ATTACKED BY TWO YOUTHS, THIS WOMAN BEFRIENDED THEM
“I see how these boys are growing, how they’re treating each other,” she said. “It’s
transformational. And the adults that are coming forth and mentoring, they’re walking angels. I’m in awe of them.”
Former Baltimore City Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector was recovering in the hospital shortly after being viciously attacked by two teenagers in a carjacking attempt that left her bruised and with a black eye — “I looked like a raccoon,” Spector said — when council president Bernard C. “Jack” Young paid
her a visit.
Young, like many of their colleagues on the council, was livid. What kind of children would attack a tiny, octogenarian woman in her own parking garage, he asked himself. Young expected Spector to be seething with a desire for justice.
The great-grandmother had other thoughts on her mind.
“She wasn’t worried about prosecuting them,” Young said. “She was more about, ‘What can we do for them?’ I was taken aback.”
Since the assault
and robbery took place in December 2016, Spector has taken an active role in the lives of the two teenagers who attacked her, becoming a mentor to them in partnership with non-profits in Baltimore. The 81-year-old Spector, who finished her last term just days after the incident, has decided to dedicate her post-council career to reforming the juvenile justice system so that effective programs are in place for at-risk youths as early as possible.
Both teenagers, now 16
and 14, spent time in juvenile detention and were put under house arrest after the attack. The younger boy also spent two months in a juvenile rehabilitation facility in Montgomery County.
“These are our kids,” said Spector, who represented District 5 on the city council from June 1977 until December 2016. “They’re our people. They live where we live. They walk where we walk. We share our space. We have to learn to respect and not harm each
other.”
Within the week after the boys were arrested, Spector attended a court hearing where she met...READ MORE
