certa.qxd
The Petty Crime section of your July 17 Reader has an interesting story about the Blue Man Group. It was interesting because I was working at the theater that night and the story you received from the police is a little WRONG! The man that was talking during the performance was more than a little intoxicated, as was his girlfriend. I had taken them out of the theater and warned them that they would be ejected for their loud and obnoxious behavior if it did not stop at once. They promised repeatedly it would stop, so I let them back into the performance and watched them from the back of the house for the rest of the show. Other employees on duty knew of the situation, and we were prepared. At the paper finale, apparently an audience member in front of the drunk man got upset with the drunk man’s behavior, and the two started to fight, with the girlfriend egging on her boyfriend. I grabbed the nearest stage-crew member, and we jumped into the paper and the fight to split them up. After separating the two men and removing the drunk man with his girlfriend, they started to argue with staff members that they were only having fun and that the other audience members were “losers” for not knowing how to have fun. The drunk man then had to be restrained because he rushed the crew member and myself trying to get back into the theater to “kill that motherf–er.” I got injured in the fray, but the crew member tackled the drunk man and held him down on the stairs. At this time the box office manager was calling 911–about 9:45 PM. When the audience was mostly out of the theater and the fight had ceased, the police still had not arrived, so I called 911 about 10 PM. After this the drunk ran down the street knowing that the cops were on their way and the other gentleman finally left, having grown tired of waiting for the police to arrive.
Around 10:50 PM a police officer finally arrived to see what was going on. He said it took him six minutes to arrive at the theater after getting the call. At this time I was very upset, along with the box office manager, at the disinterested attitude the policeman had toward the situation. There was no presence of the law when they were needed. Everyone had gone home, and long after the second 911 call was made! Why do we have 911? Is it not an emergency number? I even asked if it was a busy night on the streets. “No,” was all he said. Later in the conversation he then said, “If you call 911, just keep in mind that it’s up to you. Don’t count on someone arriving when you need them. 911 is not reliable.” Stunned, I asked what does “to serve and protect” mean on every police vehicle? “We are here to serve. We don’t have to protect.” He then proceeded to tell a story involving a law that says police are protected if they do not arrive at a scene on time and someone gets hurt. Even after two 911 calls were made still no response for an hour. No wonder we have so much crime and nobody gets caught. Take your time, boys, and finish those doughnuts. Hot coffee is on the way. Oh, and thanks for your concern!
Name Withheld