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Kai
Patterson's Inspiration After Becoming A
Victim Of Crime
Kai Patterson was an
only child until the age of 12,
and was raised by a single parent
mother in
the inner city of Newark, New Jersey.
Because his
father never paid child
support, his mother struggled
financially and was forced to live in
the rent subsidized Douglas and Harrison
Apartments.
He attended Quitman Street School; a public school that was
located in center of several low income
housing projects, which were known as
Stella Wright,
Scudder
Homes,
Hayes Homes,
Hill Manor,
Brick Towers, and the
Douglas and Harrison Apartments. These
projects were the breading grounds for
several gangs, crime, drug addicts, violence
and a continued cycle of poverty.
At the age of 6, while
waiting to be picked up by a
babysitter, Kai Patterson was brutally beaten by
8 kids between the ages of 8 and 13 years old, in
front of Quitman Street School, where he
attended.
"I was kicked, stomped as well as beaten,
and lost track of time because I fell in and out
of consciousness. "A passing man chased
the boys away, revived me and escorted me home".
I did not realize the
seriousness of the beating until the next
morning when I woke up, but could not walk and
saw a pool of blood in the bed". Kai Patterson's beating caused him to
suffer internal bleeding and he was rushed to Beth
Israel Hospital where he underwent surgery
that saved his life.
"Growing up in Newark, New
Jersey was no picnic as an only child with no
brothers". We lived in apartments
that were across from the Stella Wright
housing projects. "My mother would send me
to the A&P on Spruce Street in Newark, where the
local gangs hung out". "I never told
her that many times I had to run from gangs to
prevent from being robbed and beaten, until I was
attacked by a teenage boy" two days after my 8th
birthday. "He dragged
me into a Douglas & Harrison apartment unit
basement
with a knife and robbed me".
"After numerous
fights and several emergency room visits,
I got tough and became more concerned
with survival than getting an education".
"When I was 11 years old, I went to the
A&P on Spruce Street, while
I was in the frozen food isle, five men
entered the store with shotguns".
"I immediately jumped in the frozen food
bin and hid while the men robbed the
store". "I remember when a teenage
girl was abducted, taken to the roof of a
Scudder Homes Apartment building, sexually
molested and thrown from the roof of the
building". "Once a man tried to
grab me behind the Douglas & Harrison
Apartments when I was 9 years old, but I
was able to get away". "Less
than a week
later, a 10 year old boy was found tied,
gagged and molested in the basement of
the Douglas & Harrison Apartments".
"These incidents along with the
disappearance of my secretary's son
later in life inspired me to create technology to assist
law enforcement agencies against crime".
"Most of my family
members, and friends are in
law enforcement". My mother married
a Newark Police Officer, who later
retired at the rank of captain.
"Although they got divorced by the time
I was 15, he moved us out of the Central
Ward of Newark to
Carmel Towers, which was
located in a better
area at the time in the South Ward of
Newark, New Jersey near
Weequahic Park".
Today,
Carmel Towers
houses many gang members, but
has
lost its Section 8 subsidy,
which will require low income tenants to
move.
"My
life is so different now after getting a
college education, serving as an officer in the
United States Marine Corps,
and moving to Bergen County, New
Jersey". "My
experiences have motivated me to create
programs and technology to help others".
"In 2011 while I was visiting a police
officer's home in Newark, I was almost
carjacked
while the officer with sitting in my car
helping me with Bounty Alert's design".
"He drew his 9 millimeter handgun and
the perpetrators fled".
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