The other night, I was driving to my friend’s birthday party. To be honest, I was planning on writing about the birthday party on this post. But what happened on the way is more interesting and was a lesson for me.
I wasn’t that far from my house when I got stopped in traffic. The cars weren’t moving that much and I assumed that there must be an accident ahead. I wasn’t worried about how long it would take me to get to my friend’s party, so I wasn’t thinking too much about it. Traffic finally started to move slowly, and after a few minutes I was able to see what the issue was.
The street I was driving on was a pretty major street (2 lanes in each way). Besides the cross walks at the streetlights there are also some crosswalks not where there is a light. There is a cross walk button for pedestrians to push so lights flash and cars stop. The lights weren’t flashing but there was a woman in the cross walk.
She was maybe 5 feet off of the curb into the street. She wasn’t moving forward or back like she was trying to cross (or scared to do so) but she was swaying and blocking traffic. Cars were stopping thinking she was trying to cross, but she wasn’t moving. And cars had to go around her to be able to drive so that was causing a traffic jam.
When I drove by her, I could see that something wasn’t right. I don’t know if she was drunk, high on something, or mentally unstable but clearly she wasn’t ok. I was able to pull over about half a block away from the cross walk and called 911. I felt weird calling 911 because I wasn’t totally sure it was an emergency, but I was terrified that a car would hit the woman and I knew I had to do something about it.
The 911 operator was pretty amazing. I was able to give her the exact location where I was and since I could see the woman in my rear view mirror I was able to give her a full description. While I was on the call with 911 the woman started to walk back and forth on the cross walk and occasionally stopping in the middle of the street (and almost getting hit by multiple cars). I’m sure that I was making the 911 operator nervous because I kept saying under my breath “don’t get hit by a car” and “stop doing that” while the operator was getting the information over to the police.
I kept apologizing for calling 911 because this might not be an emergency, and the operator kept reassuring me that I was doing the right thing and that I shouldn’t worry (I was also worried about getting a ticket because where I pulled over my car was parked illegally).
After being on the phone for maybe 5 minutes, the woman stopped crossing back and forth and stayed on the side of the street that I was parked in. I relayed that information to the 911 operator and then noticed that the woman was walking down the sidewalk toward me. The operator said not to do anything and just to keep updating her on where the woman was.
Then all of a sudden, the woman stopped at my window. She was looking in and staring at me and eventually was knocking on the window. I started to freak out little bit, but the operator said to not engage with her and to just stay on the phone and update her as needed. Then, before I knew it, the woman was pulling on my passenger door trying to open it.
I totally freaked out at that moment. I’m so grateful that my mom taught me to always lock my car doors as soon as I get inside so this woman was not able to get into my car. But I was still terrified and I know the 911 operator was trying to calm me down. All I could do was just keep saying “why is she trying to get into my car?” and watch the woman as she kept trying the front and rear passenger doors. The 911 operator told me that the police were on their way with the sirens on and they should be by my car soon.
After less than a minute of the woman trying to get into my car, I saw the lights of the police cars coming down the road and when they stopped behind my car the woman was still pulling on my car doors. Once they got her away from my car, the 911 operator said that I could hang up with her and that the police would probably need to talk with me.
I told the police exactly what happened and why I called 911. They took notes on my statement and took my name and phone number and sent me on my way. I took some time to calm down (I didn’t know it at the time but I started to cry when the woman was pulling on my car doors) and when I finally drove away the police were talking with the woman by the cop cars.
I have no clue why this woman was trying to get into my car. I have no idea what was happening or if I totally overreacted and there was a reason for her to be in the middle of the street. All I know is that if I had heard of a woman getting hit in a crosswalk on the news that I would feel terrible that I didn’t do something. So I had to do something. By the time I got to my friend’s party, I was still shaking a bit and coming down from the excitement of the drive over. I kept thinking that maybe I had done the wrong thing (I still don’t know what happened with the woman). But the more I think about it, I know I did the right thing. Worst case, the woman explained to the police why she was doing what she was doing and she was sent on her way. But if she was in need of help, someone had to get the help to her.
I know that we all drive past things that don’t look totally right and don’t think twice about it. I was lucky that I had the time to pull over and call 911 about this, but hopefully if you encounter a similar situation (or if I encounter another one) you will be able to help out as well.
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