Calling 911

[justleesa]

When is the right time to call 911? As I type I can still hear the commotion outside our window.

At about 2 am I was awakened by the sound of loud voices. A very angry man named Matt, a woman (guess she is the one he is calling the nasty names) and another guy. It seems they were on the upper garage level of the neighboring building and it all floods into our bedroom, I can hear some of it, but see nothing. You can image how sounds bounce off these buildings in the middle of the night when all else is quiet.

The angry man is upset about something, swearing his head off in a tone that makes me think he is going to have one heck of sore throat in the morning. In the same volume they are telling him to stop, "Don't do it Matt". As I really start to come back to the real world, from where ever my sleep had taken me, I hear a neighbor calling from somewhere in this concret jungle for them to shut up, people are trying to sleep...and they do quiet down, but the message gets more and more urgent as I hear someone (the woman) making coughing sounds....just about now is when I start to say to myself go to the window and give your own call, warn them if they don't knock it off or move on you're going to call 911...or just get up out of bed and call 911....my heart is racing as my husband, who is blessed (I guess 4 years on a navy ship can do that to you), sleeps on.....I am so unsure of what should I do, should I get involved? should I give my voice a face?
Then, as my courage finally gets the better of me and I am about to get up to make that call, I hear police talk over the radio. Looks like someone else had the courage to make the call and the police has arrived.
The talking goes on, I hear the guy starting to cry and now 45 minutes later things have calmed down.....

Why is doing the right thing so hard to do?

As you can tell, I can't fall back to sleep and I'm just thinking out loud....you don't have to answer...and if you do thank you.

 

[BabyDuck]

ftroest: wow, leesa, i'm sorry for your scary experience. it's hard to know when the line gets crossed and butting in is absolutely the right thing to do. don't really have any words of wisdom, but please accept this... ftroest:

 

[pants!]

Go ahead and call.

Look up the story of Kitty Genovese.

 

[Randy43068]

When is the right time to call 911? As I type I can still hear the commotion outside our window.

At about 2 am I was awakened by the sound of loud voices. A very angry man named Matt, a woman (guess she is the one he is calling the nasty names) and another guy. It seems they were on the upper garage level of the neighboring building and it all floods into our bedroom, I can hear some of it, but see nothing. You can image how sounds bounce off these buildings in the middle of the night when all else is quiet.

The angry man is upset about something, swearing his head off in a tone that makes me think he is going to have one heck of sore throat in the morning. In the same volume they are telling him to stop, "Don't do it Matt". As I really start to come back to the real world, from where ever my sleep had taken me, I hear a neighbor calling from somewhere in this concret jungle for them to shut up, people are trying to sleep...and they do quiet down, but the message gets more and more urgent as I hear someone (the woman) making coughing sounds....just about now is when I start to say to myself go to the window and give your own call, warn them if they don't knock it off or move on you're going to call 911...or just get up out of bed and call 911....my heart is racing as my husband who is still blessed with sleep (I guess 4 years on a navy ship can do that to you) sleeps on.....I am so unsure of what should I do, should I get involved? should I give my voice a face?
Then, as my courage finally gets the better of me and I am about to get up to make that call, I hear police talk over the radio. Looks like someone else had the courage to make the call and the police has arrived.
The talking goes on, I hear the guy starting to cry and now 45 minutes later things have calmed down.....

Why is doing the right thing so hard to do?

As you can tell, I can't fall back to sleep and I'm just thinking out loud....you don't have to answer...and if you do thank you.

Hi Leesa,

Make the call and let the police sort it out. I work as a cop, part time, and can tell you that we'd rather you make the call. If it's a 'real' situation we're glad you called sooner than later. If it turns out to be nothing then we're also glad that someone called and it turned out to be nothing.

Make the call sooner than later.

Randy

 

[justleesa]

Thanks guys....seems a neighbor was faster and it's all over now.
Living in the heart of Waikik, I'm sure the situation will come again and that time I'll make the call.

 

[SueMermaid]

Yeah, Lisa, I think you would have been right to call.

If you have any question, call. I mean, you are a reasonable woman. My Mom, however, once called 9-1-1 because there were "two baby deer in the yard, and they were lost".

They weren't babies, and they weren't lost. They were dining on her geraniums. All of them. I can't believe that woman gave birth to me. But I digress.

I have called 9-1-1 on at least two occasions, one time was because of a boat that was rapidly moving down the dangerously high river behind my house, and it was upside down, no sign of people. I was not correct in my thoughts that someone had it out and the boat dumped over and left them in the river, but the dispatcher told me I did the absolute right thing. She told me that if I have doubts, err on the side of caution. That's what they are there for.

 

[justleesa]

Go ahead and call.

Look up the story of Kitty Genovese.

WOW, what a story

 

[pants!]

Reason enough to make you reconsider calling 911 isn't it?

 

[justleesa]

indeed, the poor woman....

 

[SueMermaid]

That site is blocked here at work.