A View of the Park
Our house is across the street from a small park. Most of the time, I really enjoy this fact. I run there. I shoot hoops occasionally. I watch the people playing games. Our bedroom window has a vaulted view of the playground, and we often stand and watch the neighborhood energy.
However, once in a while, watching the park has a dark side. Like the other night when we watched two kids in the shadows, shooting up.
Or like last night.
Audrey and I were getting ready for bed. It’s about 1am. I happen to look out the window and notice commotion. Some screaming. A big group of young people scattering. A white SUV screeching to a halt, then gunning towards people. Then smashing into and through someone’s backyard fence adjacent to the park.
I’m not sure what’s going on. We watch, stunned. The SUV is snagged on the fence and is revving in reverse to get out. When it finally does, it squeals it’s tires and speeds away, barely missing a girl who presses herself up against a cinderblock wall to avoid being crushed.
The crowd reconvenes near that fence. It become clear that the SUV had intentionally run someone over. Smashed into them like a weapon. These idiot kids are picking that someone up by his limp shoulders and ankles, dragging him to the basketball court, under amber street lights. We think he’s dead. We call 911.
“Hello, 911.”
“Yeah, someone just got run over by a car near our house.”
“On Cedar and Lehigh? Yeah, we got it.” *click*
Okay. Minutes pass and no police show up. The crowd of older teenagers are screaming. More neighbors are coming to see what’s going on. The kids, circled around the boy on the ground, pick him up again. Two or three bigger boys drag him (he’s alive, but clearly barely conscious, he cannot walk) across the park and towards our house. I get a clear view of this kid as they cross under our window. He’s messed up. The kids drag him down the small side street.
“This is ridiculous. I’m calling 911 again. Why are they moving him when he is so hurt?”
“Hello, 911.”
“Yeah, someone just got run over by an SUV and the cops haven’t arrived and now some kids have dragged his barely concious body away from the crime scene.”
“Oh really? Well, he must have wanted to leave.”
“What?”
“Was he dead?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Well, what do you want me to do?”
“What the? Are you emergency services or what? They just dragged a barely concious kid away from a crime scene!” My heart is racing and I’m getting agitated by the flipant tone of the 911 operator. Now I see police pull up the crime scene. They shine flashlights all around. Only neighbors are there anymore, the kids are gone.
“Do you want to give a statement?”
“Yes, please, I just witnessed the whole thing. But I’d really like the cops to find this kid and make sure he’s all right. They’ve all left the crime scene, dragging a semi-conscious kid with them.”
“Look, buddy, there’s nothing we can do about that. What’s your address, I’ll send the cops over to talk to you.”
And that was that. I went outside to wait. Nothing. Not a peep. No cops, no ambulance. Nothing.
So then Audrey and I went to bed. Shaken.
And I dreamed about mountains.
Tags: cione park, crime, fishtown, kensington, philly, short story
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Sorry to hear that brother.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Yeah, kinda lame.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I feel your frustration. The four or five times (way too many!) that I’ve need help from the police, they’ve been completely unhelpful, if not insulting and arrogant.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
That just pisses me off!
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I wonder - have you all seen The Wire yet? I swear that is so true-to-life.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
[...] Anyways, read the whole story straight from my brothers hands here: http://thepovertyjetset.com/2008/05/03/a-view-of-the-park/ [...]
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
that is jacked up man.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
wtf.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Wow… that’s amazingly sad… and messed up.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:19 am
This is the kind of stuff that should go straight to the mayor. They say they are serious about policing…people should be called to account and fired. They need to fix the apathy of a young man being run down. How nuts is that?
May 5th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I wish I could call up Mayor Nutter and be like, “dude, check this out.” Wait, maybe I should.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Mark, honest-to-gosh, this is exactly the kind of story he needs to hear about. He has breakfast at Little Pete’s most mornings, so you could catch him there. If I see him there I’ll tell him…and tell him to contact you. I’ll write the info and link on a 3×5 for him.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:27 am
that sucks, i am so sorry to hear that… i hope that this get some attention.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:19 am
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF! I’m in total shock reading this!! That sucks so much!! I’m sorry Mark! I feel as if it’s my fault!
May 5th, 2008 at 11:21 am
What a horrible situation to have outside your home. I can’t believe sometimes how broken the city is. Things like this are an annoyance to the emergency responders. Sadly it’s more the norm than the exception.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
@Leah - LOL - it can’t be your fault, friend. I don’t blame anyone. In fact, I don’t really mean to stir the pot with this blog post, I’m really just sad that it happens. It’s a bit sadder that (this time) it happened in front of my house, but so many worse violent incidents are happening all over Philly and I would just love to see an end to it.
I’ve been recalling that season in The Wire lately about how one theory is if you solve the small stuff first, maybe the bigger stuff will become more manageable. I wonder where that starts? In my neighborhood it’s probably by seeing to it that kids use the playground for basketball and not for drug deals. I hope it can.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I can’t believe there was enough time for you to call 911 twice, for them to drag the kid away and a squad car just came out and surveyed the area. Ridiculous. I imagine there is a lot happening in Philly at 1am, but still.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I was just noting to Roz (in a separate email) that the worst I ever noticed in the soccer field was some kids drinking occasionally. A lot of the neighbors were like, “Hey, they’re kids! They’re going to drink!”
But I can definitely say that O.R.C.A. (in my limited experience with them during their existence) was really great. They managed to get a lot accomplished in a short period of time. I know that the FNA had a police representative that came to their civic meetings to update the community on crime, and he also handed out a card to people with a number to call to report stuff. He basically put it in terms of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. The police patrolled more where they were aware of issues. I’m not sure if O.R.C.A. has this, but it might be worth mentioning or checking into if you’re going to their meetings. I’m still getting their email updates if you want me to forward you the notices of when they’re having meetings….
Let me know!
May 5th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
OMG. That’s completely and utterly horrible. What is the point of 911 if they behave in that manner? Unbelievable… and sadly not uncommon. Jeez.
Is the park lit at night? I remember in my old neighborhood shady things would go down in the park across the street until they installed bright lights… then people felt safe using it to jog on the track and play ball.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
@Leah - thanks for the reminder about ORCA - I’ve been meaning to get to their next meeting.
@Zadi - I know, right? The park is lit, but only until 9:30pm. After that, it’s shady - in all senses of the word.
In the end, though, we’re not too whiffed by this whole episode. It’s sad, but I don’t see it as a reflection of our neighborhood as a whole. There is so much great energy here, and we’re certainly going to continue looking for the bright spots. We’re no fear mongers.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
This is a really intense story… but I have to tell you what my real takeaway from this is… what the hell? We’re virtually neighbors! Okay, not really that close, but I drive right by your neighborhood all the time. I bought a house up here, too, only I’m at Franklin and Lehigh.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
[...] I smiled and almost asked him if he read my blog last week. [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 10:22 am
completely different where I live. a similar weekly scuffle that ended with a few teenage girls ripping their shirts off and screaming about being pregnant or something … then minutes later 3 squad cars and a police SUV bring the entire street on lockdown. that put a rest to the weekly attacks on our street for past month or so.