Being Roofied . . . A Cautionary Tale

Some things we never do see coming . . . A car accident, the sudden death of a dear friend, losing a job, and so on . . . When I woke up on the morning of Wednesday, March 11th, 2020, I definitely did not see THIS coming!

A bit about me, which is somewhat germane to the story I'm about to tell . . . You'll see why as you read . . . I'm an older guy, but in very good shape for my age, and for anyone half my age to be honest . . . Been an athlete all my life . . . Still work out hard religiously four or five days a week . . . Six feet, one hundred ninety pounds . . . Not huge, but a good size . . . Strong . . . Lots of martial arts training in Okinawan karate, which I can still use 80% of even today . . . In short, I'm no pushover and I can take care of myself quite well if need be . . .

On the day in question, I woke up at my condo in Florida, ate a light breakfast, and went to the gym . . . It was a typical intense workout . . . Some cardio, the some upper body work, then more cardio to finish . . . Back to the condo complex . . . Went to the pool and schmoozed with some friends, then made some phone calls, did some reading and back to the pool . . . Ate dinner, then headed to my favourite beach bar to watch the Notre Dame -Boston College basketball game in the second round of the ACC men’s tournament . . .  Been a big ND fan all my life, football and basketball, men and women . . .

The game started at 7 pm. Over the course of two hours watching the game and post-game at the bar, I ordered two glasses of wine and five glasses of water . . . This is where things go sideways . . . Five minutes left in the game and one of the teams called a timeout . . . This was my opportunity to head to the restroom to lose some fluid, because at that point I had had a lot . . . I left my wine glass on the bar, as if to say, I'll be back . . . That was my mistake . . . I should have taken it with me, no question . . . I returned to my bar stool, and noticed there were two women, one on either side, who were not there before . . . Didn't pay any attention to them, just focusing on the last few minutes of the game . . . Finished the glass of wine and one more glass of water . . . I've done the math on this . . . My blood alcohol level was very probably less than .01, likely about .008 at most . . . That's basically nothing . . .

Game is over, ND won, and I'm happy . . . So I'll pay my bill and leave . . . Went over to the inside bar area where I pay if I'm using my card, and take care of that . . . Immediately beside me while paying was a man and woman couple, probably fifty-ish . . . The lady looked at me and said, I'm concerned about you . . . I didn't ask why, didn't respond at all as I recall . . . Off I went to the parking lot get my car and go home  . . . Something very odd happened . . . I couldn't for the life of me remember where I had parked it . .  . Not a clue . . . I walked around the parking lot three times . . . Back and forth three times . . . I didn't see my car . . . In fact, I walked past my car six times and did not recognize it . . . By the third trip around the lot, I'm becoming aware that my motor skills ie. walking are diminishing . . . When I arrived back at the bar, just outside in the parking lot after the third trip around the lot, I was probably wobbly . . . I know at this point I’ve been drugged . . . I sat down on the hood of a car just trying to stay upright . . . I don't know how long I was there, and then two attractive women suddenly appeared in front of me . . . The lady on the right said to me, We're here to take care of you. We will take care of you . . . That's word for word . . . I don't recall saying anything in response . . . I'm convinced they were the ones who targeted me, and who knows if they were the only ones . . . There could have been another or others . . . Clearly, robbery and who knows what else would have been the motive . . . Like an angel from Heaven, here comes a server from the restaurant . . . Obviously, somebody inside must have pointed me out to him . . . As soon he arrived, the women immediately left . . . Did not stay around at all, which in and of itself is very suspicious . . . My gut tells me that he saved me from something . . . In the state I was in, I would probably have gone with the women or done whatever they wanted me to do . . . And, they may not have been the only ones involved . . .  The server stayed with me and called a cab, and I went home . . . He was fantastic . . .

On the way home I thought I was beginning to feel a bit better, and I tried to talk as much as possible . . . I told the driver what happened as best I could . . . At a certain point, I asked him, Am I making sense, am I slurring? He said yes you are making sense, you're not slurring, but you're talking very slowly . . .

Arrived home, went to bed . . . I woke up the next morning feeling OK but somewhat off in a way I couldn't put my finger on . . . Just off, not normal . . . But, I remembered exactly where I had parked my car, and was hoping they didn't tow it . . . Took an Uber to the bar, and thank God my car was exactly where I knew I had parked it . . . I went inside and asked for the manager . . . Told him what happened and told him to check surveillance video for between 8 pm and 9pm the previous evening . . . I indicated exactly where I was sitting for two hours . . . They definitely have multiple cameras, that I know factually . . . Two days later, I spoke to a different manager and again asked him to check the video . . . I gave him my number and never heard back . . .

It was four days later that I finally felt back to my usual self . . . But I have admit, I was seething with anger after the event, and still am . . . This is the first time I have ever felt personally violated . . . It's a horrible feeling . . . My drink was spiked while I was in the restroom . . . The two women who appeared on either side of my bar stool were quite possibly the two women who appeared in front of me while I was sitting on the car in the parking lot . . . Clearly, someone marked me and they got me . . .

The reason I gave a personal description at the beginning of this post is to make the point that anyone can be taken down . . . I'm a good sized, muscular, agile, strong guy with a martial arts background who can take care of himself, and never thought for a second that this could happen to me . . . But it did, and I was utterly defenseless once the drug kicked in . . . I let my guard down and left my drink . . . Clearly my fault . . . Lesson learned . . . Whatever drug was used, it took me out 100% . . . Had the bar server not arrived, I hate to think what might have happened . . . Yeah, those two women who suddenly appeared wanted to "take care of me" . . . Right . . . I'm quite sure they did not have my best interests at heart . . .

My friends, be careful. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone . . . Thank God for that bar server arriving when he did . . . I truly believe he saved me from something very unpleasant . . .

Peace and love . . .

Ciao