 |
| A stupid incident nearby results in gunfire |
Because
it is at times like this that I feel lucky in life. None of the stupid, trivial
incidents that could have encountered me turned into anyone’s overly-violent
temper tantrum!
IT
IS THESE moments that ought to remind us how much we should enjoy our lives
while we have them. Because something absurd could always happen.
There
doesn’t have to be a legitimate reason why someone gets hurt. It literally can be “just
because.”
Take
the incident that occurred around 71st Street and Maplewood Avenue early
Sunday. According to the Chicago Tribune, the incident involved a car with two
men inside who were upset that another car had parked alongside it.
Witnesses
told the newspaper that there was some room and the driver who felt trapped
probably could have driven alongside it, then out into the street. Words were
exchanged, and after the car managed to get by, the driver felt the need to get
out of the car and walk back a few feet.
AT
WHICH POINT the handgun came out and the shot was fired.
The
man who was shot was “walking, talking, breathing, living,” police told the
Tribune. He was eventually taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in suburban
Oak Lawn.
As
for the person who was shot, he was from DeKalb, and was in the Marquette Park
neighborhood to attend a birthday celebration of a relative who lived on the
block.
Now
if I wanted, I could turn this into a diatribe about concealed carry. The
problem I have with the idea of more people packing pistols on their person is
the potential for someone with a temper (particularly someone who thinks they
need that weapon to defend themselves at all times) to get stupid amongst the
rest of us.
BUT
THAT’S ACTUALLY a lesser point.
I’m
more bothered by the randomness of the event – since I suspect no one who was
in the neighborhood was “out to get” anyone. This really was a matter of
tempers flaring, and someone getting hurt as a result.
Any
one variance in this event, and perhaps that pistol wouldn’t have been reached
for at all.
It
reminds me of an incident a quarter of a century ago, back when I worked at the
now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago. There was a year when I was on the overnight
shift (you should see the Medical Examiner’s office at 5 a.m.), and on this
particular day I was finishing my shift.
IT
WAS ABOUT 9 a.m., and I had my car parked on lower Wacker Drive near the old
City News offices at Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue.
I
got into my car, started the ignition and wanted to back out of the space I was
parked in. At that moment, another car had just passed me. The driver saw I was
pulling out, and she decided she wanted to back up a bit so she could take the
parking spot once I vacated it.
The
problem was that another car was right behind her, and THAT driver saw me
wanting to leave. He decided (rightfully so, as far as I’m concerned) that the
spot would be his.
Soon
enough, I had these two people shouting at each other. Verbal violence being
spewed all over the place. And I was potentially right in the crossfire.
BECAUSE
OF THE way their vehicles were positioned, I was trapped. I couldn’t move. I
couldn’t leave.
It
wound up taking a couple of officers in a squad car that just happened to pass
by to get these people calm enough for one of them (I don’t remember which one)
to move their car just enough so that I could get out.
 |
| It could have ended not far from here! |
What
would have happened if one of them had lost their temper? I would hate to think
my life would have ended on lower Wacker Drive at age 22 with a tiny,
long-forgotten story on the City News “wire.”
Then
again, my fellow reporters probably would have seen how stupid the incident inherently
was, and would have “cheaped” me out – as in not worth writing much about.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment