More Bad Luck

Remember the poor woman whose car dragged her across the street causing an accident? Then she had open warrants and went to jail. Well the bad luck didn't end there apparently. A man called up to the station asking about the letter sent to his house informing him that his vehicle was towed. He was told what had happened and he was surprised. He had been loaned his vehicle to a friend and had no idea it had been involved in an accident and towed. Ouch! Guess you need to be careful who you loan your car to.

What Was This Guy Thinking?

A man is stopped on traffic. The officer makes his approach and starts talking to him. The man totally ignores the officer. He won't talk to him won't answer any questions and won't get his driver's license nor insurance. Okay, maybe the guy doesn't speak English. However that theory is shot to hell when the guy gets out of the car and tries to walk away from the officer! The officer goes to stop him and the fight is on. So needless to say for whatever reason this guy thought he didn't have to go with the program and wound up in jail for it. Again, what did he think was going to happen?

Blame It on the Rain...Perhaps

It rained pretty hard down here. I didn't mind it since I was still in bed. By the time I get to work it's still cloudy and drizzling. I go to rolling the streets and pass by a Motel 6. I get flagged down by a young couple living there. Now, why are these two living in a Motel 6? I wondered the same thing but I didn't ask. As I'm learning how her car was struck in the parking lot and the person didn't leave a note I notice all sorts of unsavory looking people wandering around. This is one of these motels where nobody that stay there is any good.


The next thing I roll up on is a strange accident. A woman's car dies at an intersection so she gets out to mess under the hood. As she tries to get back in the car something happens and the car starts rolling across the busy intersection. She is being dragged with the car as another passes on the right side. The driverless car hit the other car. I had to think for a moment how to work that one. You have two cars, one with no driver, but she will be counted as a 'pedestrian.' Then come to find out, her license is suspended and she has warrants for her arrest. I felt sorry for her, today just wasn't her day.

My Party Experience

After writing the last post, I felt I should share my similar experience with a party call and the reason I hate party calls.



One night got a call of a teenage party. I know it's one of those things that will never go away. So instead of wasting time and energy fighting it I figure there has got to be a happy compromise. So I knock on the door and when someone answers it I put my foot in the doorway to prevent it from being slammed in my face. I politely ask for the resident (the owners i.e. parents are out of town). The young man says he lives there and I flat out tell him I know he's got alcohol in the house and nobody there is 21. He doesn't admit it, but doesn't deny it either. So I tell him I am putting him in charge. He needs to keep the noise down and keep all intoxicated minors in his house. I tell him I will arrest anyone who leaves. He agrees to this. Simply, I'm letting him continue his party as long as he keeps it quiet. As we're reaching this compromise I hear some scuffling on the other side of the fence. I watch as a young man about my height (about 6 ft. 2) come over the fence. He heard the cops were there and is trying to escape. Well, he lands right in front of me and I say "hey Spiderman! No need to run so I suggest you get back on the other side of that fence and chill!" He laughs and says I'm cool and goes back inside. I didn't return to that house that night.





The next night we get a call, same complaint, same location. Okay now I'm irritated. I thought we had an understanding and now I feel like I got taken advantage of. Another officer (now one of my best friends) checks by with me, but he arrives first. As I arrive, I see the other officer shouting at Spiderman from the night before (unbeknownst to me at the time Spiderman shoved him). I get out of the car and can hear Spiderman shouting at him "you said it was cool that we party!" Uh oh! That isn't quite what I said. I can also tell he is drunker than hell. I decide that I'm going to make an example in front of all those party goers and arrest Spiderman. I walk up to him and tell him to come to me but he starts backing into the house. I grab his shirt and he slaps my hand away. Now he's fu**** up! I grab him again and he punches me in the face. How he's really fu**** up! The punch didn't hurt but it did royally piss me off! He then runs into the house (keep in mind he is a guest it is not his house) and I go after him and the fight is on! We're knocking down chairs, breaking lamps, turning over tables! At one point I realized his hand was around my neck! Before my brain synapses could register a counter move my buddy whacks him with a baton so hard that the baton goes flying out of his hand (spraining it). I then wind up with him on a window sill in a choke hold, er, I mean a restraint. The fight ended with that. We put him in the car then my buddy tells me of the previous shoving as he was chasing another kid who tossed a pipe. Amazingly this same dumbass kid was still there protesting his friend's arrest. So, we arrest him and put him in the same car. Then you would think the story ends but someone called dumbass kid's mom who would not leave us alone. So we go to arrest her and the bi*** fights us! She proudly declares she will go to jail with her child. Little did she realize that she goes to another jail because she's a bi***,er, I mean a woman. We're being gentle because it's a middle aged woman, and everyone is out watching this ordeal. One guy takes out his pepper spray and gets ready to use it. Now, at this point we could articulate having to use it, but I know how the perception is going to go and how the administration will react and nit pick. I stop him from using the spray. I have a better idea. I grab one arm, he grabs the other and we twist and lift and drag this lady to a car and throw her in. Problem solved. In the end, the charges against dumbass kid got dismissed, the mom took a plea deal, and Spiderman got probation and had to write a letter of apology to me which I still have.

More From the What Were They Thinking File

The first loud party call was 'routine.' A neighbor calls us complaining about a loud party. Officers make the location and politely tell them that they are too loud and to turn it down and leave. A couple of hours later they are called back to the same location. They go to the back yard to talk to the homeowners. I guess by this time the alcohol has flowed more freely and the husband and wife team scream at the officers. Then they charge them. The wife shoves one officer and screams at him to leave. Well, she's now fu***** up by shoving him so he goes to arrest her. Then the husband, thinking he's defending his wife assaults the officer who promptly takes him to the ground. The wife tries to jump in only to find herself wearing bracelets. They both get arrested and taken to jail. I sure hope their little party was worth it.

Suicides

I returned to work and reviewed our log of significant events. Earlier in the day our guys were dispatched to a suicide call. A woman locked herself in the bathroom. She sat in the bathtub then shot herself. She died at the hospital. Now of course the death isn't official until the investigation is complete. Plus, women don't usually commit suicide by gunshot. Naturally the detectives will take a good look at this. Anyhow if this is an actual suicide talk about a lousy day for the family who was there. My boss and I talked about suicide. He jokes with me that if he is found dead and it's ruled a suicide then my job is to blow the whistle because he wouldn't do that. Then he tells me about his old friend and mentor when he was told he had terminal cancer. He was the same way, no way he'd kill himself. However before he died he confessed that he did consider it. My boss was shocked, this was the last man he'd expect to ever consider suicide. However he was in pain and every man has his breaking point which brought me to a tought. According to Christianity suicide is the ultimate sin. Taking one's own life, God's ultimate gift if unforgiveable. However what do you do when you're already dead and slowly suffering and in pain? There was an old episode of Night Court where a woman walks into the court and claims to have murdered her husband. Come to find out he was in pain and he took his own life. Charles Robinson's character says a line saying that there is a point that God did not intend for man to go past. It makes for an interesting debate.

Anyhow, my boss told me a story. He worked a suicide years ago when he was a deputy in a rural Texas county. An elderly couple who had been together their entire lives had both been diagnosed with terminal cancer. They were both dead and they knew it. One day they decided they were going to end their lives together. Rather than one of them die first and leave the other a grieving widow. They killed themselves on the front porch of their country home. Their bodies sat on the front porch for a few days until someone got close enough to realize they were not chilling, they were dead!

I made a suicide scene a few years back. A guy was living alone in a house his parents owned. He was broke and had no running water nor electricity. It was a sh**** way to live. I could never live that way. One day, after snorting some cocaine he decided to hang himself and that's how he was found. He was wearing boxer shorts and a white t shirt. The rope was tightly wound around his neck and went up to the roof. I would like to think that if I found myself in that situation I would resolve to work and bust my ass to get the water and power back on. Perhaps kicking the cocaine habit would help.

What Was This Guy Thinking?

I was minding my own business. I was driving down a well traveled street when the car in front of me darted into another lane without signalling. Okay, no big deal. We keep driving then he does it again. Okay, let me keep watching. He does it again a couple more times. That is one of my pet peeves. I hate it when someone cuts in and out of lanes without signalling. So, I decide to pull him over. I was planning on politely reminding him to use that signal and give him a warning. I walk up to the car and he's already on the offensive. He rants about harassment, and I'm not a good man and a bad cop! Huh? This guy is cutting in and out of lanes without signalling, passing other cars and I'm no good? What kind of twisted logic is this? He gets on his phone and starts talking and ignoring everything I'm saying. This is not good. On top of that he doesn't have his insurance with him. I go back to my car and start writing the tickets. I get back up and he's still on the phone. He then tells me he's not signing the ticket. I ask for back up in case he decides to back up his threat with force. I keep my cool and go through the motions getting information then the line about signing his promise to appear. He says no! I tell him to get out of his car quite a few times but he ignores me until I open his door and tell him one last time. If he ignores me this time it's hands on. He must have realized I was serious because he gets out of the car. At this point I can arrest him now for refusing to sign the citation. However I feel it's fair I give him one warning. He's still running his fu***** mouth about how I'm a bad cop, not a good man, and he isn't signing his ticket. While he's still running his mouth I tell him if he doesn't sign it he's going to jail. He says "I don't care arrest me!" Do I need to keep talking to him or is the time for talking over? Yep! You guessed it! I grab his arms and handcuff him. At this point another vehicle pulls in and a woman gets out. I presume it's his wife with his insurance. I know where this is going. So as I handcuff and search him I tell her to wait by her vehicle and I actually thank her. I'm thinking ahead if this goes to internal affairs he will say that I shouted and cursed at her. Turns out I was right, she did have his insurance. So I knock off the no insurance charge which leaves him with the fail to signal lane change and violate promise to appear charges. Plus, I'm committed. I've already arrested him. Too many times officers have arrested people for refusing to sign the citations then talk them into signing and letting them ago only to have the guy come in later and make a false arrest complaint. He must have realized he'd gone too far because then he starts claiming he doesn't speak English! Great! Again I'm thinking ahead. If he goes to internal affairs he's going to claim he didn't understand what I was telling him and that I was mean, harsh, and an a****** who was biased against him because he didn't speak English! That's why I wrote a detailed report quoting what he said to me. He may not speak English fluently but he knew damn well enough to tell me I'm a bad man, no good, and he isn't signing the citation. I don't understand why wanted to make my job, and his life difficult. What did he think he was going to accomplish?

Whom Do You Believe?

An instructor tells a story of a robbery trial. The officer goes to a convenience store to get a quick drink. Unfortunately this store is being robbed at the moment. The officer shoots the robber, but doesn't kill him. About a year later the robber is on trial. The officer takes the stand and is asked what he observed;

"I approached the store and observed the defendant there pointing a pistol at the head of the clerk. He was screaming 'give me the money!' I felt the clerk's life was in imminent danger as was mine if he turned his head to see me. So I drew my weapon and fired a shot at the suspect who dropped his weapon."

The robber takes the stand and is asked what happened;

"I was dealing with the clerk when this dude comes up behind me and says "surprise mother fu**** and shoots me!"

Someone Make a Damn Decision!!!!

I was sitting down to dinner with the watch commander when she called. She was on a child custody dispute call. She sounded unsure because she was in uncharted territory. A woman had dropped her daughter off with grandparents and now returned to pick her up and they weren't there. The woman then demanded kidnapping charges and a supervisor make the scene. When the officer calls me I start quizzing her which she doesn't have all the answers. For one, I'm not going to go out there when she hasn't gotten the entire story. Two, it's clear to me she's wanting me to come take over the scene. Three, I'm hungry! So I tell her to do some more probing then call me back. During my dinner she's called twice and come to find out, mom is a meth addict who dropped her child off for a few days then went to God knows where doing God knows what and now wants her kid back. The grandparents claim Childrens Protective Services (CPS) placed the girl with them. Well, if we can confirm that then the problem is solved. We'll tell meth head mommy to get lost. I tell her to call CPS herself and see if we can verify the grandparents' claim. Low and behold there is no order. All we're told is there is an investigation into the meth head mom. They tell us they would prefer the kid stay with the grandparents but will not actually tell us we can make the kid stay with them (she wants to stay with her grandparents). We ask can we prevent the mother from taking her and they can't answer that. The way I see it, with CPS in the news over this fiasco they are hesitant in giving us a straight answer. We all feel bad for this girl. She's terribly upset and crying. She loves her mother but wants her to clean up first. Now when a 12-year old girl understands first hand the impact of drug abuse that is sad. To make matters even worse, the meth head mom, and her hoodlum boyfriend are telling her if CPS takes her she will be placed in an orphanage forever. This pisses off the watch commander (who I brought with me to the scene after dinner). This is the type of call where our decision can drastically affect many peoples' lives. This girl already has several strikes against her. She's still a good kid at this point, but can easily turn into a worthless piece of sh** like her meth head mom and her hoodlum boyfriend. The primary officer is lost and is too worried about making the wrong decision that she's having difficulty making one. Since everyone has a hard time making a decision I'll make one. It's a gamble but we got to do something and keep that girl from leaving with the meth head mother. So I instruct the officer to take the girl to CPS ourselves. Basically, we're going to take her there and give her to CPS and tell them they need to get their act together. I try explaining to the girl in my calmest voice what we are doing and why we are doing it. I tell her we're gonna try to tell CPS to give her back to her grandparents and that her mother lied when she said she was going to an orphanage. We cleared out the front seat for her (I felt putting her in the back seat wasn't the right thing to do) and I told her to play with the lights and siren if she wanted. We run off meth head mom and hoodlum boyfriend and the officer takes the girl to CPS. The officer sends me a message later on thanking me for the help and I tell her that sometimes we have to make hard choices involving children. Nobody else will do it. Later on she calls me from CPS and tells me she told them about the mom and they said that the girl's MOTHER will have to come there and tell them who SHE wants her daughter to stay with. Which means that she will come take her daughter back to their small residence that belongs to someone else and the girl won't even have her own room! So we probably just delayed the inevitable.

Taking The Law in His Hands

A watchful man spotted a woman going into his neighbor's house. Since he's been taking care of the pets, mail, etc, he knows the residents are out of town. He does what any good neighbor does and calls the police. While he is awaiting their arrival he sees her walking out of the house carrying a big ass piece of furniture by herself! This woman should've been in the military, not burglarizing homes! As she's putting it in her car the neighbor goes outside and takes out his knife. He then punctures the woman's tire as she backs out of the driveway and leaves. When police arrive the car is limping along the street, making it easy to catch her. She was arrested and connected to more burglaries in that area. Good job to the watchful neighbor!