pre-dawn drama

the police came to take one of my neighbours away last night.

but it was not the creep.

nor the weirdo.

it was the crazy girl at the end of the hall.

i think i’ve mentioned her before.

she’s dramatic and mildly volatile and, every once in a while, hysterical.

she looks like she’s maybe in her mid- to late-20s, and always dresses as though she’s coming from, or going to, a club. sort of pretty, sort of trashy.

she’s the one who, for a while after i first moved in, would have middle-of-the-night temper tantrums in the hallway – usually in the wee hours of the morning, usually screaming at some boyfriend who was high-tailing it out of the building.

she’s the one who once walked from her apartment to the elevator, screaming obscenities into her cell phone as she chewed someone out. i heard her entire conversation... then, a minute later, actually heard the sound of her yelling coming in my windows because she wobbling down the middle of the street outside, in heels, still screaming into her phone. she was that loud.

she’s the one who smokes a lot, and whose west-facing windows mean that smoke frequently drifts out the cracks around her door and into the hall and, often, in through the cracks around my (and others’) door.

she’s the one who BUH-LASTS her music and makes me so glad there are buffer units between hers and mine.

she’s the one who orders delivery and then tries to get it for free by claiming (usually tearfully) she doesn’t have enough money to cover the bill when it arrives. these episodes usually begin and end with swearing, loudly, which is also something she does a LOT.

all this to say, i wouldn’t be heartbroken if she moved out of the building.

so, cut to early this morning...

just after 2:30am, i was jolted awake by what sounded like someone trying to break down my door. i sleep with earplugs, so (after i peeled myself off the ceiling, heart beating out of my chest) i quickly took them out to find out where the noise was actually coming from. at first, i thought it was my 3am-hammering neighbour, but then realized the thumpy banging – which hadn’t yet stopped – was coming from the hallway, and from someone else’s front door.

it was LOUD. the kind of pounding that’s either a product of rage or rescue. as soon as i gathered my wits about me, i realized it was coming from the direction of the crazy girl’s apartment.

i heard men’s voices asking loudly, and repeatedly, to be let in, then conferring more quietly with each other.

“if you don’t open the door, we can just get the police to come and arrest you,” said one of the male voices. then a pause, presumably while he listened for an answer. then...

(to the door) “okay, then.”

(to whomever else was in the hall) “she said, `fine, get the police.’”

(into a radio) “you’re gonna have to come up. she won’t let us in.”

by now, i was w-i-d-e awake and eager to find out what the hell was going on.

a minute later, the police arrived on my floor. two officers called from the elevator, “is she in there? did you get in?”

to which the guys whom i’d later discover were paramedics replied, “no. she told us to fuck off.”

tsk. crazy girl once again proves herself to be sweet and charming.

the police officers banged on the door and, i suspect, woke up any remaining tenants who hadn’t yet been roused from their slumber by all the commotion. they identified themselves as police, asked her to open the door... and she refused.

they repeated their request (much more sternly this time), she continued to scream something indecipherable (to me) from inside her unit, and the officers then said, “if you don’t open this door, we’re going to break it down!”

!

it sounded like they were beginning to do just that when crazy girl finally opened the door and then started yelling at the officers!

“get the fuck outta my apartment, you can’t come in!” and so on.

so they brought her out of the apartment and, i believe (based on her protests) put her in handcuffs. they tried to get her to calm down, saying she didn’t need to be getting so upset and making it more difficult for herself, but she stayed on the offensive. they asked why she refused them entry, and she said, “because i didn’t know who you were!”

they explained that they’d identified themselves, and that the paramedics had done the same, and she said, “but i DID let you in!”

this back-and-forth went on for a couple of minutes, with crazy girl saying she let them in right away, the paramedics saying they’d been asking for more than five minutes (which they had been), and the police saying they’d been sitting outside the building just as long.

then they got down to business.

what i gathered from their subsequent exchange is that, either as a joke or an empty threat or just out of sheer stupidity, crazy girl had texted someone that she was going to down a bottle of pills and kill herself, and that person called 911.

and crazy girl was none too pleased that the authorities were now at her door.

the officers asked her if she planned to kill herself, if she had pills in the apartment, if she had drugs in the apartment, if she was on medication, if she was supposed to be on medication, if she was under psychiatric care, if she was manic-depressive, etc., and she kept angrily and tearfully saying, “no!”

“so then why would you text someone that you’re going to kill yourself?” asked a male voice.

and crazy girl claimed she hadn’t done that.

“let’s get your phone and look at your text messages, then,” said the male voice... which made crazy girl lose it further. she started crying crocodile tears (because that’s her M.O. – try anger at first and, if that doesn’t work, cry to get what you want) and apologizing, asking to be let out of her cuffs and to be allowed back into her apartment to go back to bed, explaining that she’d been under stress, blah blah blah.

the officers searched her apartment (i could hear them ask questions like “what’s in here?” and “what’s this?”), then informed her that, given her hostility and hysteria, she wasn’t fit to be left alone. they’d be taking her to the hospital.

she freaked out, they assured her she wasn’t being arrested and, eventually, she realized she was out of options. they got her a jacket, then led her out of the building. as they passed my door, i saw the two officers accompanying crazy girl (who looked like she might still be in cuffs), and three (!) paramedics... one of whom was pushing a gurney. two other paramedics had also come up during the incident, but left before it was over when they realized the situation was under control. so, crazy girl’s actions had resulted in no fewer than seven (!) emergency-services personnel wasting almost a half-hour of their time.

i looked at the clock when it was finally quiet again, and it was nearly 3am.

and i have to say, i kind of hope this smacks some sense into crazy girl. i don’t mean to sound unsympathetic, but she’s a bratty, entitled attention-seeker. she takes no responsibility for her own actions, doesn’t really demonstrate any regard for anyone other than herself, and generally behaves like a spoiled 13-year-old girl. if she truly does have psychiatric problems, fine. perhaps this mess will spur her – or force her by law – to get whatever help she might need.

because, seriously, enough already.