Drama in the Hood: Cops and Shooters
Wow! There are about 35 police vehicles surrounding my street. A little red car is crashed on the corner of Walmsley and Pine Streets, about 50 feet from my home. Apparently this car was involved in a police chase. Apparently, after crashing the car, the driver bolted and ran into the neighborhood and began a shootout with the police. My neighborhood is cordoned off and it looks like the SWAT team, or some kind of specially trained forces are now on the scene. I think they have the person cornered, but they haven't brought him in yet. I'm here in the house alone. Good thing the family is away visiting relatives. Would hate to have them subjected to this scene. More as the situation develops ...
UPDATE: Friday, July 25, 2008: 9:51PM CST: Well, the police eventually apprehended the suspects (there were two, and not one). I saw one of them being placed into the police vehicle to be brought down to the station. Here's the Times-Picayune's story on the incident. The whole event pinned me to my home for half the day, which meant that I had to rush off to work as soon as I could and so didn't have the time nor the energy to commit to updating the story at the moment. So, I'm doing it now. I did manage to snap a picture from one of the windows in front of the house. Here it is to give you a glimpse of what I saw:
And that was just a peek out the window. You can't even see the crashed car on the street corner, which is a little to the right of what I captured in this shot. There were more than a dozen vehicles at least sweeping off to the right. And helicopters flying about, too. Needless to say, a very interesting morning. In the end, a massive, strong showing of law enforcement power. I guess that's a good thing. Now, with the exception of a bent fire hydrant, it all looks like nothing ever happened.
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3 comments:
Stay safe, Huck!
Kind of reminds me of this song:
The Devil You Know by Todd Snider
Helicopters over the house again
We got the projects two or three blocks from here
They pull the kids over for driving while African
And the ones with the warrants always run in fear
So, I sit here, waiting for the coast to clear
Wishing once again I had a gun around here
Turn on the news and what do I hear
Some kid shot up the bank on Gallatin road
Ran away from the cops while he was trying to reload
He beat them up to Eastland street on feet
Now he's probably reloaded and running down my street
Better turn the alarm on and lock myself in
Helicopters over the house again
Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sink below
Somewhere in between believing in Heaven
And facing the Devil you know
Poor kid probably never had a chance to give a fuck
Wouldn't know good luck from a debutant
He's gotta find a way to be Steve McNair or young buck
Or it's tough luck looking for a prison to haunt
And you can screw gettin any kind of job you want
Unless you really want to work in a fast food restaurant
And who wants to do that? Do you want to do that?
I wouldn't trade that for my crooked hat
Or my gang or my gun or my waist full of pagers
For a job deep frying shit for rich teenagers
If that's where it's at and no one's gonna help
How you gonna blame a man for helping himself?
There's a war going on that the poor can't win
Helicopters over the house again
Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sinkk below
Somewhere in between believing in Heaven
And facing the Devil you know
Black and white cops shining lights in the bushes
Can't see how this kid is gonna get very far
Unless he finds a way to make it back up to Barry street
And he can't do that unless he steals a car
Man, the way things are, it just don't seem right
All the white people talking 'bout the hope and the light
There ain't no hope around here, just guns and drugs
We ain't building bridges, we're just training thugs
Then I hear a terrifying kick at my back door
And in comes this kid, I say, “Hey I've seen this kid before”
I see him all the time at that bar on woodland street
Now, he's bleeding in my kitchen, tracking mud off his feet
And he's looking at me like I better either help him or die
Until he sees in my eyes that I'm on his side
I hand him my keys, I say, you better move fast
There's a J in the ashtray and plenty of gas
He throws me the cash and says I'll be back for this
I say, yeah, well, don't be surprised if there's a little bit missing
His gold teeth glistened with a big old grin
He said we'll talk about that when I see you again
He shook my hand, I shook his back
I felt like I was about to have a heart attack
Until he finally drove away, and I thought “goddam..."
Helicopters over the house again
Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sink below
Somewhere in between believing in Heaven
And facing the devil you know
Please be careful! And keep the doors locked.
Eric - Interesting lyrics. Some of those earlier sentiments passed through my mind this morning. But I can tell you that I wouldn't have been so accommodating (at least not willingly so) if the dudes ended up in my home. I wasn't all that worried or nervous, actually; but the afterthought of some alternative scenarios of what could have happened does now give me some trepidation and pause.
Leigh - Rest assured. Doors locked and alarm set.
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