.jeri.

As if moving to this new location hasn't provided enough drama, tonight there was quite a scene out on our little street. I was just starting to make dinner when I heard an loud noise outside and Ric asked, "Was that a car crash?!"

We stepped outside onto the porch. There was a car alarm ringing, a bashed up car in the middle of the street, and our neighbor K was screaming "Oh my God!" We thought for sure that one of the neighborhood kids had been struck down.

But then, K started yelling expletives and was screaming for someone to call 911, and we saw an SUV type car twisting around in the middle of the street, and there was a guy trying to grab the driver through the driver's window, who was hanging on to the SUV as it was trying to drive away. The SUV swung around and drove up on the sidewalk across the way.

The guy trying to stop the driver let go and the SUV continued down the sidewalk. There were people everywhere who had heard the crash and come out to see this scene, many of them near where the SUV was headed. I couldn't see what was going except that I saw an SUV driving on the sidewalk and heard a lot of screeches and engine noises. But then I heard more crashing noises and more screaming, so I told Ric to call 911. I had no clue if the driver had run over some of the people out there. As it turns out, the driver had hit a bump in the sidewalk and then tried to turn the SUV back on to the street, and ended up (possibly) hitting a tree and taking out the rear end of another car as his SUV spun to a stop.

Apparently that last car he hit belonged to someone who was outside, and a bunch of guys almost jumped the driver, but luckily someone stopped that from happening. At that point, I walked on over with B&T to see what was going on.

Let me just say one thing about living in this part of the city - fastest police response EVER! They were here in about one minute.

As it turns out, our crime was committed by the local barber, who, according to neighbor B, likes to get a little tipsy while he cuts his clients' hair. It appears that he must have been completely drunk, because he smashed into the back of K's car at full speed. He had to have just hit the pedal to the metal because it really isn't that far from the corner to our house, and we didn't hear any tires skidding, so he never hit the brakes. He hit the back left side of her car head on, and her bumper and a hubcap went flying one way while the rest of the car went another. Major damage. And the car was YARDS away from where it had been parked. The local kids said they saw it flying. Holy moly.

So when K heard her car alarm go off, she knew it was her car that had been hit and ran outside. I guess her brother either saw it or knew what was going on and he was the one who ran to the SUV to stop it from getting away, and was punching the barber in the face. I'm glad he let go of the driver, because he could have fallen and gotten trampled under the SUV.

The police got there so fast after the action stopped and there were so many neighbors around that there's no way the barber would be able to make a run for it, so he was just standing around next to his car with blood on his face (from K's brother's punches, we think).

Apparently, everyone on the street knew the barber and went to his shop for haircuts, and all were shocked that he'd act that crazy. But if he was drunk, I'm sure his reasoning was a bit skewed. All I know is that the dude is probably headed for a good long stay at Hotel Prison.

And now Ric wants me to make sure and park in the driveway from now on. :)

One cool thing that I've noticed around here is that a lot of the neighbors really do know each other well and look out for each other. Everyone was telling each other what they saw, offering help to K, and talking about how they always get their hair cut at that barber's shop. I feel like in just the couple of months that we've been living here, we've already gotten to be on good terms with the neighbors and really gotten a sense of the community around here. It's nice. Too bad we're not staying!

Anyway, had to share the news before I forgot the details!