Domestic Violence. Know the signs.
She said she feared for her life and was in danger.
This wasn’t the first time. Please, get help. Today. 800.799.SAFE
I’ve been driving over 2,300 drives in #Milwaukee since January across #Uber and #Lyft. I take pride in giving 5-star service, and providing an essential service for people needing to get around, for whatever reason.
That said, we have a dangerous city in many ways. Some things you hear about on the news in the form of homicide, theft, muggings, stabbings. I go through some of the most violent and dangerous areas of the city every single week. Other forms of violence go unnoticed and unheard.
Just another night for me as an Uber driver in Milwaukee, recognizing domestic violence in another language, waiting at the destination, witnessing a brawl with another male, & the passenger chasing after his girlfriend with a knife, driving the female passenger to safety & calling 911.I actually caught on to the possible violence based on the conversation and the man raising his voice at the woman the entire trip home, she cowered subtlety in fear; this was not a normal argument. She broke her native language to say “stop, would you be saying this to me if my brother was here!?” I believe this was done in a subtle plea for help.
Not today. Not on my watch. I wasn’t even going to go out on this random Wednesday night after dropping off my daughter, but I knew something seemed wrong from the start in this drive.
She repeated “stop, no”, but he was yelling at her in a language I did not understand. As a driver, I could not intervene immediately as I’m vulnerable while driving to an attack — this is common, more common than you might think. Driving is severely risky. After dropping them off, he left the car and i asked her if she was ok. she said yes, but was crying, shaking her head no. His posture was intimidating and threatening.
So I turned off the lights and stayed.
I watched them walk back towards their house.
Then heard the man confront another male who tried to get involved, and there was a massive fight. then the man went into the house and got a butcher knife 🔪 saying he was going to kill him, and started marching at her. the woman recognized my car waiting and witnessing. she asked if i was the uber driver from before, i said, “yes, get the f*** in!” and immediately drove off as he was marching towards the car. She hid in the back seat below the window height, and i called 911.
If I was not there to stay that night, I cannot imagine what fate she might have met. It was roughly 1 in the morning, pitch black. Running up to a random neighbor’s house frantically might not have been met with welcoming refuge.
Be an ally.
He kept marching at us and screaming her name from away. i was on the phone with 911 dispatch and kept on the phone saying we can meet the police but i’m concerned for my passenger’s life and can’t go back to the house. They sent me to a different location to meet police, who arrived ~4 minutes later. the man was still hunting around for us. Police arrived as the man was 30 feet away. of course i would have just kept driving away and fleeing but i kept her safe and then after an hour of police administration, drove her to safety at her brother’s house since she was from a different state.
I got on the phone after to contact Uber emergency support and let them know of the encounter, also offered the ride to her brother’s house free of charge, but stated the address of the house I was taking her to on voice recorded audio through the call. It’s all about knowing the signs of domestic abuse. Stay alert, know the signs. And victims of abuse, please reach out. We can help you. You have allies.
Others can help you. I’m on the lookout for things like this and human trafficking every day.If you order a ride, you’ll see on my profile a keyword to say if you are in danger. It’s not easy, but there is a way out.
Get help today. 800.799.SAFE (7233)
Dan Emmons is the Blockchain Developer for Loci.io, owner of Emmonspired LLC, a Certified Bitcoin Professional, Certified Ethereum Developer, Full Stack Developer and Advisor on Cryptocurrency projects. He is also the creator of a Youtube Channel and iTunes Podcast called #ByteSizeBlockchain.
