What a swell party THAT was


or, How I spent Friday of Labor Day weekend

I was sitting quietly messing about on the Internet about 8 pm when I heard a kid outside.  It sounded like it was laughing hysterically, then I realized it was a teenaged girl and she was crying, "Somebody, help me, please!"

I was outdoors in a flash.  I, my neighbor across the street to the east, my neighbor across the street to the north (I live on a corner) and her next-door-neighbor all got to the girl at the same time.  She was holding her mouth, bleeding through her fingers, and crying.

She had been in her boyfriend's car... he'd hit her several times, pushed her out of the car, then driven away.  We hauled her in my house and wiped her up enough to see that she'd just cut her lip on her teeth.  Hurt kids get taken care of in my neighborhood, doesn't matter who they are.  She'd already called a girlfriend to come get her, so we went back outside to wait.  I was so furious I was shaking; Hubs had to physically hold me steady.

Neighbor-to-the-East is a teacher.  Our state law makes them Required Reporters -- if they see anything that looks faintly like abuse, they must report it or risk losing their jobs.  They also get trained to handle the start of such situations -- he told her that none of this was her fault, and that calling the police was something that had to be done because the situation had to stop.  We called 911, and told the police the situation.  The first officer to arrive was a woman, thank the deity of your choice.

Then things got wonderfully weird.  The injured girl, a 16-year-old, lives with her dad.  When the cop called her dad's mobile phone, he wasn't home and was perfectly happy having the child go home with a 16-year-old girlfriend.  His frightened, injured, BLEEDING daughter.  The cop was not happy.  My neighbors and I were comparing garden tools to see who had the sharpest ones, and wondering how hard it would be to get her dad's address out of her.

All this time the boyfriend was calling both the injured girl and her friend who'd come to pick her up.  Both girls were ignoring the calls, at the insistence of the cop.

The cop finally got her boyfriend's name out of her by assuring her that if she wasn't going to press charges (she'd apparently already declined to, despite the cop's urging) then the cop couldn't do anything to him.  When the guy's name came out, it turned out the cop had already been over to their house once that night with Family Services; I didn't hear what about.  (Which might explain the girl's remark while we were waiting about not wanting to talk to a "mean policeman.")

The cop really, really didn't like letting her go with her girlfriend, but had no choice because the dad had okayed it, something which made all of the rest of us quite pleased with her (the cop) and very angry with him (the dad).  The cop took the girl off to her car to write up the formal report.  Voices were raised; I'm pretty sure the girl was getting the "these are the signs of an abuser and you need to get the hell out" lecture.  Her girlfriend, who was up with all of us neighbors, said, "She's got a real problem with talking back."  She also said that the girl had quit hanging with her friends since she'd started dating the guy a couple of years ago.  The neighbors and I are all saying, "Classic abuser sign, and hello, what was she doing dating other than in a group at that age, and oh, who around here has a shotgun?"

A second cop pulled up and got out; a male.  The girl got quiet.  They were there talking a long, long time.  Finally the second cop left, the first cop called the girlfriend over, the girls and the cop got in their respective cars, and the girls pulled away headed for the girlfriend's house with the cop right on their back bumper. 

Which made all of the rest of us even more pleased with her.

I had to self-medicate with alcohol to sleep that night; I was so angry at the father and the boyfriend that I was shaking.  Goddamnit, you DON'T hurt kids in my neighborhood (even if you're still one yourself) and you especially don't REFUSE TO COME GET YOUR INJURED CHILD.

Posted: Tue - September 22, 2009 at 03:39 PM   Home         | | View Technorati reactions

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