I served on Jury Duty from 8:30am on. Upon entering, Security required me to leave my Leatherman tool (multi-function pocketknife with mini-maglite attached) with them, and I received a ticket-stub for it.
Around 10:30, 45 of us went to courtroom #1204 (12th floor), the courtroom of Judge Stephen Gerst. About 3:40pm, after 16 had been eliminated, the 9 were chosen - including 1 as-yet-unnamed alternate, but not myself. After exchanging a couple phone numbers, I went to my car in the garage I had parked in. I discovered I had not claimed the Leatherman from Security. Rather than walk all the way back in the heat, I parked at 4th Ave. & Jefferson, next to a meter that had 24 minutes left; my dime added nothing.
Approaching the main entrance to the Central Court Building, I observed a man in his late 30s or so, blond hair, muscle shirt, tanned but weathered skin waiting at the base of the exterior stairs (on the sidewalk). Assuming him to be a panhandler, I ignored him & did not make eye contact. I entered, claimed my Leatherman, then exited.
Outside, the man was berating a woman, something about "I need that money to live on." She did not respond that I could hear, but kept walking. The man ran across the street, then ran back and intercepted her again. He began berating her again, though I could not hear the substance of the conversation. She told him if he didn't get away she would call the police. By this time we were all at 3rd Ave. & Jefferson, SE corner. He ran across Jefferson, up a bit, then across 3rd Ave., as though to intercept her again.
I asked the woman (late 30s, maybe a few years older, heavy-set, dishwater blonde) if she was OK & she responded she was not - the man was not a street person, he was her ex-husband. They had just gotten divorced a few minutes earlier - he had walked out of the courtroom when it wasn't going his way and he accosted her outside the court. The woman also had obtained an Order of Protection against her now-ex-husband.
There was no child support order as he receives disability from Social Security, and she is the Representative Payee on the SSI (or SSD - that was not established between us). Apparently, he trashed the low-income apartment he lived in, and the ex-wife, as Representative Payee, was going to pay for the damages out of his Social Security benefits; she was also on the lease, and thus could be held responsible. He was angry about how she intended to resolve the problem, and she was afraid he might attack her to injure or kill (though she expressed only that she was afraid of what he might do).
Her attempt to call the police on my cel phone failed - she merely disconnected the battery, and was fumbling because of her nervous fear. She said she would simply get someone from the building in which the parking garage was housed (3rd Ave. & Jefferson, NW corner) to call a security guard for her. I accompanied her there, and they actually called for a police officer. While waiting for the officer, I gave my name, pager# & email, should I need to offer testimony for what I witnessed; I also obtained her name (Donna Cummings) and her ex-husband's (Gary Cummings). When Officer T.A. Abril (I'm not certain about the initials, only the last name) arrived to take her in hand, I left and continued home.
In the end, it is possible the Leatherman saved someone from injury or death, at least for now.