Tales From The Block: Bloody Asphalt

Greetings Family! The title for this post is a little morbid, but hey… so is the story. This post will be long so get comfortable, take a restroom break and grab a snack. All this happened yesterday and represents yet another day in the life of your Hustleman. Alright, all settled in? Then let’s get to it.

I was at home chillin’. I am still trying to ease up of my double grind a little bit and get some relaxation on so I thought it would be good to take the day off and just kick it. It just so happens I get a phone call from my homegirl Nica. I haven’t seen Nica in a couple of months and she had changed her cell number and gotten a new cell phone but never told me. I know what you’re thinking, some homegirl huh? LOL well I thought the same thing but it seems she was involved with a special someone and I know how she is when she’s serious about someone. Out of sight and out of mind. I didn’t fault her for this, in fact I respect her commitment and loyalty.

About four days earlier Nica came through my spot and greeted me with a big hug and smile. We exchanged numbers since she had gotten a new cell phone and she was off to run some errands for her boss. Fast forward to yesterday.

I agreed to come over to her new place and chill with her for a few. Catch up on things and since she was cooking I thought a free home cooked meal wouldn’t hurt. I jumped in the shower put on some warm clothes and made my way to the hood. For those of you that know ATL, you know anything around Metropolitan Parkway. (formally Steward Ave.) is the hood. I hadn’t been over that way in about a year but I still know my way around so it was no problem finding her residence. Problem was, there was a major accident on the nearby freeway so traffic was backed up a little but I took some back streets and got through no problem.

I made my way to the door and was greeted with her trademark huge smile and a warm hug. She showed me around and we eventually made our way to the living room. We talked for awhile and then she went to go cook. Nothing fancy, just some spaghetti and garlic bread which was delicious by the way. She always said she could cook but I never had a chance to taste anything. I guess she wasn’t lying which was good because I didn’t want to have to hurt her feelings.

She went through her DVD collection and when I heard the word “Breakin’” I told her THAT’S THE ONE! C’mon! Breakin’ is a classic, I hadn’t seen it in years! Had to watch it. I finished my plate pretty quick and was into the movie deep. I almost got up to do some of my old break dancing moves but the festivities were interrupted by Nica’s cell phone call. All I could hear was a woman’s voice practically yelling on the phone and a wide eyed look of worry on Nica’s face. She ran over to the TV and turned down the volume while she kept repeatin, “Where are you at? Where?” I sat there silently knowing that drama was on the other end of the line. I thought to myself, “Interesting. Do I know how to run into drama or what?”

“Oh my god, Oh my god!” was all that came out of Nica’s mouth. I asked her what was up. She replied it was her friend Taniesha (Tan). I asked her did her and her man get into another fight? She told me Tan was crying and was in some car accident but the phone cut off and she didn’t know where she was at. The cell rung again. Nica got the details and hung up the phone. “Where we off to?” I asked and she said we need to go up Metropolitan. We hopped in the whip and made our way up there.

I saw flashing police lights and yellow tape. A large part of the road had been blocked off. “There!” Nica said. I turned down a side street and she practically jumped out of the car and ran to the scene. I maneuvered around and parked the car and went after her.

As I came up to the police tape I saw a couple of news crews arriving and Nica was on her cell phone calling Jay. Jay is the boss of both Nica and Tan. They’re all pretty close knit so Jay asked where they were at so she could come up there. Nica passed on the location and hung up the phone.

“I talked to one of the officers. They say she hit a man in her car.” Nica told me as I looked in front of us and saw Tan’s car on the side of the road with a huge dent in the windshield. The glass was badly shattered and buckled in but it was still intact. On the ground a few yards from us was a body covered by a white bloodied sheet which the police were examining.

It didn’t take long for my mind to process what Nica told me before she said it. “Oh my god, I think the guy she hit is dead! Oh my god! What about her kids?!” Nica tried to call Tan’s cell phone furiously only to be met with no answer. It seems Tan was in the car alone and her 5 kids were at the house. To make matters worse, Tan didn’t have her driver’s license. The officer asked Nica if she would be able to bring it to them. Feeling powerless all I could do was console Nica and put my arm around her. I also thought to myself, why the hell didn’t I bring my camera?

10 minutes went by and Nica still couldn’t get Tan on the phone and couldn’t get the attention of any of the officers to ask them what happened. Jay showed up and asked Nica to hold down the restaurant they both worked at while she tried to figure out what happened at the scene and what would happen to Tan. Nica reluctantly left and we made our way to her work place. Nica is a manager there so she would fill in while Jay was out.

Nica’s co-workers looked on as she walked in with a disturbed look on her face. They all wanted to know what was up but I could see it on her face that she just wasn’t all there mentally.

Rest of the story short, Jay called the restaurant to tell Nica everything that was going down. Tan was going to be taken in for driving without a license and her kids would be picked up by their grandfather. The man Tan hit was proven to be jay-walking so no manslaughter charges were going to be filed. Jay was going to go get Tan as soon as she was released and put up bond for her if necessary.

Nica and I returned to her domicile when Jay came back to finish up her shift at the restaurant. And after she relaxed a bit, we finished watching the movie. Nica and Jay passed information back and forth through text messages and when Tan went to pre-trial Jay made her way to pick Nica up so they could go scoop up Tan together. Her bond ended up being about $200.00 dollars and her family is coming into ATL today and hopefully Tan will be alright… mentally that is. I made my way home thinking to myself how quickly things can change at any given moment. I wish the best for Tan although I don’t know her all that well. She seems like a down to earth female with her head together for the most part.

One last thing. Surprisingly this man was NOT dead on impact we found out early this morning. And also even more shocking the paramedics didn’t show up in time (over 2 hours late) so he eventually did pass away. Ain’t that some shit? 911 is STILL a joke? WTF! Even if they wanted to get Tan for vehicular manslaughter they couldn’t due to their negligence. I’ll probably see Tan soon and if anything else develops I’ll be sure to update you all.

Since I’ve held you all long enough I’ll let you go here. Peace and blessings Fam and I’ll be getting up with you all, no doubt. What a way to spend an election day…

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