A Saturday on Cherry Hill

February 28th at approximately 11 am

And now, the drama begins...

I was having a lazy day. I didn't want to get up and get going, yet I knew I had to. We were almost out of wipes and I didn't want to go to the store the night before, so I was going to go first thing in the morning. I thought we had enough to get through the morning. I was just dragging (which is so not me, especially after having the twins). And I now realize, that if I would have gone when I wanted to... something tragic could have happened.

At about 11 am, there was a lot of tire squealing outside my house. (We live on Cherry Hill above the High School). Not abnormal. It continued. Chabrise actually thought someone was learning to drive. The amazing thing was that there wasn't anyone out playing that morning, really abnormal. Usually you have to honk when you try to drive on Cherry Hill or try to back out of your driveway, to make all of the kids move. The squealing continued. I thought I had better go outside to check on what was happening. A lady in a minivan had driven through a yard (it was part of her duplex) and started crashing her van into trees and porches. A neighbor had already called the cops and was on the phone with 911. Who knew that it would take that long for a police officer to respond to this neighborhood (there always seems to be one nearby). The neighbor would fully accelerate, backing or forward motion, into anything in her path. There was concern because we didn't know if she had her children in the vehicle or not. She has 4 children, (12 girl, 10 boy, 8 boy and 1 girl) and come to find out, they were on the porch the entire time. Including when she hit their porch 2 times. My neighbor and I tried to cross the street, to tell the kids to get in the house and lock the door... at that point, she ran her vehicle up the hill towards us. With all the damage to her van and lack of momentum, she was unable to get up the hill. We hurried back to our yard across the street on Cherry Hill and she sat on the edge of the yard staring us down and revving her engine. At his point, people were starting to come out of their apartments (no one was home on the other side of the duplex). I yelled at everyone to get back in their houses, because I didn't know if they would become a target or not. I really just didn't want anyone to get hurt. She became manic at that point. She started hitting the actual building with a fairly new dodge van (they had it for only 3 months). She took out the mailbox, hit the actual duplex a couple of time and completely totalled the van. It blew the engine. There was smoke pouring out from under the van. At that point, the cops showed up. Another neighbor and I ran for the kids. They obviously were hysterical at that point. The rest of the morning passes in a big blur.

We gave statements, watched the vehicle be towed away, and vacuumed glass out of the grass. She was hauled off to AF Hospital to be checked out.The neighbors that weren't home happened to have decided that they needed to go back to their calling, and serve at the family history center. Sarah had a baby in November, so they had stopped going until he got a little bit bigger. Adam's schedule changed this week (the first time in forever that he has Saturday and Sunday off permanently). So, Sarah had gotten a bee in their bonnet and called and scheduled their time to serve. It was pure divine intervention that they weren't home.

Later that day, I found out that our neighbor has a mental disability. Her grandmother had recently passed away and she drove to Canada (14 hour trip each way) and forgot her pills. She had only gotten home hours before this happened. The kids said that some neighbors had started calling her white trash and other horrible names, and then she jumped in her car and it all started. As time progressed, we found out more and more things. This wasn't the first incident she has had when she went off of her meds.

Then, everything hit the fan Thursday. She had been released from the hospital. She was back on her meds for 72 hours and was rational. The police officer who had arrested her (she wasn't ever even arrested) called us. No charges would be pressed. My neighbor had called CPS and was told that no charges had been pressed and no one had died, so there wouldn't be an investigation. That was hard. Friday morning, my neighbors and I were at the Police Department wanting answers. I spoke with the City attorney (who wasn't even aware of the situation) and the Sargent in charge that day. The Sargent didn't even know that there were witness statements (they weren't included in the file). But what had been put in the file was even more distressing. This woman had told the officers that she was having a bad day and new that no one was home, so she took her frustrations out on her vehicle and her property.

I don't understand, if she was rational enough to say that, then why wasn't she rational enough to be charged with any crime. Then to top that off, we can't get a protective order (the new criteria is that we either have to live with them, be related by blood, or have a child with them). We can't get a restraining order, because it costs $300 and it is not enforceable by law officers. We can't get a stalking injunction, because we haven't requested by certified letter for her to leave us all alone. The opinion that the cop gave us, was to get the landlord to evict her. He won't do it, because he has a mortgage to pay and they promise to pay for the property damages. So there isn't any legal way for us to protect our children and ourselves from her. Because mental illness is as much protected as juveniles are (even more so, in some cases).

Flash forward to the following Saturday, March 7th. I was out running an errand and saw the most amazing thing ever. Her husband was standing next to a brand new minivan. I think they were just test driving it, but he had the keys... the doors were opened and they were all coming out the front door. It hasn't even been a week. He was the one to announce that she was home and that no charges would be pressed, like it was the best news any of us had ever received. I am very grateful no one was physically hurt. But there was a lot of damage done that day. A lot. There aren't children outside playing during the day. We all jump when a car squeals out. I can't sleep.

And now, today, I have to come up with a good reason why she isn't being punished for her actions. So I can tell my kids why she is already back home. How do you teach your children that crime is bad, that endangering peoples lives is bad, if the person doing it is going to get off due to a technicality (mental illness)? Seriously, what am I suppose to tell them????