E-Mail About Wichita Assault True — to a Point

By Stan Finger, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Jan. 26–An assault that is the subject of an e-mail rapidly making the rounds in Wichita this week actually happened, police announced late Friday afternoon — but they said much of the information in the e-mail isn’t true.

Police had stated early Friday that the e-mail was a hoax, but further investigation by a detective this afternoon determined that a woman had been attacked at the QuikTrip at Kellogg and Maize Road Tuesday evening.

“Whoever wrote the e-mail got their facts wrong,” spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

The e-mail has become something of an urban legend in Wichita this week, spreading rapidly through the city.

In the e-mail, a woman claims to have been accosted on Tuesday night while she was at the QuikTrip at Kellogg and Maize Road.

“After I filled my car with gas and was locking my door to go into the store to buy a drink, I was approached by two men, one in front of me and one in back of me, demanding money,” the e-mail states. “I said I had none.

“At that point the man in front grabbed my arms, insulted me and grabbed my keys from my hand. Thank the Lord the clerks in the store noticed something wrong and called the police.

“At the same time a man in a truck entered the gas pump next to me. He was very cognizant of what was happening and asked me if I needed help.

“This scared off the two men. They took off with my keys still in hand. The man in the truck chased them and did get my keys after they were thrown down.”

The e-mail goes on to claim that police who responded to the 911 call told the woman that several similar attacks have been reported in the past week.

There was a communication problem in talking with the victim, Bassham said, and she told the detective that she talked to a man in a white car whom she thought was a policeman. In fact, it was only a customer going into the store.

She then drove home without notifying police, and later told a friend about it. That friend then wrote the e-mail and sent it to her friends.

Police spent a few hours on Thursday checking 911 logs and talking to employees of that convenience store, and found nothing to substantiate the e-mail.

But a face-to-face interview with the victim yielded “a credible story,” Bassham said, and prompted police to realize that the assault and attempted robbery actually happened.

“We always advise people to be aware of their surroundings, but it’s very easy for urban legends to begin and to gain traction,” Bassham said.

Connor Blumberg, a clerk at the convenience store mentioned, said several callers and some customers asked about the e-mail’s claims on Friday. He had the same basic message for all of them.

“Nothing happened, and nobody saw anything,” Blumberg said.

That appears to be true, Bassham said: employees didn’t see or hear any of what apparently happened.

The 43-year-old woman who originated the e-mail will not be charged with anything, Bassham said, because she never filed a police report.

“We don’t want to discourage people from reporting real crimes,” he said.

Before forwarding scary stories such as the one that’s been circulating this week, he said, people should check a hoax Web site such as www.snopes.com.

If it involves an alleged incident in Wichita, they can call the police to check it out.

Reach Stan Finger at 316-268-6437 or sfinger@wichitaeagle.com.

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