So I’m back packing through Asia and have just arrived in Penang, Malaysia.
I’m hanging out at the youth hostel thinking about getting something to eat.
In walks this Australian girl so I Iask her if she wants to go out and get something to eat. She says “OK”, but wants to put her thing away first. While I’m waiting for her, I start to read about these motorcycle bandits. Apparently they ride around looking for unsuspecting women with handbags on their shoulders walking near the edge of the street. The guy in back of the driver grabs the bag and off they go.
I don’t think much about it and we head out. Not even a minute later a motorcycle comes up and grabs her handbag. She holds on at first, but rather than get dragged on to the street, she lets go. She’s got “everything” in the bag. The travelers “big 3”; passport, air tickets home and traveler’s checks. (And I kick myself for not saying anything to her about what I had just read!)
Fortunately, Penang has a Australian counsel, loads of airline offices and banks. Twenty-four hours later we’ve straightened everything out.
What crimes have you seen take place with your own eyes?
As a frequent denizen of dive bars I’ve seen loads of fights. One ended with a guy getting his head shoved through a car window. Another ended with a guy running into the street and getting hit by a car–as cruel as it sounds, he deserved it. I also saw a guy take bat to another person’s car. It’s funny in the movies, in person, not so funny.
I saw a fight beginning today, on my lunch-time walk to the shop. When I came out of the shop it was finished. I think the occupants of two cars were fighting over who caused the a prang.
I have observed theft, drug deals, assaults, vandalism and possibly more. Basically what you would expect from growing up in a small town where there’s nothing to do except cause trouble and then moving to huge metropolis where there is tons of crime.
Back in the early 90’s I witnessed a purse snatching in NYC. Saw this guy running down the street w/ a purse & an old lady running after him yelling for someone to stop the guy. It was like a scene out of a movie, didn’t seem real, but it was. I just froze & watched the whole thing happen, didn’t lift a finger to help the poor lady.
When I was about 20, I was at Electronics Boutique, looking at games. Some kid, about 10 years old, slinks in, takes off his back pack, and very theatrically takes a huge box with a Game Shark, and tries to stuff it in his pack. It was comical how obvious he was, but the clerk was oblivious, playing a game or something. I ratted the kid out, the clerk got the MDSE back, and banned the kid from the store.
I can’t think of many that I’ve witnessed, but I used to be a bank teller. I went through five hold-ups, two of which where I was the victim. Another one happened to one of my trainees that I sat next to. The other two I didn’t witness, but I was in the building at the time.
I was at a seedy bar in Akron and there was some tussle between the bartender and some kids in the bar. Not sure why the kids were in the bar, being that they were kids, but they got thrown out eventually.
Later in the night, some older kid (possibly an older brother) came back to the bar to have words with the bouncer that threw the kids out. Then, one of the guys got stabbed. I don’t remember if it was the bouncer or the kid.
I had been outside smoking just before the stabbing. When the kid came walking down the street, my boyfriend suggested we get back inside. Good call.
Everyone had to stay in the bar when the cops came, and give statements. My boyfriend and I were having a great old time because the cop gave us permission to smoke inside, just weeks after the Ohio smoking ban went into effect.
I’ve seen a lot of shoplifting, from small things like packs of gum, to big things like a cart filled with plasma TVs. A purse snatching in downtown Chicago. I inadvertently watched a manager’s car get stolen; the thief happened to look a lot like the manager, which made giving the police report really odd.
A number of assaults. The worst was when a group of skinheads attacked a band at an all-ages club on the south side of Chicago (1992-ish?), a brawl broke out, audience members were stabbed, and one of the band members got dragged out to a dumpster and had his head repeatedly smashed against the edge.
A hostage situation at my apartment complex a few months ago that ended with a tear gas assault and suicide-by-cop.
I did once see a drunk driver literally fall out of the car after being pulled over by police. He couldn’t even stand up.
Probably the biggest crime I’ve ever witnessed, though, was when some Russian gangsters decided to have a gunfight in the parking lot behind my apartment building. This was about fifteen years ago, when I lived in Toronto. It was just like in the movies or TV; they were hiding behind cars, popping up and firing, and ducking back again.
One that does stick out as unusual and not vehicular in nature was an environmental dumping I saw. Someone had a severe flooding in their condo unit in my development (sewage pipes burst) and a “remediation” firm was hired to clean out contaminated water, toxic chemicals, mold, disintegrated drywall, soiled carpeting, and so on. Professional firms are hired in part because they’re supposed to know the regulations for how to handle this stuff safely and in an environmentally sound manner.
I came home early that day from work, and as i strolled through the nearly-empty parking lot, I saw these guys coming out of the building in question with a series of huge containers on rollers full of blackish water and all kinds of debris…two men at a time rolled them down the sidewalk to the storm drain, and standing on the sticker that says “Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed – Do Not Dump” they poured all this hideous crap into the storm drain. I called the county water authority and they were VERY interested and sent a car out immediately to confront these guys. Unfortunately I had errands to run and could not stay and watch the fun.
About a year ago I was driving a taxi part-time. Picked up a 50-ish woman and 5 of her grandkids at a store and was taking them home. She had to stop at a smoke shop on the way home. I pulled in to the parking lot and an suv pulled in next to us immediately afterward pretty fast and slammed the brakes, just before hitting the building. A domestic situation was going on inside the vehicle. These kids had to witness the man beating on the woman. She bailed out and ran to me, but I already called 911. She stayed with me as I talked to the dispatcher. A policeman happened to be on the street and was there within seconds. I gave my name and cell number to him and he sent me on my way. The victim was hysterical and could hardly even breathe, standing there beside me. I felt so bad that the kids saw any of it.
Dui
shoplifting
assaults
robbery
theft
texting while driving:mad:
sex in public:eek:
heck, pretty much everything.
As a ute, I went with my grandparents on Airstream caravans all over.
I was 10 or 12 when we were in some tiny southern Mexican town. We were walking down the street, when a man bumped into my grandfather. Former OSS, FBI, and retired Postal inspector (shot Ma & Freddy Barker), my GF was a badass.
He grabbed this punk, beat and bodyslammed him so fast it was amazing.
Turns out he had lifted what he thought was GF’s wallet. It was actually his pipe tobacco pouch, but GF wasn’t having it either way. About a week later in San Pedro Sula, same thing. Bump, grab, beatdown in 2 seconds.
I was always impressed by his various skills and knowledge, but seeing a 65yo man destroy 2 20-somethings without breaking a sweat has always stuck with me.
