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Man who lost eye stopping a rape honored

Police call ex-bus driver a neighborhood hero

David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 27, 2005 at midnight

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Akio Clark lost his left eye when he tried to stop several men from gang-raping a young woman in Denver about eight months ago.

Since then, Clark lost his job as a bus driver, had the woman he rescued laugh at him when he saw her a few months later in the neighborhood and admitted he struggles with anger over his blindness.

Yet, the 29-year-old remains unequivocal: He would make the same choice again.

"For me, it was instinct," Clark said. "If it was my mother or sister in the same incident, I'd hope someone would help them."

Clark explained this on Tuesday morning, about an hour before the Denver Police Department honored him with a neighborhood hero award. Thirty-seven others received recognition as well at the luncheon hosted by Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman and former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown.

But Clark was especially singled out for what he did on Aug. 21 - earning a standing ovation from the crowd at one point, along with a check for $500 and another $1,750 to help with eye treatments from Brown's nonprofit group, the Daniels Fund.

"He's fortunate he's alive right now," Denver police Detective Mark Haney said.

Clark said he was walking home to his apartment about 3 a.m. after getting off work driving the bus when he stopped at a store to get a couple of liters of soda. As he approached the building, he heard a woman screaming from a nearby apartment.

"I was used to hearing her screaming," he said. "Her boyfriend was always beating on her. I never thought it would affect me."

In the doorway of the building where he heard the woman, a man asked Clark for some Coke. Clark, in turn, asked if he could have a cigarette. The man invited him into the apartment.

What Clark saw inside disturbed him deeply - a group of guys with pants around their ankles raping the woman in the corner of another room.

"She looked dead at me and said, 'Help,' " Clark said. "I ran in there and started peeling the guys off her."

He said he managed to get the woman out of the apartment, but she resisted going with him, saying, "It's all right. It's all right. They just got drunk." Clark said he let her go and headed back to his own apartment. When he got there, he said the woman came running up to his security gate - with the guys chasing from behind.

"They were hitting her with bottles," Clark said.

Clark said he knew he had only seconds to try to get her through the security gate to safety.

He couldn't do it.

Instead, two of the men pulled out knives while the others grabbed the woman. Clark said he managed to avoid one of the knives that grazed past his midsection. But when turning his head, the other man's knife plunged into his eye.

"Every time I threw a punch, blood would shoot out of the eye," Clark said. But he said he couldn't get away or collapse in the ground in agony because he overheard one of them talking about getting a gun. Clark figured he was fighting for his life.

"I had on a white T-shirt," Clark said. "It was red with blood."

Hours later, Clark's father got a phone call from Denver Health Medical Center. Jerold Clark said the person on the phone was asking permission to do emergency surgery on his son.

Jerold Clark and his wife, Dolores, immediately drove to the hospital.

They got there in seven minutes.

"It was like being in the space shuttle," she said.

At the awards banquet Tuesday, the family sat together at a table awaiting the presentation of Akio's award and remembered the trauma of learning from doctors that his eye couldn't be saved.

Clark said he still misses his eye. "I had it with me for almost 30 years," he lamented. His mother said quietly, "He hurts every day."

Akio, which is Korean for "happy person," said when he gets angry about his loss, he drives up to the mountains, stands on a cliff and screams at the top of his lungs.

He also worries about the man who allegedly stabbed him. Currently, Jeremiah Garcia is facing first-degree assault charges. He pleaded not guilty in January.

Clark said he's not sure what will happen with his life now. Bus driving is out, he said, but he also said the company is trying to work out another job for him. After being homeless for about seven months a few years ago, however, he's sure he will work again.

"There is a higher power looking out for me," Clark said.

or 303-892-5236

Comments

  • June 3, 2008

    6:50 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    sgetty writes:

    What a man of great courage!!! I hope he is blessed beyond measure. He is truly a one-of-a-kind person who deserves respect and admiration. Thank you, Mr. Clark, for your bravery.