Playing Operator in Cole--With Very Negative Consequences

Remember that game you played in school where you whispered a phrase into someone's ear, and they whispered it in someone else's, and so on and so forth around the room, until it came back to you, inevitably altered beyond belief? What was it called... Operator?

Tonight there was some hubbub at the Down-and-Out (Downing) Super that drew about six police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck. I thought it was an accident, and didn't think much of it. When after almost an hour there were still officers there, and police tape up, I decided to see what was happening.

I decided to walk the dogs to have a legitimate reason to walk by the scene. The minute I exited my house, our neighbor, a 18-year-old long-time neighborhood resident, known for being the block gossip and exaggerator, called to me.

"You hear what happened? They robbed the liquor store. Somebody got shot!" As much as I should know better than believe her, I thought, crap, that's going to suck, if there was just a shooting on our block.

Who are they you ask? Well, Them, of course.

She was already on her cell phone calling all her friends to share the "news" as I walked away and towards two of the police cars blockading the street. As I approached the car, I asked the officers what just had happened.

"Oh, it was an Ag Assault. Two homeless guys got in a fight."

I asked, "Is everyone OK?"

"Yes."

"So there was no robbery, or shooting?"

The officer laughed. "Nope..."

I laughed as well. "Can't wait to share this with my neighbor. She told me there was a robbery and shooting at the liquor store."

He laughed again. "Nope..."

So in under 1/2 hour, two homeless guys in a fight (or some other weapon) was transformed into "They (again, who are they? Them, of course) robbed the liquor store, and somebody got shot". Who knows what the story will be tomorrow, or next week?

Why do I care? Well, this neighbor was the same person that told us the other day that "The Police Are Being Racial Again..." after a traffic stop on our block. She claimed that an innocent Hispanic family, including a pregnant woman, were stopped, yanked from their car, hand-cuffed, and thrown down on the sidewalk, face down. Of course, they were completely innocent and were only pulled over because they were Hispanic. She also claimed that when one of our neighbors came out with a camera to film the event, the police aggressively grabbed it from her and broke it.

How many people has she shared that likely gross distortion of facts with? Any wonder why some minority residents still think the police are out to get them? Or why so many people still feel that Cole is an unsafe place to live? We have enough of a challenge changing perceptions in Cole, without someone undoing all our progress by being careless with the facts, in the interest of being an expert or sounding cool with your friends.