Someone was arrested right outside my house last night
Barb told me this morning it was about five minutes to one. I'll take her word for it, since she actually got out of bed. I was awake, but I didn't even open my eyes. I just lay there listening to the drama.
We live about 100 feet or so from a T intersection, our street being the vertical line. We're one house from the corner property, and the lots are fairly small. We've become used to traffic coming around the corner to get to the highway at the other end of the street.
Since it's so very warm and muggy now, we had the bedroom window open, so we could hear everything. First there was a very high-pitched revving growing louder as it came down the street, then screeching brakes and tires, and the crunch of metal. Shortly after that, I was aware of flashing police lights and a lot of commotion.
A very young-sounding male voice kept yelling, "What did I do?" and then the police officer's voice telling him he was under arrest.
A scuffle followed, and the officer kept telling him to calm down, and the kid was yelling "OW! OW! Somebody help me!" The officer told him he was resisting, and the scuffle continued. (Side note here: when a police officer tells you you're under arrest, it's not a debatable point. You are, in fact, under arrest, whether you did anything or not. You can straighten it all out later, but you are definitely under arrest.)
I don't know how long the whole thing lasted, or what the kid hit, but eventually things calmed down and they drove away. A tow truck came by shortly after that and took the wreckage away.
We figure it was a high-school or college kid who made a dumb mistake, and tried to outrun the cops. Probably alcohol was involved, since being out at 1:00 isn't a crime around here. It's hard for me to have sympathy for the kid, since he chose to act irresponsibly. Barb feels for his parents. Imagine getting that phone call at 1:00 in the morning....
She also worries about our own kids. Hal more than Lindsay, since Lindsay has already shown her level of responsibility. And since boys are more likely to engage in such acting out. I don't suppose it's too early to have a talk with Hal.
Man, this being a parent gig is rough sometimes.
We live about 100 feet or so from a T intersection, our street being the vertical line. We're one house from the corner property, and the lots are fairly small. We've become used to traffic coming around the corner to get to the highway at the other end of the street.
Since it's so very warm and muggy now, we had the bedroom window open, so we could hear everything. First there was a very high-pitched revving growing louder as it came down the street, then screeching brakes and tires, and the crunch of metal. Shortly after that, I was aware of flashing police lights and a lot of commotion.
A very young-sounding male voice kept yelling, "What did I do?" and then the police officer's voice telling him he was under arrest.
A scuffle followed, and the officer kept telling him to calm down, and the kid was yelling "OW! OW! Somebody help me!" The officer told him he was resisting, and the scuffle continued. (Side note here: when a police officer tells you you're under arrest, it's not a debatable point. You are, in fact, under arrest, whether you did anything or not. You can straighten it all out later, but you are definitely under arrest.)
I don't know how long the whole thing lasted, or what the kid hit, but eventually things calmed down and they drove away. A tow truck came by shortly after that and took the wreckage away.
We figure it was a high-school or college kid who made a dumb mistake, and tried to outrun the cops. Probably alcohol was involved, since being out at 1:00 isn't a crime around here. It's hard for me to have sympathy for the kid, since he chose to act irresponsibly. Barb feels for his parents. Imagine getting that phone call at 1:00 in the morning....
She also worries about our own kids. Hal more than Lindsay, since Lindsay has already shown her level of responsibility. And since boys are more likely to engage in such acting out. I don't suppose it's too early to have a talk with Hal.
Man, this being a parent gig is rough sometimes.