Random Violence Sunday

Yesterday started off great, then detoured into random violence.

I went to church with my mother, then we stopped at the garden center and I bought an evergreen viburnum. I got back, cooked us all an omelette, my mother left with our dog to take him to visit his dog friends, my husband and I worked in the yard for a while, our diamond doves were diligently nesting.

A truck screeched to a halt on the intersection across the street from us. A man and a woman got out and started fighting on our neighbor's yard. At first it was just wrestling. Then he punched her in the face, hard. My husband called 911. I held the door open and tried to beckon her from across the street to come over to our door. 911 put us on hold, dammit! She was yelling and saying she just wanted her phone so she could call her aunt, and that she didn't deserve to get beaten. He punched her in the face again, got back in the car... I was hoping she would walk away, but she just got back in the car with him. They drove off too fast for me to get the license plate. However, just a minute later we saw a police car driving down the street in the other direction. My husband ran over to car, flagged them down and told the cop he might be able to catch them. We were thinking they may have pulled over at the next intersection and gotten into it again... unfortunately the cop returned after 15 minutes, said he couldn't find the car, and that was that.

I'm really angry about 911 putting us on hold. We never got anyone. Looking back on the recent times I've called 911, I've always gotten someone after a couple rings.

• Earlier this year: called 911 to report rabid raccoon blocking traffic. The situation was rather urgent because very ignorant and foolhardy people kept trying to shoo it out of the way with sticks or their feet.
• 1 year ago: called 911 to report messed-up pedestrian weaving back and forth dangerously close to traffic on the shoulder of a major highway.
• 2.5 years ago in prior residence: called 911 after man knocking on my front door threatens to sexually assault me. The police came quickly but didn't bother arresting him because after just a few minutes he convinces them it was all a misunderstanding. Within 24 hours he threatens his roommate, stabs himself and runs off into the night... thanks, lazy cops! I have to give another group of police the credit for finally and efficiently arresting him.

At least that policeman my husband flagged down made an honest effort. Overall, I believe we would all be much safer if we had more good neighborhood beat cops. This includes reacting to domestic violence. I feel very powerless after witnessing what I did today. I had about a 20-second window where I could have gone across the street and tried to stop the beating. Of course, the man could also have pulled out a gun and shot me, so I didn't.

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. I grilled some squid on our backyard grill, and we had that for dinner with rice and salad.