Zarina Docken

I am included in the mailing list of our neighborhood watch, and this morning, I received this e-mail.

On Monday July 12 at about 11 pm, there was a large disturbance on XXX just north of YYY [Zarina's comment: let's just say that this area is too close for comfort.] About 20-25 young adults (primarily a black crowd--male and female--aged 18-22 perhaps mostly) gathered--shouting--yelling--arguing--shoving--pushing-- swearing--etc. Shouts of encouragement--"get the gun--get the gun!"

Did you hear this noise? Did you call 911? Police response was pretty good. Several of the young women announced that they were "helping" the police-- that they had called 911 on their cellphones. Well, maybe. The crowd was disbursed. Don't know if any arrests were made. Don't know if any weapons were found. Just don't know. Apparently, the excitement of the mob is not enough. We have to have shooting too to make it a really fun evening for everyone.

On an equally cheerful note, one of my neighbors was mugged at 4 am Monday morning--on XXX just north of the viaduct between YYY and ZZZ. He never saw what hit him but he was quite bloody and thoroughly robbed of his wallet and keys. Be careful out there. It's not exactly safe in broad daylight either sometimes.

Police response was pretty good. Two squad cars came too but I don't know that team of cops on the midnight shift. They got an ambulance and took my neighbor to HOSPITAL to be checked over. It looked like he got kicked in the head or truck with the blunt object that we hear about on TV crime shows.

On an equally cheerful note (as the e-mail put it)...

When Jeremy and I first moved to our place, one of our neighbors welcomed us by showing up at our gate, shaken. He had just been mugged at the alley right behind our house. It was 11:30 at night, and although he saw three men in the alley, he didn't want to turn around (and use the main street) because he didn't want to seem racist (he was a white man, and his attackers were black.) Sure enough, as soon as he walked in the alley, the three men robbed him at gunpoint. One of them hit our neighbor twice on the head with the gun.

If I saw three men lurking in an alley at night (and I don't care what race they are), I'm not going in. The extra two minutes I save with the shortcut just won't be worth it.

Our neighbor's muggers took his driver's license and threatened to get him if he reported them to the police. Jeremy was taking out the garbage, and had he been a couple of minutes early, he would've witnessed the whole thing.

Jeremy invited our neighbor inside our house, and we convinced him to call the police and file a report. Our neighbor never showed up for the line-up, though. And within weeks, he sold his place and moved out.

Sometimes, I wonder why I love Chicago.