Just a bit of a rant.
Saturday night, I headed over to Parkview Field to capture the fireworks. Â The very first intersection I came to, Berry and Fairfield, a woman almost ran me over. Â She had stopped, I thought to wait until I crossed, however, I was barely half-way through when she suddenly started into the intersection. Â Luckily, she’d just hung up her cell-phone and noticed me and stopped. Â I will say she was kind enough to apologize, which was appreciated.
Having averted disaster once, I cautiously resumed my journey. Â At Jefferson and Ewing, a copy was stationed to help pedestrians cross. Â Well, guess what? Â The light turned red, and just as I was about to step off the curb, a car went flying by. Â I’d had my eye on him, but thought he was stopping and certainly wouldn’t run a red light. Â Guess what? Â He did. The cop, and I’m not making this up, looked at me and said in an incredulous tone, “Incredible!” Â Now those of you who really know me, know that I can be a real smart-a$$. Â I almost, but caught myself, retorted, “No, what’s incredible is that you made absolutely no move to stop him or address the issue.” Â Needless to say, I didn’t say a word and in fact, didn’t even acknowledge his presence.
The driver’s window was down and he went through the intersection and pulled into Taco Bell – making a run for the border, I guess. Â I could absolutely not believe this guy. Â What was he there for if not to protect me, the pedestrian from law breakers? Â The light was solid red when the car drove through it. Â The officer could have yelled at the kid to stop, he would have heard him. Â He could have walked over to Taco Bell and talked to the kid there or issued a citation or whatever else should have been done. Â But to do nothing? Â If I were a conspiracy buff, I’d say it was the City out to rid itself of another insidious blogger. Â HA!
Anyway, I went to take my photos and video and on my way back went through the same intersection again. Â This time, traffic was a bit backed up and people were in the middle of the intersection because they couldn’t get through before the light had changed. Â Again, what was the point of having an officer there if he’s not going to address that problem? Â I can understand a reluctance when Ewing is closed north of that intersection, but come on! Â You’d rather have pedestrians winding their way through cars anxious to move – red light or no red light?
Then, as if to add injury to insult, at Washington and Fairfield, I started through the intersection when a car with Illinois plates suddenly changed his mind, changed lanes and came screaming – and I do mean screaming – around the corner. Â I was out of his way, but again, no caution, no slow down – just speed around that corner as fast as you can.
I just saw on one of the local media outlets websites that there was another accident downtown with severe injuries. Â When are people going to learn that it’s not a speedway? Â
Let me say that I do respect police officers and the responsibilities they have. Â However, this was clearly out of line and frankly it was a waste of taxpayers money for there was absolutely no value in him being on that corner.