When YOU have to play cop.. Part 2

PANAMA. Last week I outlined two examples of expats faced with problems that left them having to play investigator, warrant server and cop if they wished so see justice served.

Since then I have been told that in the hunt to contact a driver who caused an accident while driving the wrong way down a one way street , and then left the scene of the accident before the police arrived, the victim has made 22 calls to the perpetrator’s home in Chorrera, after his wife had said he would call back the next day.

Now the victim has to drive to Chorrera with a note from a judge, collect a policeman from the local station, and go to the house, on the assumption that he will be there. And if he’s not?

Smile, and pay up for the damage sustained in the accident, while the runaway driver gets off scot free.

ASSAULT

But this pales against a weekend incident when an elderly expat was assaulted in the social area of his apartment complex.

He sustained gouges from the assaulter, a woman, who added a string of four letter words to emphasize her annoyance at the gringo who had quietly complained when a dog was running loose around the swimming pool.

“You should go back to where you ******* well came from” was an early taste of her tongue. When the physical attack took place and the pensioner tried to return to his apartment, the woman blocked the elevator, and he was forced to use the stairway, That incident was recorded on the security cameras.

The victim’s wife called the police, and re called every hour for four hours.

Each time she was told by a police sergeant that law enforcers were on their way. At no time did he ask for a phone number.

Finally the couple went to a night court, to start the complicated process of filing a complaint, and then facing the task of serving it on the perpetrator.

Advice from the night court “judge” was that they should have killed the dog, and the husband should have struck back at the woman.

An eye for an eye. And we are trying to reduce violence in the country.

HEALTHY STATS

On Sunday, during my 7.30 a.m. walk/trot on Panama’s new “lung”, the Cinta Costera, I amassed some participant stats. Bicycles, 13, joggers 97, walkers (including 4 power walkers)237, roller bladers 6, skate boards, 1.

Shapes ranged from near obese though svelte to stunning (bikini clad on roller blades). Dog deposits 8.

Later in the day, and early evening the Cinta was jammed with people learning the joys of promenading, sports teams on training runs, all six basketball courts jammed with enthusiasts. the equipment in the children’s play areas looking as if invaded by swarms of oversized bees and all contributing to the livelihoods of dozens of itinerant snack and drink sales persons.

Multiple bonuses, slowly paying off the $189 million investment and maybe reducing health costs. The only things left to sort out the Fishing and Yacht Club land fill mystery and the Mirimar Hotel windfall parking lot.