Fury at random violence, more at disfunctional 911 system

Today at 5:15 I was walking down Broadway in Oakland to go to my gym. I was in front of Oakland Tech High School and a group of 8 young black men from about ages 14-18 were congregated on the lawn and asked me what time it was. I told them, kept walking and got to an intersection. As I was waiting at the intersection, with no warning, one of the boys elbowed me extremely hard in the back of my skull near the base, knocking me forward and strongly disorienting me. The other boys had also "snuck up" on me. I cursed at them extremely loudly and told them to get away from me. I then stumbled across 6 lanes of traffic to the other side of the street to get away. They did this all in view of many occupied cars, pedestrians, and in front of several businesses. And in broad daylight.

I called 911 at 5:19 pm and the call lasted 44 seconds. No one answered my call. I tried to call Alex Koppel to see if he could reach 911 but hung up as I got sent to voice mail. Then at 5:21 I called 911 again. This time, I got to a menu, where I was forced to listen, then press a selection to get connected. Then I was told over and over again that I should wait on the line in English and Spanish. There was no way for me to get through. During this time the boys were about to cross the street to come after me, at which time traffic blocked them and a man who saw me attacked came to my aid. They then ran off in the other direction. He too had tried to reach 911 after seeing them attack me and couln't get through. After 1 minute and 33 seconds, I hung up.

The man offered me a ride home, but first we went into a nearby business to attempt to determine if others had seen the attack. Then we drove around the area attempting to find the group of boys, as the man said he could identify them. He drove me home (about 12 blocks) and there, in my relatively safer neighborhood, there were two cops. One took down my information but did not fill out a report. He told me he'd call me if he discovered anything, and that he was aware that these "rat packs" of young boys existed.

I am infuriated that anyone would randomly attack anyone else. I was minding my business and even helped them by giving them the time when they asked. They were many and I was one, and snuck up on me and attacked without warning, verbal or otherwise. I have to think that in part the attack was racially motivated. I'm not sure, of course, but there is something wrong with a society that attacks people for random fun. I know that Oakland has one of the worst public school system records in the US. I wonder how education and drop out rates affects crime.

I am more infuriated that I couldn't get through to 911, and even more so that they didn't call back or send any help. I decided tonight that this is going to be one of my causes. While I was not hurt badly enough for this lack of response to really harm me, there must be many who are hurt worse and who don't get the help they need. 911 needs to not require a phone menu (particularly in English), and needs to connect immediately to an operator. If the call disconnects they need to call back, and send help to the location. I'm not 100% sure who is responsible for the operations of 911, but I will be in contact with them, local media, and politicians soon regarding this matter. If it wasn't for the man who helped me I could have been hurt far worse by this group of hooligans.

While I continue to ice and try to get rid of this headache, I am collecting my thoughts about the event and trying to determine how to best respond. I'd appreciate any information you might be able to provide that would assist me in helping to see the 911 system improved and to keep these bands of bored and violent teens off the streets.