North Minneapolis Resident "Does The Right Thing" For Drunk, Injured Woman...

Creative stock photo, blog post by John Hoff

A resident of North Minneapolis "did the right thing" for a drunk, injured, uncooperative woman beaten up by her "baby daddy." Here's how this resident wrote up the drama, word-for-word, on Facebook about 14 hours ago...



Here's a bit of unexpected drama. Just getting back from my 15 year high school reunion, I had driven 300 miles non-stop. I hadn't even walked 10 feet away from my car when some woman cries out to me from the darkness on the other side of the Irving Triangle for help. She approached my house, and as she came into the light, I could see that she'd been beaten up really bad.

I was extremely apprehensive about her, and my dog was barking, as is the dog's job to do so. The woman kept approaching, so it would seem that there was no way to avoid being sucked into this situation. She was hobbling and had a broken ankle; gruesome. So I decided to let her on to my front porch and had her sit down on the couch. I told her I was going to call 911 so she could get medical attention. She didn't want me to do that, but what else could I do? She was bleeding, and had a broken ankle. On top of that, she said that the person that attacked her was her "baby's daddy"; and that he stole her purse with her money, phones, and keys. Then she said the guy threw her out of the car and drove off. That part was believable, her elbows were all bloody. She didn't want me to call the cops because she was drunk, which is code for she was drunk and in a lot of trouble on top of that.

While waiting for the police and ambulance to arrive, she kept repeating herself over and over. Then she heard laughter coming from the drunks down the street at the neighborhood's party duplex. She got up and started hobbling towards the door, because now all of a sudden she wanted to confront these guys. I convinced her to sit back down. I seriously doubted that my drunk neighbors were involved; 1) They're always drunk and loud. 2) They usually just sit there and do their thing. If the guy beats up this lady, kicks her out of the car, and drives off, why would he park 30 yards away and just hang out? It doesn't make sense. Nothing she said made sense, except for the fact that she was really badly injured.

So the ambulance and police show up... They were clearly annoyed. The paramedic says to me that they dealt with her twice already this evening. The policeman and the woman go back and forth. The woman denied the paramedics help, and then denied the policeman's help. Fortunately, the cop managed to convince the woman to go with them. Something about having bothered enough of the neighbors tonight. It sill kills me how this woman that can barely walk, is all beat up, is bleeding - would DENY help from the people best capable of providing it. So without keys or money, she tells the police to take her to 11th & Nicollet. They were outside my house at this point, so I couldn't hear everything. But I did hear the cop ask the woman what she was going to do once she was there. She said that was where she lived. I wonder how she would have gotten inside, since she had no keys. Oh well... I don't understand this stuff. She got into the squad and they left.

I should have just spent another night in Iowa City. Who needs this crap? At least the cops and paramedics said I did the right thing.

(End of Facebook posting)

Numerous other North Minneapolis residents chimed in on Facebook and praised the resident for taking action.

Oddly enough, this is one of the reasons I love my neighborhood. I love the drama. But I look forward to a day in the future when residents--now grown old and gray and even a little bit bored--reminisce about all the drama we "used to" have, before the neighborhood turned around through our hard work.