Don't Suspect Your Neighbor, Report Him!

The night before last Lis and I were woken at 1:23am by Hondo’s barking. Hondo had run down to the street-facing kitchen window and could not be quieted. I noted that I could hear an intermittent car horn; immediately I thought someone could have been getting attacked or some such. I got dressed and went outside. One house down to the left (my most excellent neighbor Mike’s house), on the sidewalk was a Jeep. On it’s side. Mike was just coming outside, both of us noted the Jeep. We climbed up on it to determine if anyone was inside. The Jeep was not occupied. The horn kept bleating, on and off.

The Jeep Mystery was quickly solved when the owner ran up to Mike and I and stated he owned the Jeep, was on his cell phone, wasn’t paying attention, ran off the road and rolled the Jeep. Jeep-Roller had run over to Bert The Cop's house because Bert The Cop should know what to do. Soon the following neighbors were assembled: 3XHAR, Mike, The Kid, Bert The Cop, Jeep-Roller. Jeep-Roller only had to make it fifty more feet to get to his own driveway. A consensus evolved to defer to Bert The Cop regarding the necessity of notifying the authorities. Bert The Cop did not indicate a call was necessary. In a neighborly and quite manly fashion we up-righted the Jeep. Jeep-Roller started the vehicle and drove the remaining fifty feet to his driveway. The Jeep was totaled.

There was speculation that evening by The Kid, myself (3XHAR), and Mike that Jeep-Roller may have had a drink prior to rolling his Jeep onto Mike’s sidewalk. I thought I smelled alcohol, but didn’t notice Jeep-Roller acting intoxicated. When The Kid asked Bert The Cop if he thought Jeep-Roller was drunk, he stated: ‘I don’t know. I didn’t ask him (Jeep-Roller) any questions.’ Fine.

It must be asked: should I have called the police to have them investigate this accident? Have I acted immorally or unethically by my inaction? My rationalizations for not calling the police are:

1. There was already an off duty cop there. We deferred to his specialized knowledge on these matters. He did not indicate a necessity to notify the authorities.

2. There were no injuries and no property damage other than Jeep-Rollers Jeep. Had there been injuries or property damage I would have felt it necessary for me to notify the authorities.

3. In 3XHAR World the police are only called in emergency situations, and to my way of thinking, this did not qualify as an emergency. Again, no injuries and no property damage. I dislike involving the authorities in almost any circumstance.

4. The Long Memory of Neighbors. This one takes some explaining. I’ve had an enduring concern about getting stuck with bad neighbors. In my childhood we lived in a nice quiet area, quiet except for one bad neighbor. In adulthood I’ve considered myself lucky that my neighbors do not generally annoy me, are not needlessly malicious, do not keep me awake at night. I do not want to be the neighbor who falsely accuses another neighbor of any crime. Once you’ve crossed that line you can end up with a permanently stained interaction that could last years. So, when it comes to calling the police on a neighbor I have a pretty high threshold of evidence that needs to be met, and this situation did not meet it.

The next day Lisa looked up the Jeep-Roller household through some websites. There’s no history of drunk driving or any other law breaking that she could find… Have to keep an eye on them now... Those folks just ain't right.