Almost in a bar fight and called a Racist! - Page 7

Mrs. Utah · #61 07-18-2007, 01:34 PM

Another thing to keep in mind is that when you call 911, and this may vary depending on populations, often the cavalry will show up, not just one squad car.

A few years back I had to call 911 as my daughter lay unresponsive on the sofa, medical emergency. I called for an ambulance and I got one, and two police cars and the fire department.
I was very calm explaining the situation to the 911 dispatcher and expected an ambulance and maybe one squad car but everyone showed up.

You hate to tie everyone up like that is its really not necessary. I still have no idea why the fire department showed up.

Blarg · #62 07-18-2007, 01:44 PM

A while back I had a friend who was an epileptic. He went into a seizure and wasn't coming out of it well, so we called 911. Fire truck showed up.

Another time, I worked in a hotel and a guest was drinking himself into a stupor and going outside with his own bottle from the liquor store too, passing out, barfing, and repeating. He seemed a bit threatening with his whiskey bottle too, like he was going to break it on the curb, and then he would lapse into non-responsiveness. We couldn't get him to leave the grounds and didn't know where his room was or what his name was -- if he even had a room. We didn't know whether to treat it as something needing police, medical treatment, or both. But either way, we couldn't have him hanging around barfing and passing out and then walking into the bar for another drink forever. A call to the police non-emergency line got us a fire truck.

I think they send whoever has some sort of medical qualifications and is closest, perhaps. Or maybe they send whoever is not being used for medical emergencies, and that would be the fire department more often than ambulances.

Mrs. Utah · #63 07-18-2007, 01:51 PM

I can certainly see that being the case because yes fire department is well trained medically-even delivering babies.

I guess I was surprised that they were both there. I was very clear with the dispatcher as to what was going on. This little tiny 2 year old caused quite a scene.

Sorry if I got a little off track

daveT · #64 07-18-2007, 02:16 PM

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My town and county are so different than LA that is would be hard to compare the two at all.

Stats for our town:
7.5 Square Miles
464 people

Ya, 911 is a little different here

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Yeah, for your crime to be caught up with us:

half the population would be murdered this year.
every woman would report being raped once every six months.
everyone would be violently robbed every month and a half or so.
Everyone would be beat up/ stabbed/ jumped every month.
Each house would be broken into twice a month.
Everyone would have 30 cars stolen a year.
Everyone would have something of value stolen every week and a half.
Every child would be shot at 20 times per year but only actually be shot 10 times (lucky them)
Everyone in town would be arrested once every and a half.

I tried calling 911 once in LA. It was for a person who was hit by a car in a hit and run. Three of us were trying to get through for ten minutes. Finally someone just called the police directly.

LouBlue · #65 07-18-2007, 02:44 PM

I think 911 was completely approporiate, especially given that he's in a relatively small town in Montana. I lived in Missoula a LONG time ago. There are more bison and big horn sheep in the state than people. It's not like the police are running all over the place chasing gang bangers. If the police hadn't arrived, I think it's a good bet he would have eventually taken a swing at somone.

My guess is that the guy was drunk before he set foot in the bar, or close to it. Probably had a chip on his shoulder about something totally unrelated, and the alcohol helped turn him mean. When he was sober, he saw that he had been a complete jerk, and felt bad about it.

I think your advice to your wife was pretty good. Forgiving someone doesn't mean you pretend that it didn't hurt. It means you're willing to put the hurt behind you and still remain open to having a good relationship with the person. Telling him that it really hurt her would be an appropriate way to respond initially, but it should end with her extending her hand and saying, "Let's put it behind us..."

Just my two cents worth...

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Cop starts talking to him and eventually he is getting handcuffed and taken to jail. Guess he said the wrong thing to the racist sheriff's deputy.

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My thoughts:

--Don't call 911 to get a rude/drunk/mental case removed from a bar. 911 is for emergencies.

--If the guy goes that far out of his way to find your wife and apologize, you respect that, and accept his apology. Or maybe the racist shoe fits your wife, ever think of that? (I don't know if it does or not, but I was startled to hear about her exaggerated reaction to his apology.)

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LouBlue · #66 07-18-2007, 02:59 PM

I don't think he got arrested over napkins. It's like all of those COPS episodes where they show up, and the drunk guy is so wound up that he ends up pushing their buttons too. Maybe he resists leaving the parking lot when he's told too, or maybe he shoves an officer. Or maybe he just demonstrates that he's sufficiently drunk in a public place to warrant a night in a cell to sober up.

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Name calling is next to nothing.

The guy got arrested. This is something.

All he wanted was napkins.

If someone wrote a short story about it and called it "Rita Hayworth and the Napkin Story" and some other bell end made a movie called "Napkin Story" then a large portion of the posters here would gush over the crap that resulted.

For the OP's wife:
Next time - give the guy a napkin and bitch about "customer attitudes" to your boss while he rolls his eyes and counts the take for the night.

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Fishwhenican · #67 07-18-2007, 03:33 PM

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Name calling is next to nothing.

The guy got arrested. This is something.

All he wanted was napkins.

If someone wrote a short story about it and called it "Rita Hayworth and the Napkin Story" and some other bell end made a movie called "Napkin Story" then a large portion of the posters here would gush over the crap that resulted.

For the OP's wife:
Next time - give the guy a napkin and bitch about "customer attitudes" to your boss while he rolls his eyes and counts the take for the night.

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As far as I know the guy guy got arrested for something other than what happened in the bar and certainly had nothing at all to do with napkins or even that he was insulting about the napkins. The only reason he was arrested was because he made it happen. He was given ample opportunity to STFU and/or leave and refused even after he was told he had the choice to leave or the cops were being called. He even left before the cops got there and stupidly enough still hung around. Then he was talking to the cops for a long time before he was cuffed and taken away. I do not know for sure but my guess is he started mouthing off to the cop or he had outstanding warrants for his arrest. All the guy needed to do was leave when he was asked and he chose not to. His getting arrested is on one person, him.

Fishwhenican · #68 07-18-2007, 03:40 PM

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Well you didn't grow up in Montana to hear all the jokes and snide remarks. There are plenty of negative stereotypes about Native Americans. In high school I got drug to some stupid conference where we had to spend an afternoon talking about them.

If you ever want to be depressed visit a reservation. Native Americans have been treated very badly in the US for the last 200 years. The reservations are a really miserable place to grow up. Alcoholism is rampant and they have been discriminated against a lot. I hate when anybody plays the race card, but in a situation like this I wouldn't be looking to call him on it.

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Everything you said about reservations/native americans is 100% true. But in this particular circumstance he was 100% wrong and he needed to be called on it. This guy is a classic example of how not to make things better for your people. This guy gained no credibility for him or his people on that night. His own grandmother was in the bar that night and she didn't even have a hard time with his being asked to leave.

Fishwhenican · #69 07-18-2007, 03:47 PM

Just for the record:

I am amazed that so much discussion has arisen about calling 911 in this deal.

I think the main idea would have been about racism and in particular how racism abounds in both the minorities and the majority. No one is immune from it and it is pretty darn sad that it is so rampant in this day and age. It is an ugly, ugly thing no matter which way it is being directed.

Blarg · #70 07-18-2007, 04:04 PM

Most people live in cities these days, and people abusing 911 here is a pretty big deal. It costs cities money and endangers lives. It's also a good barometer of the selfishness and stupidity of society at large. Being from a small town, you don't see that like most people do, so it doesn't seem like a big deal. It's more irksome to us.