See Something? Say Something!

During the past month, I’ve both seen and heard potential crimes involving domestic violence within a block of my home. The first time was during an early morning walk, after I passed a home outside of which a woman was standing next to a car in her driveway, evidently talking to someone inside the car. After I passed by with the dogs, she began shouting, “No, James! I won’t get into your car! No! Every time I go with you, you HURT me! I’m not going with you!”

I looked back and saw that she was in distress, but there was no way I was going to walk back toward her and get involved in what could become a violent situation. As I grabbed my phone to call the police, I realized that I didn’t know the name of the street, so I had to walk to the corner to read the sign, which took several minutes. I did call the police, and two cars responded, but I really didn’t have specific details for them because I was past the locale before the woman began shouting. Perhaps the presence of the cop cars on the street in front of the house was enough to cool things off and send James on his way, but just in case he came back, I stayed off that street for well over a week.

Last week, I was on the final leg of the morning walk, up at the corner, when I saw a black car driving fast toward the stop sign 2 blocks down. A white car appeared to be racing it, so I thought it was the street racers who live at the end of my block. The white car rear-ended the black car, then pulled alongside it. A passerby in a third vehicle pulled off to the side of the road while the black car roared forward, screeched to a stop, and a female came out of the vehicle with something in her hands. Whoever was driving the white car accelerated through the stop, turned the corner, and sped off after the driver of the black car smashed the windshield with a golf club, then threw it onto the shoulder of the road. She got back into her car, which had all the windows busted out, made a u-turn, and headed back toward the center of town.

I was going to call 9-1-1, but the driver of a vehicle that had pulled to the shoulder knew what was going on, so I left it to that driver to make the call. However, as the older female driver came up to me, she asked if I had seen what happened, and I told her somewhat, but not really. She said, “Someone should call 9-1-1,” to which I replied, “Well, you were right there, so you should make the call.” She responded, “Oh, no. I’m not going to get involved in a domestic dispute!” and drove off. I started to call, then decided just to mind my own business and go home.

Today, I opened all the doors and windows because we have rain, which means cooler temps and fresh air. I had the radio on, but heard shouting coming from outside, so got up to investigate. I turned off the radio and heard the couple behind me engaged in what seemed to be a violent argument. They were inside their house, but sounded as if they were in my backyard. The argument moved outside, to the front of their home, and the female shouted that she was calling the police, so I came back inside and let it be. However, the argument continued off and on for the next 2 hours, so I guess either no one called the police or no one needed to do so.

Each time an event happens, I feel that I should make the call because if something happens more than what I witness, it’ll be on my conscience. On the other hand, I read an article in the online newspaper this evening: a 3-year-old child was shot and killed by a man seeking revenge on a neighbor who called police and reported an active incident of domestic abuse involving the neighbors. The male neighbor was hauled off to jail, but when he got out, he came back to the caller’s home and fired from the street into the house, killing the child.

See something? Say something! is a good PR motto, but the truth is that the people involved in the violence always find out who reported it – and they find ways to make the informant pay for calling the cops. I’ve felt guilty for keeping my mouth shut, but I think that’s probably the best tact for me to take. I don’t gain anything from being a tattletale, but I could lose everything for being a snitch.