You might have watched the TV program in Canada which is quite hilarious, but last night my 17 year old daughter experienced the scary side of this culture. Its shaken all of us in the family.
She was delivering pizza into a local trailor park, after sundown, driving slowly looking for a number when a man standing on the side of the road with a 4 foot 2x4 piece of lumber hurled it at her. It hit the driver’s door just below the window. She stopped momentarily stunned. There was a couple standing by. The male partner walked up to her car and demanded that she roll down her window. She was under the impression that he was going to tell her not to report the incident.
“Fuck You” she yelled and spun off far enough away and called the cops.
They took a statement and sent her off.
Later they called back with file numbers for insurance and reported they tried to interview the people involved, but couldn’t get any straight answers because the were stoned.
Sounds like this is going to be the end of it.
She’s told her boss she’s not going to deliver to that trailor park again. He delivered the pizza there.
Well I’m not satisfied with the police reaction.
She’s been assaulted and if that 2x4 struck her window, it could easily have caused bodily damage. Never mind the terror she was under.
I’m debating on whether to call the local paper of our 30,000 population community to raise the profile of this incident and get a more serious police reaction.
I’ve cleared it with my daughter, but my wife is concerned that I might make our daughter a target.
It’s hard to hurl 2x4 when your elbows have been broken’s all I’m sayin’.
The events of the last couple weeks in my life have made me far less likely to forgive things or chalk them up to experimentation. You threaten harm to my daughter, prepare to pay the price.
Not that I have run tests or anything, but I will tell you that those windows, even the side wondows, will withstand much higher of an impact than you think, without breaking.
There used to be a commercial with a guy who locked his keys out of the car, and didn’t have the auto club program to come help him. They showed him picking up a head-sized boulder and dashing it against the side window, watching the window crack but the boulder just bounced off. A person in the automotive industry told me that was not as unreal as it seemed.
We now return you to your regular rant. I delivered pizzas in trailer parks before. I am glad I do not do that anymore, it was some crazy stuff.
Firstly, I’ve been accused of being irrational, so take that for what it’s worth. With that said, I would personally have the papers / news involved. I mean, they couldn’t interview the guy that threw a 2x4 at your daughter because he was stoned?!? Throw the asshole in a cell overnight and let the meth wear off (I’m not saying meth because it’s a trailor park stereotype. I’m saying meth because it’s one of the few popular drugs that would even get close to compelling me to lob a freakin’ 2x4 at a 17 year old girl). I would certainly call this negligence by the police into question. They need to be held accountable for your whole city’s safety. Personally, I would also take some kind of sick solace in the trailor park’s reputation being further lowered - like I said, I’ve been accused of being irrational :-).
As much as I hate to say it, I think that in this situation I’d just let it drop. Sometimes in an effort to win the battle the war is lost, and I think that in this case you stand to lose more than you have to gain by pursuing the issue. To me the thing to consider is which scenario holds the most potential for harm to your daughter, your wife and you. If you let the assault drop, it’s unlikely that more harm will result from it. On the other hand, if you pursue it you are likely to make determined enemies of people who are engaged in an outlaw lifestyle and who have already shown a propensity for violence. In addition, you will likely alienate and create resentment among your (so-called) police force, and in a town the size of yours this could mean anything from targeting you with regard to traffic offenses to dragging their feet and being slow to respond should you ever need them yourself, and that is a situation that could exist for a fairly long period of time.
So all in all, I see little potential for good and considerable potential for bad coming from making an issue of the situation. I think that barring further problems with these people I’d just let it drop. Then if further problems develop and the police don’t act, you can go to the news media with not only that but with a verifiable past incident that they failed to act on as well.
Just my .02. I know it’s hard to let things like this go. It can make a person feel weak or cowardly and it offends one’s sense of justice. Still, I think the most pragmatic consideration is the safety and welfare of your family. Sometimes in life it’s necessary to just absorb a wrongful hit and get on with your life, and I think this is one of those times.
And FWIW I agree that pizza delivery is not a safe job for a 17-year-old girl.
Yeah, no one ever tries to assault people anywhere except a trailer park.
Sorry your daughter had a bad night, but seriously?
As for a 17 year old delivering pizza, that’s the norm around here. Most of the pizza places just don’t deliver to the bad areas – which is our town tend to be the projects. When I managed a pizza place, I actually liked helping deliver pizzas to the trailer parks – got the best tips there. YMMV.
And now you can continue to generalise about everyone that lives in a different home than you.
What happened to your daughter stinks, and I am sorry.
We’ve had no incidents whatsoever when we’ve had pizza delivered to our double-wide in this park. Perhaps the driver might have to watch out for an elderly lady and her dog on their evening walk.
Not everyone who lives in a mobile home lives like Trailer Park Boys. I hate that show.
Not that this is going to be something you want to hear but…
Despite the potential, she got a scare and a dented/scuffed car. Neither of these are a “big deal” to law enforcement. You have a minor property crime in the form of the damage to the car. Your insurance company will take a nice financial 2x4 to the board thrower. If you want to have fun, have one of the local ambulance chasers file you a suit for “Infliction of emotional distress” or something like that.
Maybe this already has been done but her boss should write a letter to whoever the manager/landlord of the trailer park is saying given what happened to one of his employees, the pizza shop is going to cease all deliveries to that trailer park until the 2x4-hurling miscreant is evicted and the safety of the shop’s delivery people can be guaranteed.
Where in the OP is there ANY reference to the wood-throwing man threatening rape?
By screaming “fuck you” and squealing tires, the OP’s daughter acted just as trailer-trashy as the trailer park residents. She should probably move there, she’d fit right in.
Rereading it I might have jumped a bit far on that, but assault of some sort looks like a real risk. At least from what I’ve seen around here.
Are you saying you think OP’s 17 year old daughter should have just stuck around? Especially after the shock of some asswipe throwing a large chunk of wood at her car?
That doesn’t set off alarm bells to you? How does one lose control of wood like that? It’s not like you play catch with lumber by the road.
Put down the dictionary and pick up Common Sense 101.
He threw a piece of wood at her car. Of course she’s not going to act congenial. Do I have to draw you a map?
A misspelling of manner. As in only an insecure loser looking to get some sense of shallow superiority by nitpicking the actions of a startled teenager, and people’s spelling would post in a manner such as yours.