victorthecook

Well, I'm sure you all have your opinions... but I'm puzzling through a moral quandary. I was out in the car, driving to visit the drugstore. A Mercedes convertible ahead of me pulled past a stopped bus and ignored the stop sign, pulling through the intersection without a pause. He then drove really slowly to the shopping center, where he blocked in a car that was trying to leave -- apparently in order to get the handicapped parking place they were occupying. It looked like he was going to try to park in the little walkway between the handicapped spaces, and at times like he was going to hit something with the car.

So I called 911. While I was on the phone, the guy parked, put up his handicapped placard, and teetered towards the post office. The 911 people took the information and sent a squad car around; presumably they talked to him, but I don't have any further information on it.

So am I a huge jerk? Did I pick on an old guy who was just having a bad day? That wasn't my intent, but good intentions aren't everything. Alternately, did I save someone from maybe wrecking their car or killing someone? Can it be both at once?

I think, on the whole, that something had to be done. And I think I had to do it -- lots of people saw the final act, but nobody else had the context I did. I also think the driver would never have listened to me if I'd approached him directly, though I could easily be wrong. And I'm sure his driving was erratic and at least borderline dangerous, regardless of the cause.


But calling the police is... extreme. It's messing with a stranger's life. And I'm never going to know what effects it had.