Dazed, drunk and depants-ed
Great story here from SpartyCuse, in case you missed it earlier this week:
Funny story that I never had time to post back when it happened. Its August 19, 2005, I'm riding the Blue Line toward the Loop, and we stop at California. The train sits there for about 5 minutes, doors open, no announcement. I finally get off the train, step onto the platform, to try and find out whats happening.
In the car ahead, there's a bit of a disturbance. There's an African-American woman, clearly homeless, drunk, and possibly high or mentally ill. Shes causing a scene on the car ahead - smoking, drinking booze, and harassing passengers, and the CTA staff somehow get her off the car. Now, instead of closing the doors and having the train take off, the train sits there. She goes out of sight, then comes back, and gets on the train again.
Then she lights up a smoke. People wonder where the police are, and the CTA staff say "on the way" This is now 10 minutes after we stopped. CTA staff are telling people they cant pull her off the train, and people are yelling everything possible at her to get her off. Some guy offered her more booze if she got off, and one guy yelled "free weed out here" as a way to get her out. No luck.
Finally, about 15 minutes after we stop, one angry passenger asks the CTA staff if HE can pull her out. Staff basically says do whatever you wanna do. Many people, including myself, tell him to wait for the cops, but he was in a hurry to get someplace.
So the guy, as you can guess, plays the role of CTA bouncer and clears the car of the problem.
The worst part? As she was being removed from the train, she forgot to hold her pants (which were about 10 sizes too big) up, and the entire CTA community got a not-so-lovely look at what she had south of the border.
The train then closed the doors, and took off. No word what happened to her.
The problem was the CTA probably reported 'disruptive passenger' to the police.
They should have reported 'a strange looking package' or 'officer down'. That would have got them there a lot faster.
Posted by: Jonsey | September 24, 2005 at 08:04 AM
"I think they have a gun/knife."
And when they get there and find that there obviously isn't a gun, "Well, I saw something that in their hand/pocket/etc.. I guess I over-reacted."
Not "They have a gun/knife." The "I think" on the 911 recording is very important for your defense if you're charged with making a false report.
Try not to misuse this. If every call is an emergency, then no call is an emergency. Use this only when the situation really is an emergency that is about to get out of hand. It's more expediant than explaining the subtle clues that something is escalating into something more than just an annoying disturbance, but shouldn't be used just because you're impatient. It's just a short-cut to avoid what could be 20 questions as the operator tries to judge just how serious something is.
(And the less serious it turns out to be once the police get there, the more likely you'll be facing false report charges. The police will be responding expecting something exciting, and may take it out on you if there isn't any excitement.)
Posted by: Warren | September 24, 2005 at 10:59 AM
Sure thing, Warren.
And when they charge you with a felony (which that is, by the way), what do you do then? Can you afford the CTA fare AND a good criminal defense attorney?
Or when a cop, speeding to what she thinks is a very REAL emergency situation, is hit by another driver and killed, who do you pray to for absolution?
Or even the more subtle problem, when the police learn that responding to weapon calls on the CTA aren't REALLY weapon calls. And they slow down. Except for that one time when someone really does have a weapon and kills a fellow passenger cuz it took the cops a few extra minutes to get there.
Think it through, man.
Posted by: FredN. | September 26, 2005 at 07:47 AM