One of my tenants called to let me know that the pilot on their water heater had blown out, so I was off to the Barrio at around 9:00pm at night. After re-lighting the pilot, I started driving home.
An older white SUV (Ford/Chevy, couldn't tell) makes a very dangerous and abrupt U-turn and cuts me off. I'm about to honk and scream at the guy, but this kind of driving was way beyond normal jerk-type driving, so I just hang back. We both pull up to a red, but he only slows down a bit and blows through it. He then swerves towards and attempts to run over a banger-type crossing the street. The banger runs and dodges, pulls out a pistol and points it at the SUV, but he doesn't pull the trigger. The SUV, seeing the pistol drawn, swerves away and turns down the next street. The banger then re-holsters the pistol (Mexican style, of course) and runs into a local video store to lay low for a moment.
Light turns green, and I'm debating whether or not I should go forward. SUV's gone, and the cars to the left and right of me are proceeding, so I go ahead. As I pass the video store's doorway, I get a quick glimpse of the banger as he's leaving the store.
I get home and call the local PD, give them a report and description, leave my name and number. I never got the SUV's license, but I was only close enough to see it for a few seconds (during which I was still assessing potential threats to me). Oh, well.
The next night, I drive down there again to hit up some tenants who are a little behind with their rent. Now, there are several cruisers, ambulances, a chopper, the works, all grilling a couple of banger-types alongside the road. Something bad happened, looks like some people got hurt.
I came away from this thinking two things: 1) Cops wont get there til after the fact. Not their fault, really, just the way things are. If you don't protect you and yours, no one will. 2) I gotta sell those damn Barrio properties post haste. :banghead:
An older white SUV (Ford/Chevy, couldn't tell) makes a very dangerous and abrupt U-turn and cuts me off. I'm about to honk and scream at the guy, but this kind of driving was way beyond normal jerk-type driving, so I just hang back. We both pull up to a red, but he only slows down a bit and blows through it. He then swerves towards and attempts to run over a banger-type crossing the street. The banger runs and dodges, pulls out a pistol and points it at the SUV, but he doesn't pull the trigger. The SUV, seeing the pistol drawn, swerves away and turns down the next street. The banger then re-holsters the pistol (Mexican style, of course) and runs into a local video store to lay low for a moment.
Light turns green, and I'm debating whether or not I should go forward. SUV's gone, and the cars to the left and right of me are proceeding, so I go ahead. As I pass the video store's doorway, I get a quick glimpse of the banger as he's leaving the store.
I get home and call the local PD, give them a report and description, leave my name and number. I never got the SUV's license, but I was only close enough to see it for a few seconds (during which I was still assessing potential threats to me). Oh, well.
The next night, I drive down there again to hit up some tenants who are a little behind with their rent. Now, there are several cruisers, ambulances, a chopper, the works, all grilling a couple of banger-types alongside the road. Something bad happened, looks like some people got hurt.
I came away from this thinking two things: 1) Cops wont get there til after the fact. Not their fault, really, just the way things are. If you don't protect you and yours, no one will. 2) I gotta sell those damn Barrio properties post haste. :banghead:
