Assaulted in street last night.

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Hi
I was assaulted last night by a drunk stranger and police arrested a drunk man matching my vague description. I will have to do a photo line up/ID parade but I'm worried that I won't recognize him because of my face blindness. Do you think I should make the police aware of this?

Thanks,

this happened to me. it was a B&E and i interacted with the guy before i got him out of my house (very scary!) so i should have recognized his face. anyway, the photo lineup was months later and i ID'd the wrong guy. they cops couldn't believe it.

yes, i would make them aware of it, but i don't know if they will make allowances or not.

If I was in your position i would only mention it after i had a look at him and if im not sure. Saying something like im really not sure, because i dont have a great memory when it comes to faces. If i did recognise him then i wouldn't mention it.

However i have never been in that situation before so im not entirely sure of the process. Considering the police would need to be extremely confident to prosecute, id imagine they wouldn't be able to make allowances, surely? So if the scenario was you said it beforehand, and you did end up recognising him then id imagine the police may view your statement in a different way compared to if you said nothing.

However like i said before, ive never been in the situation before,

The ID parade could be as soon as Sunday morning. I know at least one friendly psychiatrist who could vouch for my condition to the police or a jury.

There is at least one police monitored CCTV camera of the area I was assaulted in so I may be in luck. The stupid reason the man hit me and the group of people he was with also counts as as evidence against him.

That's pretty important. If I were you I would tell them to begin with that I was bad with faces.

Why did he attack you?

My son was assaulted a couple of years ago, ending up in a&e, and though he described the incident extremely well, and the police were ninety nine percent certain of who his assailant was, the kid got away with it, because my son's face blindness caused problems. That and the fact that the poor lad had concussion to deal with as well.

My advice is, don't mention it until you have too... if you mention it before hand a defence lawyer could use it against you in court. Hopefully in your case the video camera will identify the miscreant for you.

if you are not sure, then say you are not sure. that you have a good explanation for your uncertainty is irrelevant. either you can identify the man who assaulted you or you cannot. if you identify the wrong person withholding the fact that you are prosopagnosic, then you are liable for the inconvenience (morally, if not legally (that is, if the suspect is the wrong person and you provide a positive id based on facial recognition (i suppose that is unlikely anyway))). ask to hear their voices.

Last edited by wornlight on 13 Nov 2010, 8:44 am, edited 2 times in total.

That's terrible.

I hope that you start to feel better, soon.

Absolutely, make mention of it. It is not a bad thing having face blindness, but it just mean they may have to conduct their investigation in a different manner.

I am very sorry that happened to you.
A big hug for you, Ascidian.
*HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG*

Thank heavens nobody wants to assult me in the street, I do look a little
however, i dont trust the cops for anything. those S are always harrasing me!

Yes, you are essentially discrediting yourself as a witness if you come forward with that information. You could use an excuse of it being too dark or you were on edge. I wouldn't offer any information unless you're asked. Are you okay?

Very sorry to hear that Hope you're ok.

And yes you should explain that you are prosopagnostic.

Hope you are OK.

The face blindness could be a problem and it really sucks. It's bad enough that aspies seem to attract bullies, but we can't identify them reliably either?

Memory is strange. Intense situations can really enhance memory. Maybe his face will be burned in to your brain.

Good luck.