I called the police and I don’t know if it was the right thing to do

I don’t know if I made the right call

Sorry if my thoughts are jumbled, I’m still processing what happened. Content warning for domestic violence.

Last night I called the police on a man outside my building actively beating his wife. I was inside when I first heard shouting then looked out the window to see a woman trying to exit the front seat of a car. The man in the drivers seat hit her in the face and grabbed her arm to keep her from leaving the vehicle. There was a baby in the backseat with them. She managed to get out and get the child into a stroller. I watched him try to pull her back into a car.

I’m a bit mixed up but at this point without thinking I called the police and went outside to try and intervene. I want to avoid calling the police in any possible situation but with how bad the situation looked I didn’t know what I should do. When I got to the door, someone else came up on the sidewalk at the same time. The man stopped beating her when he saw me and the other bystander got to the scene. We both stayed with her until the police arrived. It became clear neither the man nor woman spoke much if any English. After the police came and talked to us and got statements things started to escalate. The man started crying and sobbing and begging please no, that’s my wife, that’s all I could make out.

And then I processed, I live in a place with a strong immigrant community and now I can think of is what their immigration status is and if they’re undocumented and if I just fucked up the lives of the child and the mother. I don’t know what happened or what was said since the cops were speaking to them over Google translate but the cops ended up putting her in handcuffs. After a bit it looked like they were letting him go. I saw the dude put the child back in the vehicle and drove away. The cops drove away too.

I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if I did the right thing. All I know is that he was punching her in the face and slamming doors and she kept trying to run from him and I didn’t know what to do. I want any other alternative than to call but I didn’t know what to do with how loud she was screaming and how badly he was hitting her. I don’t know if I did the right thing

This is about a week after I had to call 911 after a man had an overdose outside my building. I tried to find my narcan but didn’t realise my partner had moved it. The man wasn’t breathing and i couldn’t tell how long he had been there. The cops got there before ems and they had to convince him to go anywhere or accept services. I kept thinking if he could afford treatment, if he wanted treatment, any of that. Did I mess up his life too? What could I have done differently?

I just keep thinking about the type of person I want to be. I want to be the type of person who helps others not someone who just panics and calls the police. I don’t know if my morals just disappear when I panic. For all I know I ruined these peoples lives. I don’t know if either instance I did the right thing. And I don’t know if I truly am the person I want to be.

I’m just feeling mostly guilt and a little anger. I don’t know how long I’ll leave this up. Thank you for listening.