From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: A funny thing happened on the way to the tunnel
Date: 13 Apr 92 22:22:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: dog.22692
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

Yesterday afternoon I saw an interesting violent crime diffused 
(perhaps by intent and perhaps by dumb luck) before anything really 
bad happened.

My wife and I were going home from a computer store in Oakland, 
CA, in what is most diplomatically described as a "transitional
neighborhood" on the fringes of Chinatown.  As we waited for the
walk signal, I saw a red Honda Civic driving past, with a young
black woman at the wheel.  This is hardly an extraordinary sight,
but my attention was attracted by the young black man sitting on
the hood, yelling.  As they drove past, we noticed that he was
cursing, and that the windshield was caved in.

I am ashamed to admit that I followed the usual urban protocol 
during the first few seconds:
(1) Watch it without giving any sign you are watching it;
(2) Rationalize going about your business and letting somebody
    else solve the problem.

I had several hundred dollars' worth of new '386 motherboard and
gadgets in my arms, so perhaps that's a mitigating circumstance.
We went to our car as they motored down the block.  

We drove a block or two and watched for a pay phone, and here 
they come again on the cross street.  Now he had one leg through
the windshield.  Goodbye rationalizations; we started looking
for the car.

By the time we caught up with her, he had fled and she was sitting 
in traffic.  My wife told her that we would act as witnesses, and
we found a pay phone and called 911.

By the time we returned, the police were there.  It turned out that 
he was an ex-boyfriend who had stolen the car three days earlier. 
She attempted to retrieve it herself and apparently he spotted her 
at some point in the process.  The car was sitting immobile in the 
middle of the street because he'd taken the keys with him.

We also overheard that, although she didn't believe him to be
currently armed, it wasn't unheard of.  And that he had a prior
for <mumbletrafficnoise minor-sounding uncivility>.  He turned
up on a nearby corner a few minutes later and got himself arrested.

Two things struck me about her.  One was how calm she stayed. If
she got the shakes, she commendably did it after the dust settled.
The other was her IMHO extreme level of tolerance and pacificism.
Many of us (including, evidently, the cop we were chatting with)
would have taken it up to about 50 and kicked the brakes through
the floorboards.  She didn't appear cowed or anything -- just
cool and collected (at least considering the circumstances) and 
disinclined to exploit her big chance at justifiable homicide.

Well, three things, actually.  She dressed and talked and acted
like an educated upstanding citizen; what she was doing with 
Mr. Fade and Raiders Jacket is anybody's guess.

With the situation under control, we cruised on home. Hopefully 
they'll take him to a better place for a few years -- during
which SHE will hopefully decide that she could hook up with 
someone who isn't into impulsive violence and grand theft auto.
But I'll betcha a nickel she still wuvs him, and that he's still
just as nasty when he gets out.

Ugh.  I see, partially, why the cops hate domestic disputes.

--Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"