Wife Bashing? Sister Bashing? I'm Still Shaking....
Just went down to the corner shop, only been back in the house for a few minutes.
When I went into the shop there was some argey-bargey going on across the road between a bloke & this woman. Very aggressive, pointing in her face, effin' this & effin' that. They both look like they've been drinking.
When I got out of the shop they had made it across the road, dodging a bus & a few cars. She runs into a bus shelter & then he's in there after her, throwing her against the sides of the shelter. I haven't got my mobile phone on me (of course!) & stop someone in the street.
"Have you got a phone? There's a cop shop just down the road, no, I don't know the number. Look, I'm going to stay here & make sure things don't get too out of hand, I'm sure the guy in that shop will know the number for the cops. Can you go in there & ask him to ring them?"
She says she will, but I'm not sure. I look in the shop & she is not there, so I run in & ask the guy, "Yes, the cops are on their way", he says.
Now they're out of the bus shelter & in the middle of the road. I can see her face, she already looks like she's been beat up before. And they look like brother & sister! More pushing & shoving. I step in & tell the guy to leave her alone. Of course then he starts wailing on me, "Mind your own effin' business", pushing & shoving me in the street. I'm smart enough to know not to get into a fight with this guy, he's drunk & he looks like a mental patient. "Look", I say, "I don't care about your effin' business but I don't want to see anybody get hurt & you're both standing in the middle of the road." Woo - me tough guy, being all concerned for their safety.
They move off the side of the road & thankfully some guy has decided to come & stand with me & says the same thing about waiting here to make sure nobody gets hurt. More mind your own effin' business from the mental patient, but at least he's not trying to push me or her around for the time being. Now he's shouting at her that she's getting him nicked, she keeps asking him to just go away & leave her alone.
"I'll take you to the pub & buy you a drink", he says.
She keeps asking him to just leave her alone. Eventually a mate of his comes out of the pub across the road & tries to calm things down.
Then - get this - I don't know what the hell I was thinking, well yes I do, I was thinking that I've had enough of this crap & then I walked home! I didn't even wait around for the cops to arrive!! WTF is up with that?
And what the bloody hell was taking them so long? I could have walked there & back in the time I'd been standing around getting pushed & shoved & shouted at & she could have been seriously hurt (though I like to think I would have done something, but now I'm not too sure).
I was feeling very guilty & ashamed about walking away but after talking to some mates (& after a few whiskeys ) I'm over the guilt. Eventually there were enough people around to witness. If any more violence was going to occur it was going to be behind closed doors & there ain't nothing I could have done about that. I'm still rather stunned that initially there were people about who just carried on their merry ways as if nothing was happening! Jesus, don't any of these people have daughters or sisters or girlfriends?!
I was feeling very guilty & ashamed about walking away but after talking to some mates (& after a few whiskeys ) I'm over the guilt. Eventually there were enough people around to witness. If any more violence was going to occur it was going to be behind closed doors & there ain't nothing I could have done about that. I'm still rather stunned that initially there were people about who just carried on their merry ways as if nothing was happening! Jesus, don't any of these people have daughters or sisters or girlfriends?!
Hefty amounts of alcohol or stimulant drugs like cocaine so often lead to arguments. Once anger-induced adrenalin joins up with all those other substances, reason takes a nosedive - if it was ever there in the first place (bearing in mind that the people you see screaming and fighting like wild animals in the street aren't generally the Einsteins of our society).
By the time the human conscience kicks in, the damage is often done.
How long from when the police were called until you left?
p.s don't feel guilty about leaving. You did your piece by standing in. I once chased some little punk who stole an elderly womans purse at a bus interchange. Sometimes, it's nice to show you actually care about other human beings.
p.p.s I would have liked you around when I was punched by a stranger in a night club
Once anger-induced adrenalin joins up with all those other substances, reason takes a nosedive - if it was ever there in the first place (bearing in mind that the people you see screaming and fighting like wild animals in the street aren't generally the Einsteins of our society).
Einsteins they certainly weren't. You know, if she was yelling & pushing back I probably would have kept walking, but she wasn't. It was head down & trying to walk away from him - walk mind you. You'd think she'd be yelling for help & going inside a shop or something, there were a few of them still open.
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Originally Posted by Pink Amulet
How long from when the police were called until you left?
Seemed like ages to me. But as someone pointed out, when you're in a situation like that time seems to crawl.
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p.p.s I would have liked you around when I was punched by a stranger in a night club
Was once in a nightclub in Sydney when someone got bottled in the face by a stranger, turned into a right bio-hazard! He was dazed & in shock & no one seemed to know who he was. I ended up going to the hospital with the guy, didn't know him, never saw him again.
You'd think she'd be yelling for help & going inside a shop or something, there were a few of them still open.
It sounds as though she's been with him a long while. Don't let appearances fool you; people actually often do marry people who look like them so they could have been spouse and spouse in which case her seeking help would only have resulted in more trouble for her. That other people called the cops took the pressure off her and made her not responsible if they showed up.
Once the neighbor upstairs was beating the living tar out of his wife. Blood-curdling screams, walls sounded like they were coming down. It sounded like she was literally being thrown around. I dialed 911 in a panic, saying the neighbors upstairs were fighting and it sounded like someone was being seriously hurt and could they please come before someone gets killed?
I huddled shaking by the window for a good half hour listening to the sounds of what could have been murder going on. Then she started screaming "HE'S GOT A GUN!!" over and over. By now I was crying and called 911 again and again, just to have the tired, annoyed 911 operators tell "they'll get there when they get there."
They did get there - almost 2 hours after the initial call. By then some stupid friends of the husband's had shown up and diffused the whole situation. The wife left with them (wearing a floor-length coat and big sunglasses) and absolutely nothing happened with the husband. No arrest, no nothing.
I told my landlady about this and she said next time to call her. She and her husband went there once WHILE the fight was going on and since then I have heard no noise upstairs and the wife left for good soon after.
911 is a joke. Someone could have been killed. I don't feel safe anymore knowing that if someone were to attack me, it would take the cops 2 hours to show up.
911 is a joke. Someone could have been killed. I don't feel safe anymore knowing that if someone were to attack me, it would take the cops 2 hours to show up.
'Well HP, two hours isn't that bad considering that 100 years ago it probably would have taken the cops 2 days to respond.
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Wife Bashing? Sister Bashing? I'm Still Shaking....
) I'm over the guilt. Eventually there were enough people around to witness. If any more violence was going to occur it was going to be behind closed doors & there ain't nothing I could have done about that. I'm still rather stunned that initially there were people about who just carried on their merry ways as if nothing was happening! Jesus, don't any of these people have daughters or sisters or girlfriends?!
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