Ground work

We've been living in what I call Ghetto-Lite for the past 9 months. It's a little bit shady here, and a lot of weird things have happened, including suspect baked goods, stolen shoes, and calls to CPS. Tonight was another interesting night that prompted me to start documenting our adventures in Ghetto-Lite.

I was reading in bed and Lizzy was working on homework in the living room when we heard a crash and a scream. We looked out of the window, and it appeared that a car had hit a moped and fled the scene. There were two women that had been on the moped--one was standing up (Standing Woman=SW), and the other was laying in the road (Road Woman=RW). The weirdest thing was that SW was screaming at everyone around that they were fine, so don't call the cops. "DON'T CALL THE COPS! WE'RE FINE! WE'RE FINE! DON'T CALL THE COPS!" RW was definitely not fine. (Question: What are they doing wrong if they don't want the cops called when one is clearly injured?) I called the cops. By that point they had already received other calls, and the police were on the way. SW forced RW to her feet and walked/dragged her to the sidewalk.

Half of the neighborhood ran outside to help/watch, and I believe the other half was staring out of their windows like us. As the first police car began to arrive, RW was screaming that she could not feel anything. (Question: How did she half-walk if she can't feel anything? Or, did SW further injure RW by forcing her to the sidewalk in a bungled attempt to avoid the fuzz?) Hopefully she is not actually paralyzed or otherwise seriously injured. After the first police car came, an ambulance came, which blocked much of our view and muffled much of the noise. Luckily, we are on the second floor, so we could still see some of the action.

Two guys picked up the moped and moved it out of the street. Another guy noticed a backpack in the street. It seemed like one or more of these guys knew the women involved. Things seemed to be settling down some. They were putting RW on a stretcher, and everyone was sort of milling around. Then Lizzy noticed a guy sprinting away from the area, and it appeared that he had the backpack. Lizzy wasn't the only one who noticed that, and a police car followed him and quickly caught up with him. The idiot ran straight down the sidewalk in the direction that the car was already half-facing. He probably could have evaded them if he had a) walked away nonchalantly, b) ran through yards, or c) ran up the street in the opposite direction because no police car would have been able to pursue him easily. Apparently none of that occurred to him. As it was, I think they arrested him. (Question: What was in the backpack? Our vote: Drugs.)

Nothing else particularly noteworthy occurred, although one police car and a tow truck (for the moped) remain outside. Most of the neighborhood folk have returned to whatever they do at 10:10pm. Lizzy will probably be researching this incident online tomorrow to learn more details. But as of now, this was yet another weird occurrence in Ghetto-Lite.

UPDATE 4/21/12: From a newspaper article I learned that the "women" involved were actually 14 and 15 years old. They actually hit the car, rather than vice versa. The one that went to the hospital was released after a few hours, so she clearly was not paralyzed. The article made no mention of the infamous backpack.