Faith restored: Mugging victim's phone returned
December 4, 2009 6:28 AM | 6 Comments

Bridget Seemann felt violated after being mugged by a pair of young men steps from her Rogers Park home on Tuesday night.

They punched her in the head, ripped her jacket and stole her cell phone, which held information relating to just about every facet of her life: pictures of her young twins, contact information for friends and family, even her personal calendar. She didn't want to feel bitter, but it was hard not to.

Then on Wednesday, she was contacted by her father, who told her that a student at an alternative school on the South Side had found her phone. The girl's teacher had called contacts in her phone, including Seemann's father.

"In one swift move violence had shaken up my world completely, and the next day my faith was restored just as quickly," she said. "There were still good people in the world who still believe in doing the right thing."

Aisha Riley, 18, was walking near Howard Street on Tuesday night when she found the phone on the street near her grandmother's house. She said a group of men gathered at the entrance to the Rogers Park building, and after they left she found a cell phone where they had been standing. She looked through some pictures to find clues about the owner.

Riley saw pictures of the children and was touched, thinking about her own young daughter, she said.

"I'm a parent and I know pictures are valuable," said Riley, a senior at Community Youth Development Institute Alternative High School. "If you lose those, you can't get them back."

So she brought the phone 20 miles south to her school, at 7836 S. Union Ave., the next morning, and handed it off to her favorite teacher, Xenia Powell. Powell searched the phone book and found listings for "mom" and "dad," then called them.

"I think it's just a great example of how people are truly looking for the right thing to do," said Powell. "People have a misconception about children."

Seemann, who works in the insurance industry, was so moved by Riley and her school that she has vowed to get everyone she can to donate to the charter school's food and toy drive.

"I'm going to collect as much food, money and toys as I can," she said. "I want [Aisha] to understand that her good actions have long lasting consequences that go beyond her and me."

Oh shoot!!! Mods move this please.

awww... nice story.


Years ago my roommate's car got broken into. She lost a few CDs but her main thing was they took her school bag, which had expensive books and TONS of completed work in it that she'd have to re-create. A neighbor several blocks down found her bag and many of the papers blowing thorugh his yard. Instead of throwing it out, he gathered up as much as he could and found her name in the bag and was able to track her down to get her stuff back to her.

Another story - a friend lost her wallet at a music festival (she thought it was stolen). A few days after getting home, she received it back in the mail, minus only a few dollars and a note saying sorry the couple of dollars were missing, but they used it for the postage to send it back to her. They'd found it on the ground.

A woman in my yoga class found a cell phone on the street a few weeks ago. No one around was looking for it. She called a number in it, found out who's it was and while trying to arrange a way to get it back to her, found out the woman worked for the same company I worked for. So I brought the phone with me to work the next day and the woman stopped by my desk to pick it back up!

All of these things remind me there really are good, honest people in the world.

So much hate spewed into this world, it sure is nice to have an "awww" moment every now and then...sometimes I really thinks we humans are a lost cause

Good news. A refreshing change.

I found a credit card in a parking lot and called the company to call the owner to come back and get it.

You know why?

Cuz I don't suck!

BklynBabe said:

Just a few days ago I found someones Mastercard at the bottom of the subway stairs. I thought, "Should I turn this into the bureaucracy of the MTA? The person may not even realize where they lost it." So I took it to work, called Mastercard and told them. They told me to shred the card.

That's pretty cool.

My sister was just robbed at gunpoint for her iPhone in the morning on a packed commuter train about two weeks ago in S.F. Of course she hasn't seen it since and they never caught the guy.