preventing domestic violence

thank god nobody got shot tonight...
we were just hanging out at home.... when I hear loud arguing on the street. I try to get a glimpse of the noise-makers since it's been a while I've heard this kind of temperamentful fighting. The ghetto kind of arguing " fucking bitch this, fucking blah blah that...". A year ago, when we still lived on Morris Ave. I wouldn't have even looked up from whatever I was doing. In fact, one of the reasons we moved was the constant gunshots on our street. But this here is not the same kind of neighborhood. Unbelievable how much of a difference a few blocks can make.
Anyway, after a few minutes of those people arguing...well, mostly the guy cursing out the woman.... I hear my friend Rosie from upstairs screaming out the window at the top of her lungs: "HEY, take it inside people! You should be ashamed of yourselves. Talking like this in front of your child!" .... a few minutes later I'm on the phone with Rosie and the man goes at it again. this time he's even more heated and is about to explode. " I'm calling the cops right NOW!" screams Rosie in stereo. "gotta hang up", she tells me "i'm calling 911."
a few minutes pass. the couple must have made it off the streets and into a yard or something. Their voices are buffered in the neighboring house or yard now but I can hear him freaking out...he's throwing stuff or I'm not sure what...but it's beginning to sound really scary.
I look out the window and see the cops pull up in front of our building. I'm thinking: "oh, thank god, it's about to get ugly over there." but they don't even get out of the car or roll down a window and since they can't see or hear anything on the street they back up, turn around and leave. I can't believe it. At least get out of the car, people!
Anyway, this time I'm the one calling 911. Rosie has convinced me that this is our duty as neighbors, citizens (well, I'm not a citizen)...etc. whatever. Meanwhile, Dario has actually gotten up from his videogame and when he realizes I'm calling the cops again ...and I'm worried... he takes the phone from me as I am speaking to the operator and says " the guy has a gun. you better get over here now." - "... a gun? why do you say that?" I ask after he hangs up. "somebody who worked for the FBI once told me that's the only way to get things moving, really." ... and sure enough 2 minutes later... the psycho-guy is now walking back and forth between the neighbor's house and his SUV across the street, screaming at his girlfriend...that he'll be back or whatever...5 copcars and an undercover DT car pull up with screeching tires...my phone rings...one of them is actually calling me in the action asking me where the guy is...I point to the SUV across the street as the cops are looking up to my window for direction... how the hell do they know where I live, I wonder.... they spot the guy in rage and suddenly 6 cops have him surrounded and are narrowing in on him with their guns drawn telling him to get on the ground. A moment of frozen time for me...."oh my god, I hope he doesn't pull out his wallet or something" I think .... shit.... and all because Dario said he has a gun ... "he doesn't have a gun! he doesn't have a gun." I call into my cordless phone....immediately wondering if I should be saying the word gun at this moment to anyone of these officers in action....I'm not sure who I am talking to...i think it's one of the detectives.
Anyway, the guy drops to the ground in the middle of our otherwise quite traffic-heavy street, hands behind his head. they hand-cuff him and things begin to calm down. thank god.
i'm like an old lady with her nose glued to the window now... until the guy points up to my window and mentions me ...or Rosie calling. "oh great, he knows where we live now", I think, "time to renew our dog's obedience training." .... I feel bad because this could have ended bad...but I also feel good because this could have ended bad for someone else in this spiel (-> his girlfriend..or ex...i dunno). They let him go ... after some cursing and scolding... but this whole thing surely brought him back to reality from his ego-macho-I'm-gonna-kill-u kinda trip.
gotta go. baby crying.