Albertus Dinckgreve has visited Atlanta three times since 2001 and made friends here, but he’s never had an experience like the one he had in broad daylight Thursday, and now doubts he’ll ever return.
Dinckgreve, of the Netherlands, said Friday he was having a chicken wrap and Coca-Cola at a Popeye’s restaurant in Five Points around 5 p.m. Thursday when a man with $1 bills approached his window table and asked for change.
The man, leaning over the tourist, also asked to see DVDs he noticed in one of Dinckgreve’s bags.
Dinckgreve, 43, said he tried to ignore the tall man, who was “a little bit skinny with very bad teeth” and appeared to be homeless. He said “No!” when the man became more persistent.
The man then tried to grab a red bag Dinckgreve said he had at the table. When the tourist resisted, the intruder fled but not before stealing an orange bag containing a digital camera and at least 400 images Dinckgreve had taken during his three weeks in the city.
To add insult to injury, the tourist said the restaurant was full of people but no one would come to his aid. He said at least two people were “inches away” watching the incident unfold.
“Nobody saw anything,” Dinckgreve said. “Nobody could help me.”
Security officer Dontavious Lyons, who was on duty at the Broad Street fast-food restaurant at the time, said the tourist approached him after the incident.
Lyons said he didn’t see anyone grabbing anything or rushing out, which would have drawn his attention. He said such thefts are not common inside the restaurant.
After advising Dinckgreve to report the incident to a nearby Atlanta police precinct, the tourist did. An officer drove him back to the restaurant, and two other officers who were nearby accompanied them inside.
“They [officers] told me there is a very big chance I shall never see my camera again,” the tourist said.
This was Dinckgreve’s third trip to Atlanta. He visited for a week in 2001, two weeks in 2007 and was finishing up a three-week trip before flying back on a Delta Air Lines flight Saturday.
The Dutchman is from Bedum, a northern country village about two and a half hours from Amsterdam by train, and works as a packager for a local company.
Chance Bartels of Smyrna befriended Dinckgreve in 2001 and has seen him on each of his visits to Atlanta. He’s tried to help the bewildered tourist cope.
Bartels said Dinckgreve lost his mother in recent years and looked forward to visiting Atlanta to be among newfound friends.
“He was just in a state of utter shock and confusion,” Bartels said when he met up with the tourist. “He’s totally disillusioned about Atlanta now, so we’re trying to restore his faith in the city.”
While he didn't lose any money and had left his plane ticket and passport at his hotel, Dinckgreve said the experience has left him “dizzy.”
He said he’ll wait in his room at a Smyrna hotel until he departs for the Netherlands.
“I feel like I’ve lost three weeks of my life,” Dinckgreve said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to Atlanta.”
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