Positivity: Saved by 911 Call from Trunk
Kidnapped lawyer tells of 10 tense minutes
Monday, April 30, 2007The 911 dispatcher asked: What’s your emergency? Ira B. Sully, 59, had a doozy. “I’ve been kidnapped, robbed, and I’m in the trunk of my car.” Furthermore, Sully reported via cell phone, the man who had done it all was still driving.
Sully has been a lawyer since 1974. An admitted workaholic, he often slogs away in his S. Front Street office late into the night, tending to the legal matters at hand. He specializes in business and real-estate law, wills and probate.
“The kind of things that don’t make good cocktail-party conversation,” he said.
Just after midnight Saturday, Sully walked from his office door to his 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier. One of its rear windows had been recently busted out by a thief, but that crime was about to become far less significant.
The robber came from behind. Sully heard him and turned around.
A bandanna covered his face. His hand held a gun. He demanded everything.
“He said a couple other threatening things,” Sully said. “You don’t want to die,” or this and that.”
The man took his wallet and keys and had him lie on the ground. He demanded Sully’s bank-card PIN. With a second to decide, Sully gave him the correct number.
The man opened the trunk, moved the bottled water and office supplies inside to the back seat, and ordered Sully in.
The trunk slammed shut. The car started moving.
Sully knew how to release the trunk from the inside. He also had his cell phone.
The car stopped. He had a decision to make. Open the trunk and run, or call the police?
He chose the phone.
The car started to move again. Sully described the robber and his car to the police. Within a minute or two, while he was still on the phone, the car stopped and he heard someone ordering the driver out.
The trunk opened. A city police officer had spotted the car at Whittier and Front streets and pulled it over.
Sully was unhurt.
Police have charged Martino S. Williamson, 20, of 1808 S. 6 th St., with aggravated robbery and kidnapping. Police said Williamson used a German Village bank ATM to withdraw cash from Sully’s account. The money was recovered.
From kidnapping to rescue, about 10 minutes had passed.
Had it lasted longer, Sully said, he would have been more frightened. Only in retrospect did he envision more sinister outcomes, question why the robber took him along, and wonder what might have happened if he’d made other choices.
“It’s easy to make light of it now,” he said.
Sully has lived in German Village for more than 30 years and worked on S. Front Street for more than 20. He’ll call it quits at the office a little earlier from now on but otherwise doesn’t plan to alter his life. Yesterday afternoon, he was already back at work.
“I’m a big fan of working and living in (the) central city,” he said.
And now, he can pretty much guarantee a captive audience at the next cocktail party.
