He Punched Me and Kicked Me. He Told Me He Hates White People.

On Monday, Robert Bettman, 30, was assaulted on the south side of his block, as he was walking home. On Friday, he told Marc Borbely, 536 13th St. NE, what happened.

Can you take us through — where were you coming from, and where were you walking? And then just as many details as possible. Take us through what happened.

Well, I moved here very recently. I moved here about a month and a half ago, and I haven't changed my tags yet, so I park between 11th and 12th [on E], where there's un-zoned parking. I stopped at the 7-11 and bought some ice cream, and when I was in the 7-11, I guess someone called me. I had left my phone on the seat, and when I got back to my car there was a message.

I didn't want to listen to it while I was driving, so I parked between 11th and 12th, got out of my car, was walking here [toward the 1200 block of E], listened to the message on my phone, and was about to call back — I'm running this dance festival right now, which goes up May 15th to the 22nd, and it was the woman who's the liaison to the theater — so I dialed in the number and I was about to press "send," and someone — I played football in college — and at the last second, I could feel someone on top of me, and someone hit me in the back of the head and pushed me, hard — so that I was in the middle of the sidewalk and ended up in the street, on the ground — and he started kicking and punching me.

My glasses flew off, and the phone went flying. I was carrying a bag, and I also had the 7-11 bag, and I dropped both of them. So he was kicking and punching me and I was covering up, and I kind of pushed him off me, and I got to my feet, and as I looked up, he was there and these three other guys came up.

He had been running up, but these three other guys came up, and when I saw them, I thought, "Aw, s***. This is gonna really suck." Because there were four of them. And I was like, "This is gonna be a really long day."

But it didn't happen. They circled up around me, and he backed off.

I said, "Why? Why?"

First he was like, "You don't want to start something."

I kind of quieted down, but I kept saying, "Why?"

He said, "'Cause I f***ing hate white people. 'Cause I f***ing hate white people. This is OUR neighborhood." — I actually can't remember if he said, "This is OUR" or, "This is MY neighborhood." He just kept saying, "Because I f***ing hate white people. You shouldn't be here." And on like that.

So then the three guys — one of them went up to him. Two of them stayed back, and they were talking. I'm guessing they were saying, "We better get out of here." Because it was 5 o'clock in the afternoon! There had to have been people walking down the street — I didn't see anyone else at that time, but people are gonna be coming home! You know?

So he said, "Do you got any money?"

And I said no. I had 20 bucks in my wallet, but I'm really poor right now, so I said no, which I have no idea if he believed or if he just didn't feel like assaulting me to try and grab my wallet.

He wasn't much bigger than I was. He was between like 17 and 21 years old. He was a teen! All of them were. I'm 6 feet, 155. He was probably about 5-10, 155. He was not a very big guy. If it had been just him and me and he didn't have a weapon, it wouldn't have been anything!

But there was one of the other guys who was BIG — he was fat, darker skinned, and he was in this big, puffy jacket. Two of them were wearing these big, puffy black jackets, and one was wearing a thin brown or black jacket and was smaller. Two of them were kind of medium size, one big, one a little smaller.

I went and picked up my glasses from off the ground — which were surprisingly not broken.

And then he said, "Throw me your phone." I didn't really say anything. Then he came running up and grabbed the phone, and they went running down the alley.

I came in here, and I looked around to see if any of my roommates were home. We don't have a land line, so I couldn't call the police from here. I was totally in shock. I went upstairs, and I dropped my bag, and I was thinking, "I should do something about this."

And so then I went out — forgot to lock the door — I went out and wandered around for a minute, and then I saw the postman coming down the street [1200 block of E Street], and I went up to the postman, and I said, "I was just attacked. Do you have a phone?"

And he said, "No, but I saw someone sitting on a porch, down the street."

So I started heading down the block [toward 13th Street], and I ran into someone who was carrying an umbrella, and I said, "Can I use your phone? I was just attacked, and I need to call the police."

And he said, "No, you can't. But down the street, there's a pay phone at the store." He was going to his home, but he wouldn't let me go to his home and use the phone. So I was a little bummed out about that one. That was some random African American man.

So then I went to the pay phone and used the pay phone, called 911, and then the police came.

It could've been much worse. If the other people had been interested, it could've been much worse. The one guy, I think might've been on drugs — or maybe he really was just that angry. He was REALLY angry. He was really, really angry. I mean, to come running up behind someone like that and punch them in the head and throw them to the ground and start kicking and punching them — he was really angry.

I don't know what that comes from, but either he was on drugs or he was just REALLY pissed off that I'm white and I'm in his neighborhood. I almost prefer to think that he was on drugs.

But the other ones didn't seem like they were — they seemed like they were just normal human beings. They just seemed kind of disinterested. The only time that they stepped up was when I stood up and I started confronting him just a little bit — then they stepped closer; then they made their presence known.

It was raining that Monday?

Yeah, but it wasn't right at the time. It was wet — I got soaking because he pushed me down into the gutter, and I totally ripped up my pants and ripped up my knee.

He kicked you in the head?

More in the neck, and in the side. I covered up pretty well. He was standing up, so his punches weren't that effective, and his kicks weren't really that effective either.

He only sort of got one into my neck, and the only thing that really hurt me was landing hard. He got one good punch into my head, when he first hit me, and I think that's probably what's got my neck out of joint, and then I landed really hard.

He pushed me really hard, and I landed hard on my knee, and so my knee's all cut up, and it's a little bit f***ed up. I went to the doctors, and they said, "It's just a soft tissue injury — it'll be better in a week." So it could've been so much worse.

In your e-mail to me, you said you're not feeling too good about the neighborhood right now.

Since I've been here, someone came by my car and totally bent down my antenna, so it's hanging on by a little thing. Also since I moved here, someone took out — actually took out — one of my lights. Didn't bust it out, but actually took the thing out. So I was gonna have that fixed.

And then the next time that I went to him, he said, "You know, man, someone took the other one!" And I was like, "You're kidding." And I went and I looked, and he's right! Someone has now taken the other one.

So I'm not feeling that great about the neighborhood. I moved down here a little over three years ago. I lived in Glover Park, which was very quiet, very safe. Then I lived in Friendship Heights — it was very quiet, very safe. And then I move here, and people steal stuff off my car and I get assaulted in a month and a half.

So it's hard to feel really wonderful about living here. I know that there's good people who live here, and I know it's like a mixed neighborhood, and I had no reservations about moving here, but you can bet I've got some now.

Have you already decided you're gonna move?

No, but I'm thinking about it. I mean, I hate for them to drive me off, but I don't really want to see them again. If I saw the one guy again by himself, it would be one thing, but if I see him again with his friends, I don't think it's gonna go so well.

So that's what I'm thinking. §