful young people (of either gender). Everything else about those drugs amounts to mere window dressing.