Last night, as LilMiss and I were driving home, I saw what appeared to be two teens beating the hell out of another teen (all males).
I honked my horn and flashed my lights-they looked up, but then continued.
In the past I woulda stopped the car, maybe gotten out and done something to try and stop it. But with LilMiss alongside of me I couldn’t. I just drove home.
I did call the police, but it was 10 miles away from where the assult occurred so who knows what happened (no, I do not own a cell phone).
Was there something more I could have done? I’m feeling a mite guilty, can ya tell?
If by “LilMiss” you mean that your child was with you, then I think that you’re obligated to make sure that your child (which means you) remains safe. You couldn’t have known if the guys had any weapons, so getting out and confronting them wouldn’t have been a good idea.
Where was this happening? Out in the middle of nowhere? I suppose if there was a nearby store or gas station, then maybe you should have stopped there. Other than that, just make sure that you got a good look at them to provide a description, I guess.
It was on a residential street, around 7 (night). Fairly populated route- there were cars ahead of me and behind me. I am the only one who honked. I don’t know, I guess if I could see it, I would have thought others did also.
And I didn’t even think to stop at the gas station… GAH!
It coulda been a setup to get someone to stop and then jack their car. You did the right thing by continuing in your situation. I would NOT be saying this if I was the guy getting the beating of course.
Not worth getting out if your kids with you, the situation would have been so much worse if she’d been involved. Being a good samaritan is risky business in this day and age. Reporting it is the only thing you could have done. How many people do you reckon saw and did nothing? Quite a few probably.
Only thing I can think of (and bear in mind I say this not having any kids, so my perspective is definitely going to be different and there are probably things I’m not thinking of that you automatically do, etc) is locking all the doors and driving, slowly right up to them to try and get them to move, then when they do, speeding away.
It might give the victom kid a chance to get away, Iunno. But what you did was more than others would have done.
Yeah, it sure is a different situation when it is really happening. About two months ago I was in a very similar situation while walking alone. My heart was beating about a million miles a second, and I ended up ducking out of site and calling 911 on my cell phone.
After the incident, I was regretting :smack: not intervening more directly, but the “fight or flight” instinct kinda works on its own in a lot of situations.