Heading down Teri (Southeast Austin) to drop off a care package to a friend with Covid. On the other side of the street I sorta notice a middle aged woman walking in the bike lane. Just as I pass, a car whips around the corner the wrong direction in the street and cuts her off. I see in my rearview that a guy jumps out and grabs her and she starts screaming and fighting as he's trying to force her into the car.
I do a quick U-turn - taking out some bike lane dividers - and race back, revving the car to try to sound some sort of menacing (in a Honda Fit) and wondering if I'm about to get shot. I'm coming right at them so it's obvious I'm responding to her screams, and he looks up.
In that fraction of a second I'm trying to decide if I think it's a kidnapping or "just" a domestic fight, whether I should try to clip the guy with my car if it works logistically (crazy, I know, but this is all happening so fast) and what the odds are that if I get out of the car I'll get shot/stabbed/beaten-to-a-pulp (the guy was shirtless and seemed like maybe he'd been in more fights than the none I've been in)
I just slow roll alongside them (so I can speed up if he has a gun, or stop if he keeps trying to get her) and I scream "The police are coming! The police are coming!" He lets her go, jumps in his car, and takes off out of there, cutting down the nearest side street.
I pull another U-turn and she's walking down the street again, toward some tree trimmers who were working nearby and were coming over. I ask if she's OK try to give her give her an inquisitive thumbs up (since there's a good chance there's a language barrier). She waves me away dismissively and is talking to to the workers in Spanish. She seems to be comfortable with them so I leave it at that.
I feel bad I didn't stick around to see if I might be more help, but I don't speak Spanish (I live in the neighborhood and my exchanges with about half my neighbors consist of smiling, short Google-Translate-mediated conversations, or bringing them veggies from my garden) and I honestly wouldn't be able to describe the car or the man in any helpful way anyway.
My feeling is it was a domestic abuse situation, and I know odds are she'll be walking back into her house with him in a few hours...
Should I still have tried to call the cops? Considering how long response time is (based on innumerable posts) I figured everyone involved would be long gone. She would probably have been gone even if they came in 5 minutes.
And no, it doesn't make me wish I owned a gun.
EDIT: I didn't mean to make it sound like her dismissing me was rude - she probably didn't even notice my little part in this.