Should I call 101, bruised distressed woman was in garden

[caringdenise009]

My son,20, was home alone making breakfast this morning (could have been 9am,could have been midday). He saw a woman crying,bruised with a black eye outside the kitchen door. She saw him and started gesturing for water. He checked there was noone else in the main bit of the garden ( thought there might be someone who would jump him) before going out and giving her some water and some food.

There's no direct access to our garden- we're mid terrace, spiked six foot iron fence at the bottom and two high fences either side. He asked her if she wanted the police and she panicked and said no,no police. She then went and climbed up the higher fence and jumped over the spiked fence and disappeared,though what she jumped into was a bit of river which is fenced off to the public so I have no idea how she would get out of there,unless she swam across the river to the open public side.

He didn't tell me until I got home from work and he went out straight after that. ( He has major anxiety issues and part of them are about him worrying about me worrying about him).

Given that she left hours ago, is there any point letting the police know? She obviously needs help but I'm not sure that what we have to say will give them anything to go on,so would I be wasting their time?

There are some horrible posts regarding mental health illnesses on here. Anxiety doesn't just make you a bit anxious and nervous. It changes the way you think and feel completely. Your brain is full of irrational and invasive thoughts that make you question reality.

Yes, most people would have called the police straight away and ops ds made a mistake under pressure,but we don't really know what was going through his mind at the time.

The fact he was able to go out to talk to and interact with a random distressed woman who just appeared in his enclosed back garden would suggest his anxiety t that particular moment wasn't that bad. I don't have anxiety and I would have been shit scared and probably just called the police from inside the house.

Did the police ring you back OP?

All very odd. I wouldn't have opened the door (let alone asked her in as a PP suggested) but I would have the police from inside.

I don't think people are brushing off his anxiety here at all. It's more calling into question the blasé attitude after the event. Not just the DS's attitude but also the DP and the OP.

Neither the DS nor her DP told her until she got home from work and even then, he went straight out after that, whilst none of the 3 of them reported this very serious incident to the police.

This really isn't something the OP should have to ask the internet about.

The son not reporting is perhaps understandable as no-one here knows what level of anxiety he was feeling.

But the DP and the OP's behaviour is just baffling.

Think some of you are being tough on the OPs DS. She said he has spent anxiety, and you have no idea what went through his mind at the time. He done well in the fact that he even opened the door to give her food, and a drink.
Well done for calling the police OP, it is a shame that your DP didn't call them earlier on though. I hope they manage to find her. Please let us know if the police call you back.

Spent

I don't think people are brushing off his anxiety here at all

Yes they are.

Anxiety doesn't just make you a bit anxious and nervous. It changes the way you think and feel completely. Your brain is full of irrational and invasive thoughts that make you question reality

This exactly

Funny old things threads aren't they?

Here we have some people attacking the OPs son for checking before opening a door in case he gets jumped. Oddly in that the usual response by MN is along the lines of 'I never answer the door to strangers'.

In answer to the OPs Q ... call 101, not 999, I suppose it should be logged, however, the woman obviously had capacity to make her own decisions.

The OP called 101 yesterday and logged it. She wasn't asking if she should call 999 so long after the event, she said she was annoyed her DP didn't advise her DS to call 999 at the time.