Baltimoremick.com

The last couple of weeks have been quite interesting for me, as I have been a part of two rather interesting occurrences. Of course, both just happened on a Friday. Coincidence? I think not.

Friday, 17 August 2007

I had an appointment to get a haircut late in the day, and I had already arrived home after work. I decided to head over a little early, so I left the house and was southbound on Paca Street just as it approaches West Ostend. I was on the phone ending the game of phone tag with my friend, when as I approach the intersection of S. Paca and W. Ostend Streets I see something interesting. There is a pickup truck pulled onto the driveway on my right at a strange angle, as though someone saw something and stopped there immediately. As I approach the intersection I see the driver of the pickup yelling and gesturing at someone inside the fenced in yard there next to Scriba Welding, Inc. The driver is outside of his vehicle, right next to the fence. He is yelling at a black male who is preparing to hop over the fence, and he is yelling at him for trespassing. The black male jumps down, practically into the arms of the awaiting white male. The white male–who I presume to be an employee or owner of the business there–tackles the black male, and I look over from my car as I am on the phone. I tell my friend, “I will call you back. It looks like I need to call 911,” and just as I do so the white male who has the trespasser in a hold yells at me to call the police.

I pull my car over at the corner, and I proceed to call 911. I tell them what has happened, and I give them my location. I then walk a few short feet from my car closer to the two struggling men. The trespasser appears to be one of the typical “interesting residents of Pigtown,” as he appears to be an addict/vagrant, but he is giving the other guy quite a time. The white male yells to me “Go to Three Corners and get the guy!” Now, in the nearly one year that I have lived in my house, I know Three Corners Liquor store to not be open terribly late, and this is at 6 PM on a Friday. I know no one is there. I go running there anyways, and I look to see if anyone is there. The store is closed, just as I thought.

I head back to the corner of S. Paca and W. Ostend Streets, and as I round the corner and unmarked police car has pulled onto the scene. One of the plainclothes officers has both men in handcuffs, and as I come upon the scene I raise my hands to let everyone know that I made the call to 911. The white male is raising a bit of a ruckus, claiming that he was stopping the trespasser. The plainclothes officer that cuffed him, though, responds by saying that from what he saw, the men appeared to be fighting. One of the officers comes over and takes my information, and he mentions that they just came upon the corner just in passing. As they exited the vehicle, though, they heard the call come from dispatch. After he gets everything from me, he thanks me and says that if they need anything from me they will be in touch. With that, I head off for my haircut, but I see that the white male has his handcuffs removed.

When I get to my usual salon, I ask for and get a beer, entertaining everyone with this story. It was an interesting way to start the weekend, that’s for sure.

Friday, 24 August 2007

This past Friday evening, I was heading home after an evening with some friends enjoying a couple of beers at Captain Larry’s. As we were heading down Fort Avenue, we come across a vehicle that appears to have hit a car parked on the Avenue. The accident is just before the intersection of Covington Street and Fort Avenue, just opposite Hogan’s Alley. All of us in the vehicle behind can see sparks and the ignition of some flames from beneath the vehicle that has struck a parked van. I get out of the back seat and run toward the accident, approaching it just as some of the Hogan’s Alley regulars approach the car. They are yelling to the guy to get out of the car, but the gentleman in the car is out of it. He was obviously pretty drunk, and he smashed his nice shiny Corvette up quite well.

The passenger compartment is filling with smoke, and a couple of the regulars are coming over to the vehicle, yelling at the guy if he is alright and to get out of the car. I approach, and one of the guys tries to open the door, but he struggles. He finally gets the door open, and there are some flames are starting to come on the right front end of the car, beneath the hood. The driver is unresponsive, so I reach in and grab an arm to get him out of the seat. Now that he is out of the seat somewhat, I grab both arms and pull him across the street to the curb. At this point, he is semi-conscious, and to describe him as that is a stretch.

The car is now pretty much on fire, and the minivan it has hit is getting scorched as a result. My friend has called 911 for emergency response, and I can hear the fire trucks coming from their station down on Fort Avenue. Just as the Fire Department arrives, the police arrive as well. We explain the situation, as the girl I am dating has been trying to keep the drunk driver conscious while waiting for paramedics. One of the things the driver said to her was “I can’t get a DUI.” That’s probably the least of your problems, there, buddy. You just wrecked a $70,000 automobile. Fire and police personnel take it from there, and we go home for the night. I promptly crashed for the night.

Nothing like ending a Friday night by pulling someone out of a burning car, huh?