Monday, December 05, 2005

Thanksgiving Shenanigans, Part 2

Fast-forward to Thursday morning.

A's mom & dad were in the backyard looking at the broken fence panel, and smelled cigarette smoke. They pulled the broken fence panel completely down and found a shed in the adjacent backyard of a house right on the main road. Between the shed and the fence were piles of human waste and empty beer cans.

A's dad went back into their house to get her brother, who brought out a 6-foot wooden pole. They bang on the door and a scruffy looking transient stuck his head out the window on the door to the shed. A's brother (E) just about put the guy's eye out with the pole, jabbing it like a spear and yelling and cursing at the guy.

Her dad grabbed a screwdriver and jammed it into the door frame, locking the guy in. He was yelling and screaming at us in Spanish and beating on the door trying to get out. Every time he stuck his head up to look out the window, E poked at him with the pole, taunting him and telling him to stick his head up again so he could knock it off.

Meanwhile, A's mom called the police to report the transient. A didn't think that was going to get them to come fast enough, so she called back and told them that the guy was being violent and might hurt someone.

The first cop to arrive on the scene was a big black guy who looked like he should be a bodybuilder or linebacker. He pulled the guy out of the shed and had him face down on the ground so he could search him. While he searched the guy, E stuck the pole right in the guy's face, yelling at him and calling him a thief and other unpleasant things, and the cop just laughed. He told E that he wished more people would do what he was doing, because the police really can't, and they are sick of the illegals just flaunting the law. Then he told him to tone it down as soon as his sargent showed up.

One of the six cops who eventually arrived recognized the guy as someone who ran from him a couple of weeks ago, so they had an outstanding warrant on the guy, plus they charged him with loitering and vagrancy.

I told my mother-in-law that fun shit like this never happens with my family.

I think this incident in our neighborhood has really put A over the edge about not wanting to ever move. Ever since it happened, we are really disappointed in the quality of life in our area. It seems like if you can't afford a million-dollar home, you have to live in the barrio. We are now considering moving after I graduate, if I can't get a job in the area that pays six figures.

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