Why Some Communities Police Themselves, While Others Don't

A few months after I moved to my current neighborhood, I witnessed a driver get out of his car and attack a pedestrian. While I'm still not clear on what sparked the incident, from what I could make out, the pedestrian had walked in front of the man's car at an intersection (not an uncommon occurrence in a pedestrian-friendly D.C. neighborhood).

The incident involved more person-on-property violence than person-on-person violence, but it was nevertheless a gratuitous and frightening overreaction on the part of the driver. A half dozen or so people on the street, myself included, had stopped walking to watch the scene unfold. But none of us did anything. I felt like I could've done something—I thought myself big enough and strong enough—but I stood frozen in place. Just as the Jeep driver's behavior toward the pedestrian seemed to reach a crescendo, a maintenance worker from a nearby apartment building began running toward the vehicle, shouting, "Leave that guy alone!" The Jeep driver whipped his head around, a crazed look on his face, then put his ride in gear and peeled out.