The Purple Tunnel of Doom

The Purple Tunnel of Doom
Share
Today at 10:02am | Edit Note | Delete
So sit right back and hear a tale and tale of a fateful trip. That started from Baltimore and almost ended in a pit. So it seems that the D.C. police directed everyone and their mother to the 3rd street tunnel for processing through security. That is exactly where our group was directed that morning. What ended up happening was that purple and silver ticket holders for seats at the inauguration were also sent there creating a crowd of biblical proportions, confusion, and chaos, and overwhelming security issues. Then one of the metal detectors broke, slowing down the processing. How Vicki, Ron and I managed to get through is beyond me. The rest of our poor group did not gain entrance through. There was pandemonium and stampedes, trampled people, injuries, and a whole lot of disappointed ticket holders. Thus, the tunnel has gained the title The Purple Tunnel of Doom by the press and a facebook group that has sprung up.

I want to point out that we asked at least four cops where we should go and each time we were directed through the 3rd street tunnel. We were not permitted to continue our trek in front of the Capital building, though another member of the SHS group told me later he just kept walking on by and was able to successfully enter the National Mall that way. Just goes to show that you can pretty much do what you want to do if you have the balls to do it...just like when I went to New York on New Years Eve and gained entrance to the main event.

There was a real wench in the crowd at the 3rd street tunnel. A woman sitting in her wheelchair. You probably are thinking I am a rotten person for picking on a handicapped woman but hear me out. That woman sat there playing it up for hours--her two daughters kept fighting with one another and bumping into me. One was a teenager and the other was about 7. The 7 year old was very whiny. Well, when the crowd finally starting surging forward as they opened up the security gates, the woman stood up, switched places with the 7 year old and pretended the girl was a pathetic little crippled girl. The oldest daughter pushed ahead of her mother and this debacle, and when the mother called out for her we told her that her Mom didn't want her to get too far ahead. She replied, "I don't really care about her...she is the one who brought a wheelchair that she doesn't need."

About 3 minutes later, when the police were desperately trying to sort out the mess they had created by shouting in bull horns for Purple and Silver ticket holders to step out and come with them...there were several people who were suffering in the elements. We watched one lady be carried out of the tunnel by the medics. She was unconscious. There was another elderly person suffering what appeared to be heart trouble and I was asked to retrieve a milk crate that was stuffed under a police cruiser that I was shoved up against for the person to sit on. And then low and behold, the woman who had faked her daughter's handicapped went waltzing by pushing her "poor pathetic wheelchair bound daughter" and accompanied by her teenager. The crowd hissed and tried to tell the cops she was faking it but they did not pay attention. She breezed right through security as she obviously planned. As the child of a man who has struggled with a disability most of his life that just disgusted me.

So, I guess in the future, view anything cops say with suspicion and try to be more clever than the next guy.