Darwin, NT, Australia
Darwin was a destination we will never forget. Within one hour of arriving in Darwin, we found ourselves in a surreal situation. I remember Grant kneeling beside a busy road, topless, holding his balled-up T-shirt against the bloody head of a grey-haired, semi-consious, arboriginal man. Prior to that, I was running frantically into the nearest place of business, a Pizza delivery counter, thinking that we had just witnessed a murder, to ask the guy at the counter to call 000 (Aus version of 911). To my horror, when I told him what had happened, he asked me to wait until he finished with his current customer! An aboriginal man had just been attacked by a group of young caucasion guys , who smashed a beer bottle against his head, causing him to fall to the ground, and proceeded to kick him before jumping the fence and running away. When we ran over, we saw him just lying there, unconscious, with blood pouring from his head. The pizza guy did agree to call right away, after the customer (also a foreigner, possibly from Germany) insisted.
I returned to the scene of the crime to await the ambulance and police. When I got there, I saw the pool of blood, but no one was there. Ahead about 1/2 a block, I saw a large group of aboriginals standing around, so I made my way over, and that’s when I saw Grant with his top off, trying to stop the bleeding. Apparently the man had come-to, and wandered over to where he lay when I got there. His wife was there, all frantic, along with another family member. There was also a family of 6 (including 4 small kids), apparently living in the park across the street, who had heard the commotion and came over to help. After I got there, the injured man started to get up and dance around, saying he was fine, and didn’t want to go in no ambulance. Meanwhile Grant kept trying to get him to keep pressure on his head wound. When the ambulance came, the ER’s were able to start cleaning up and dressing the wound without too much of a scene, but we were quite disturbed by the police response. They were there, but since the guy couldn’t really remember what happened (or, as they say, didn’t want to press charges), there was nothing they could do. They didn’t even want a statement from us, and basically said not to even bother calling them again if we spot the assailants, because they’d be gone again before they could get there.
Wow! Welcome to Darwin!
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