#1 2010-04-19 15:35:40
So, I'm sitting home alone, and I hear all this banging and thudding from the apartment upstairs--like somebody was turning over full filing cabinets. I go outside, and I hear a woman crying through the windows. The guy who lives there has some history of bizarre behavior--shooting at random things through the window with a pellet gun, throwing his food trash out the window, no visible means of income, etc. I called the cops, but I have no way of telling if I saved some broad's life, or if I went all Chicken Little and freaked out over nothing, because I work at home alone all day and have no other stimuli.
How do you make the call between involving the authorities and overlooking something? I fucking hate that this guy put me in this position--not to mention having already put me in the position of telling a grown man he shouldn't be throwing food out of the window, keeping dumpster diving loot in the front yard, etc., etc.
By the way, if fnord lived where I do for a month, he would be cured of his unrealistic opinions of whites viz a viz everyone else.
Last edited by ah297900 (2010-04-19 15:36:27)
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#2 2010-04-19 15:47:11
Ultimately, it's better to have made the call than not to have made the call. Yeah, the immediate need may not have been there but now this guy in on the cops' radar - if he wasn't already - and it's possible the intervention may have prevented an escalation. It's also possible it was a total waste of everyone's time, but I still think you did the right thing.
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#3 2010-04-19 16:06:10
ah297900 wrote:
By the way, if fnord lived where I do for a month, he would be cured of his unrealistic opinions of whites viz a viz everyone else.
I'm well aware that White Trash exists and that sometimes the trash has enough money to live someplace besides a trailer park. However, there is far less trash among Whites than among some other groups.
Having lived in a situation where I had a White Trash Psycho Neighbor From Hell, I would suggest you consider several factors. Are you up to having a psycho adding you to their enemies list and focusing on ways to get even with you? Do you think the victim in this case appreciated your getting involved, or is she too stupid to appreciate the gravity of her situation? Were the actions of the authorities satisfactory; in other words did their involvement improve the situation from your perspective?
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#4 2010-04-19 16:17:09
Taint wrote:
Ultimately, it's better to have made the call than not to have made the call.
Yeah, that. You heard another person/a potential victim. To me, that means you should call for help just in case.
fnord wrote:
Do you think the victim in this case appreciated your getting involved, or is she too stupid to appreciate the gravity of her situation?
There is that, too. However, most people would agree that it would be wrong to assume that someone you hear crying doesn't need/want help. Even if she is so stupid that she resents it, you did the right thing, ah.
In conclusion, it sucks that you have shitty neighbors. I'm sure everyone can relate.
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#5 2010-04-19 16:47:59
fnord, I do live in a trailer park, it's just that they're not in trailers. Hopefully the cracker in question (CiQ) won't know it was me, as CiQ was loud enough to be heard by the entire building.
With respect to the girl in the situation, she probably is stupid enough to resent my interrupting what she sees as normal conflict resolution. I'm not blaming victims of domestic abuse. What I will say is that idiots tend to seek out other idiots, and that I've seen a lot of cases from which any right-thinking woman would run, aghast. An idiot, on the other hand, will engage in that dance, that pas-de-deux of drama, that we're all so familiar with. No, I'm not saving the damsel from an ogre here; I just don't want a full-blown, film-at-eleven situation happening directly above me.
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#6 2010-04-19 19:05:29
I think you did just fine. Better make the call than to have a Kitty Genovese situation occur.
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#7 2010-04-20 00:29:13
Taint's right. You didn't decide what was going on-you just raised a red flag that there might be something weird happening. If you don't, who will? Too many fucktards do nothing and then the worst happens. I personally think people who witness or suspect child abuse/domestic violence and do nothing and there turns out to be something...should do time themselves.
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#8 2010-04-20 00:41:05
icangetyouatoe wrote:
Taint's right. You didn't decide what was going on-you just raised a red flag that there might be something weird happening. If you don't, who will? Too many fucktards do nothing and then the worst happens. I personally think people who witness or suspect child abuse/domestic violence and do nothing and there turns out to be something...should do time themselves.
Yeah, but there's this bizarre reaction where you don't want to believe it is what it is. It's never cut-and-dry; there's always that math you do to figure out if it's a felony, or you're misinterpreting something completely normal.
For example, I was with some friends at a bar a month ago. Through the window we saw two guys muscle a third guy--a local townie drunk--into the front seat of the car, and then the car sped off. The whole episode took like a minute, with the guy kicking and putting up a fuss and all. There was an initial stunned reaction, and then we were all trying to figure out: Is this small town Otis-style drunk being abducted by the mafia, or are these people just trying to get him the fuck out of the bar? It's difficult to believe you're seeing some kind of cracker rendition, so you go into this weird denial.
We didn't call the cops or anything. Know what broke the rendition/intervention tie? Amid the kicking and struggling, the two dudes put a seat belt on the drunk. He was in the front seat, which, along with the seat belt, made no sense for a real kidnapping. Then the two younger kids came back in the bar. We all figured it was some kind of Jimmy Chitwood hide-your-shame moment.
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#9 2010-04-20 05:21:39
I knew a Guy, (or actually I knew the Guy's wife), who in a similar situation took what he probably thought was the middle path. A couple got into a loud tussle in the apartment next door, and after a while the woman managed to get out the front door. The man chased her down and started slapping her around out in the street. Rather than call the police, Guy went out and retrained the slapper. The woman then ran into the apartment, grabbed a kitchen knife and came out screaming bloody hell. Guy ended up getting stabbed to death by the woman. She and her man then got all cuddly until the cops arrived and arrested her.
You did the right thing to call the police if the fracas was that loud. Somebody could have gotten badly hurt. Just know that if you personally get involved, it can go south on you in a heartbeat.
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