Yes, I did. I'm responsible for a man spending a night in jail. Even though this man did something wrong, and then made it worse for himself, I'm slightly troubled by this.
See, I was taking my children Trick or Treating Saturday night with a HUGE and I mean HUGE group of family members. And this man ran into me with his 4 wheeler. He hit me on the left hip, and it very easily could have been my 4 year old that he hit instead of me! She had been holding my left hand and before we crossed the road I switched her to the other side. No particular reason, I just did. There were no moving vehicles in either direction before we crossed, and I even saw the 4 wheeler with driver astride on the other shoulder of the road. He was stopped and talking to one of my cousins and her friend. So I didn't jump out in front of him or anything like that. To make matters worse, I don't even think the guy realized he had hit me and he kept driving...and then when questioned by Navajo County's finest he tried to flee...thus making it worse for himself.
I know that this particular man has some mental and emotional challenges. I also know that this man seriously dislikes law enforcement officers. And not only did he get a free ride in the back of a cruiser, he spent a night and most of a day in the slammer which I'm sure was not a pleasant experience for him...in fact I bet it was pretty scary....
Don't get me wrong, I'm very much beyond mad at the situation and the person. But I have some empathy for what he most likely went through because of it.
I'm sure he almost as upset with me as I am with him, and I'm okay with that. I sure as heck wish he would have been much more responsible and heeded the many warnings he has been given about that dang 4 wheeler and driving with no license....in fact the reason my cousin and her friend were next to him is that they were giving him a good lashing for running the friend into the ditch and almost hitting him, due to the fact that the driver of the 4 wheeler did not have his headlights on!
I am blessed that I got out of the situation with only an extremely ugly and tender bruise on my hip...and some lasting anxiety over the whole situation...WHAT IF Rylee had still been on that side...her head barely comes above the spot that I was hit on, it would have been much more serious!
There is a pretrial hearing tomorrow, and I don't even know if I'm supposed to go or not, but I am. There has to be consequences when a person breaks the law, and puts other people in danger.
So while I want justice, I pray for mercy, in a way, at the same time.
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