Manuel was attacked three times on the streets of New Bedford before he went to the police. The first time was in 2006. He had worked the night shift at a t-shirt factory, and was dropped off at home by a friend. Two guys were waiting, jumped him, stole fifty dollars. “They never hit me, they just said “give me the money,” that’s it.” The second time was in 2008. “I went to a Mexican restaurant, we ordered food, picked it up, and a guy was waiting for me and my friends. He wanted money, but I said “I don’t have any money.” He said “I know where you live – next time I’m gonna shoot you!” The last time was in June of 2012. “I was with my friend, watching movies. When the movie was finished, I went home. Behind my friend’s apartment, about three hundred feet away, on the corner, were three guys. They ran after me and one of them grabbed and squeezed my neck. The other guy said “I’m gonna kill you!” He took a knife and stabbed me in my chest. I tried to push him, and I ran away. I had forty dollars in my pocket, but he never asked me for money.”

“I went to my house first, and then I went to the police station to report it. They called an ambulance and took me to the Providence hospital. I was bleeding. After the doctor did the x-ray to check if everything was okay, I came back home, like around 5:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. I went to the police station to ask for a copy of the police report. But they didn’t give it to me. They sent me to the other police station. That police station sent me to the court. At the court they said they can’t help me, and they sent me again to the first police station. The only thing I wanted was a copy of the report. They never gave it to me, so I stopped asking.”