Well that was unexpected.

[azekeil]

A little while ago, on my way out to Tesco to buy some milk I saw what I thought at first were some people having a bit of rough and tumble after chucking out time. When they tried to grab the girl's bag I realised it was no ordinary fight. I was stopped at some lights anyway and with a moment's hesitation and thinking about knives and my personal safety I got out and strode towards them. I shouted "Oi!" and they looked up and ran off. The couple who were being mugged seemed a bit dazed and confused and probably slightly the worse for wear after a night out. The girl seemed to be in shock and was wandering in the road so I explained that they were in shock, pointed out he was injured and that they should call the police. After making sure they were reasonably with it, I got back in my car and drove on to Tesco.

I wandered around Tesco in a bit of a daze. Certainly I didn't feel ill then (I was off work today with flu-like symptoms), but now I feel like crap.

I drove back past where the incident happened and saw a police van and car, so hopefully they called the police.

I always thought I'd be too scared to help in that sort of situation. I'm glad I wasn't, but also I'm glad they didn't have knives and didn't turn on me instead. I think I may have rationalised that if they'd had knives they would have been using them on the couple but that didn't seem to be the case.. well it made sense at the time. Perhaps that's a dangerous assumption.

I have a feeling I'm going to be reflecting on this for some time.

Comments

[whotheheckami.livejournal.com]

However, given the random nature of what you were involved with it would be unacceptable to have the draconian levels of law enforcement you would need to make every journey home from the pub a safe one.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Well, true, but law enforcement is now only visible at these times in town centres. I don't think that having officers patrolling is unwelcome or draconian. It comes back to the 'officers on the beat' argument I guess.

I should point out that the road we were on (Gloucester Road) is one of the main thoroughfares and near the centre and I feel that the lack of patrols contributed to the thugs thinking they could mug a couple on such a public road.