Now I was really mad and I pulled my phone out of my pocket and started to take pictures.
I wasn't exactly sure what I would do with the pictures, but I hoped that it would at least make them go away. Then, the silver car, took off and the blue car pulled up beside me.
The driver wasn't aggressive, but he said, "Excuse me. Could you tell me why you were filming us?"
I was shaking with anger and adrenaline and said, "Could you tell me why you were doing donuts in the court there?"
No reply.
"Your buddy was doing donuts while there was a person on the street."
No reply.
"Do you know how stupid that is?"
No reply. And then I blurted -- on reflection I think I was still trying to answer the question of why I was filming:
"I live in this neighbourhood."
He shrugged and said, "So do I. I live right there."
I saw where he pointed and said, "Good. That will make it easier for them to find you."
I stomped off, shoving my earphones back on my ears, but even though I was listening to a new book, I didn't hear any of it as I replayed this entire exchange...over and over...
I realised that he probably wasn't answering my lame questions because he thought I was filming them and he wasn't going to make any admissions -- duh! Why was I struggling to take pictures (that prove nothing) instead of sliding the icon to film? I stomped and stomped, not hearing my book, and thought, "That performance had the choreography of a Busby Berkeley routine. If he lives at the bottom of that court like he says he does, I bet he pulls those stunts all the time."
Then I started thinking about Conor and Ella walking to school, darting out onto streets from behind the towering snowbanks we have this year, and I imagined one of these idiots fishtailing around a corner... and their fate was sealed.
I got Kennedy to drive me past that house when I got home from dogwalking -- so I could get the address and the liscense plate numbers, because yes, they were both still parked there an hour later -- and I called the police when I got back inside. I told the dispatcher everything I thought was important, but it wasn't until I hung up that I realised I had never told her about the pictures. So much for my "evidence".
Within half an hour, I got a call from a constable who said he was outside the address I had given, and since both cars I had identified were still parked there, he just wanted more details about the stunt driving complaint -- which was all the dispatcher had written down, I guess. I went over the whole story again, and the police officer got excited when I mentioned that one of them was doing donuts while a pedestrian was on the street. He said, "Well that's what you really can't do -- well you can't do that at all -- but it's worse when a pedestrian is involved." I said I agreed and that's why I called it in. I made it clear that it was only the silver car that was stunting with a person on the street but I hoped that both of them would learn a lesson and stop the dangerous driving. He replied, "The blue car is registered in his parents' names so he might not be driving at all anymore." (That's really none of my business, I know, but it did make me feel like I was part of the cop's team.)
I have no idea what the consequences were as I haven't been asked for any of my evidence (I did mention to the cop that I had taken pictures and that they thought they were being filmed -- which makes me think they wouldn't have had the nerve to deny the charge) and I wasn't asked to sign anything, but I have noticed that that blue car hasn't moved in the two days since the incident.
If it's not obvious from the picture of the guy who stopped to talk to me, these weren't kids exactly -- I'd put them at about 20, and since this one was wearing an orange safety vest, I'm assuming they were just coming from some sort of work -- tough to lose your car if you have a job to go to, and I am feeling conflicted. I know I did the right thing -- especially as I consider all the kids who walk these streets -- but would me "filming" them have been enough to scare them straight? It wouldn't even be a quandry if the guy in the silver car had actually run down the pedestrian, so why should I feel bad about them having to face consequences?
I was conflicted enough to make this post on facebook yesterday:
I'm not some cranky old biddy who peers through the blinds with 911 on the speed-dial, but I did sic the cops on a couple of young idiots who were racing and fish-tailing and pulling donuts in the next cul-de-sac over, one of them doing it while a person (might have been a tall kid?) was crossing the street to get to the path to the schoolyard there yesterday. Since I'm about to walk the doggies past the house where this guy told me he lives, if I don't resurface at some point today, this is likely the one who disappeared me:
(same picture of blue car as above)
Lots of people replied that of course I had done the right thing, and I did know that, and I'm not actually scared to keep walking past that house, but I still wish there had been a way to have made them stop without potentially bringing down disproportionate consequences.
Or maybe it's just a coincidence that that car has been parked for a couple of days?
I'll end on a happy note with a picture of the adorable Blue:
