Saturday night, I was assaulted. No, I'm not hurt, and nothing was stolen from me. It was these punk kids whose idea of a good time on a weekend night was to terrorize random people.

I was biking back from Waldorf, and I'd been delayed due to a wrong turn, so I went to Minnesota Avenue metro station in D.C. There's a bike trail nearby that connects with my home in College Park. I take the elevator down with my bike when I hear screaming and yelling. I come out from the elevator to see this group of 10-15 teenagers running by. I don't think anything of it, just kids being kids, you know? I walk by, and one of them throws a rock at the back of my head. Luckily, I'm wearing a bike helmet, so it doesn't matter.

I try to walk on, minding my own business, when I feel one of them grab me from behind and shove me. I turn around, and he dances back in this punk kind of way like he wants to get me to fight. Still I try to walk away. This time, someone else grabs me from behind and tries to shove me to the ground. I get back up and talk to the stationmaster. She's already on the phone with the transit police.

Well, I spend the next hour and a half explaining to both of them what went down. (Ftr, only 2 or 3 actually attacked me; the rest were just there for the fun.) Why so long? Well, it was because those same kids ran by us later, with five officers in hot pursuit. They arrested three of them that night, and I got to identify one of them.

I went to the police station in Washington D.C this morning to give my statement one more time to the detective and the victim's counselors. Because the perpetrator is a juvenile with no prior record, they think he'll get 6 months probation for simple assault. Which I'm completely fine with; I don't want him punished for the rest of his life over one mistake, but I do want it made clear that this kind of behavior is not socially acceptable, and that there are consequences for it.

I'm not angry at him, much; mostly I feel sad that he had so little love for himself that he felt the need to take it out on other people. If he's willing to admit guilt, then it may be probation; if not, then we may have a trial.

I would appreciate it if you would pray for him. That is all.