Living in a quiet neighbourhood?

This morning we were awakened at 6 am by the sounds of one or two teenagers beating up a third in front of our house. There were several more young people standing around, watching and shouting at them to stop. Within a minute a good number of our neighbours were looking out of their windows or doors, and I was on the phone dialling 110 (that’s the German number for emergency calls to the police).

Apparently another neighbour also called the police, who arrived about three minutes after my call – and turned in the wrong direction at the intersection. However, by the time they arrived, the onlooking teenagers had fled to one end of our street, while two of the guys involved in the beating were walking in the other direction. One of the guys kept trying to get away, wanting to follow the one who had beaten him and threatening to get back to him, while the third guy tried to keep him from running away, repeating that he didn’t want him to end up in prison.

I went downstairs to look for the police a few minutes later when most of the neighbours had returned to bed, but neither them nor any of the involved guys seemed to be around any more. But I have to admit that the air was nicely cool and refreshing at that early hour. (We have over 30°C – close to 90°F – in the afternoon.)

TypePad beta testing

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