Mariah Janbou: August 2012

This is a cautionary tale. A true story. A story I want to share so that you never have to live through what I did. In short, my friend and I were almost killed while taking pictures in downtown Detroit. Here's what happened...

I'm a photographer, and we set out to photograph the old Packard plant in Detroit, Michigan. I had heard how cool it was, and was excited to shoot it. So my friend Michelle and I found ourselves standing outside this amazing building photographing the graffiti and the piles of junk. Just the wreckage was beyond fascinating. After an hour or so, we went to leave and that's when our lives changed. It happened so fast it's hard to believe that I came close to losing my life...

We approached her car, and I looked at the passenger window and it was smashed, glass everywhere. Out of the corner of my eye, I see two young guys running at us with 2 x 4's in the air ready to strike. They came so fast. One came running at me, the other at my friend. The guy who came to me, said nothing. He had a huge smile on his face. I'll never forget that look. Time stood still. Unbelievably, he swung this huge 2 x 4 right into my face. I was so shocked. I remember crying out, "No! Please! Don't!" Both hits to the head happened fast. The next thing I remember is I'm falling to the ground. I remember feeling my teeth out of place. He coldly said, "Where's the money?" as if this was his daily work. He went through my pockets as I laid on the ground. He took my wallet and phone right out of my back pockets. And just as quickly he ran away.

I got up spitting up blood, ran over to Michelle. She was just laying there. I thought she was dead. I called her name and she didn't respond. At this point a thousand things are running through my mind, I'm in Detroit, no phone, no wallet, no means to contact anybody. I thought they didn't take my camera, I bet they are coming back for it. Blood is all over me, dripping down my face, neck, shirt. There wasn't an inch of my camera that wasn't covered in blood. I called to Michelle one more time and she moved, got up. I was so relieved. She wasn't dead. I was so pumped with adrenalin that I didn't even acknowledge that I was really hurt. We quickly got into the car, and I'm sitting on all this glass from the broken window. This man was waving us down, he was on his phone and had already called the cops. He'd seen the whole thing. Three cops came right away, as did the ambulance. I remember a cop yelling at me, that I shouldn't be down here in the first place. The paramedic put me inside the ambulance.

I went to the hospital. Eight stitches in my lip. Seven staples in the back of my head. Ended up needing two oral surgery to repair my broken upper jaw and to reposition my upper teeth. My top jaw is wired and will remain that way for 6 weeks.

I would like to point out that Michelle has photographed this building numerous times. She's never had a problem. That day there were a couple other photographers shooting the building off to themselves. It was broad daylight. It was on a main street. We knew we were in a very risky area but felt we were ok. Little did we know that we were being stalked by these young guys (approximately 17 years old).

I want people to know what happened to me. I want people to be reminded that they may think they are safe at times when they aren't. I'm really upset.....I want to be proud of my own city. But I can't. Detroit has the potential to be such a great city, but these are some of the things that just ruin us and give us a bad reputation.

How human is a kid who can hit a girl in the face with a 2 x 4 and a huge smile on his face? What kind of person does that? I feel like this kid should be charged with attempted murder. They left us there for dead. I feel like these guys are weak cowards to come at us with a wooden boards.