He just doesn’t get it

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Badge415

It’s amazing how some people can’t accept responsibility for their actions. You can see that anywhere, but you really see it in police work. People want to whine and complain when you do your job, but never realize they were the ones who brought the attention to themselves.

The other night I was working a stop sign in a residential neighborhood because of a complaint. I was there less than 2 minutes before someone ran it.

I stopped the car and asked the driver for his license. He gave me the look I’ve seen many times. The shoulders sagged at the same time the chin touched his chest with heavy breathing. It was the look of a person with a suspended license. I’d seen it so many times I could just tell.

He started looking through his wallet as he said, “I hope I have it.”

“I hope you have it too,” I replied with a laugh.

After digging for some time he gave me a mutilated California identification card. It was in three pieces and had been taped back together. I thought how I’ve seen broken legs at crashes that looked better than his identification card.

At first he told me he didn’t have his license with him. After further questioning he finally admitted it was suspended for not paying a ticket. I asked him about the stop sign and he said he stopped. After further questions he finally admitted to running it.

I checked his license status and confirmed what I thought. His driving record looked as bad as his identification card.

I wrote him a ticket for the stop sign and the suspended license. He signed it and I told him the car was being impounded.

At this point most people accept their fate and get out. They might not be happy, but they get out because there is nothing they can do about it. For the most part, they’re still easy to deal with after that.

Not this guy. He was an 18 years old cry baby who said, “Give me a chance” over and over. He just wouldn’t accept no for an answer.

I pointed out to him all the bad choices he made to get to this point, but he didn’t get it. The whining continued as he asked if someone could pick up the car for him. I told him no. He asked for another chance. Again, the answer was no. He said, “I’m begging.” Again, the answer was no. He went on and on. He just wouldn’t stop. It got to the point where he reminded me a 4 year old when they don’t get their way.

That’s when I figured out he was used to getting his way. This was how he got people to give in. He was a whiner and a cry baby. Plain and simple.

By this point my patience were running out about as fast as an Olympic sprinter going for the gold medal. This guy refused to accept responsibility for any of his actions and still thought he was going to keep the car.

I finally said, “Get out of the car. Nothing you say or do is going to change anything.”

With a hurt look he told me I wasn’t being cool. He finally gave up and exited the car. He gathered his things and acted like the victim. All I could do was shake my head and wonder how he was going to handle life when curve balls were thrown his way.

I’m guessing not well and there will probably being some whining involved too.

The thank you that meant a lot

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Badge415

You never know who you’re going to run into on this job.

On Saturday night, I got to work and headed straight to Starbucks to type reports and to get my daily drink. I walked in and headed to my usual table. I glanced over to the right and saw a man and a woman sitting at separate tables. Both were facing the door and looked up at the same time. I made eye contact with both and said hi as I dropped my computer off at the table.

After I got my drink, I walked back to my table and I noticed the woman looking at me. I nodded at her and sat down. About a minute later, the woman got up and stopped at my table. I looked up at her and said hello. She said, “You were the first responder that came to my mom’s house.”

“Which call?” I asked because I didn’t recognize her.

“You did CPR on my mom.”

I instantly knew who she was talking about. Her mother was my third attempt at CPR in less than a year.

She smiled and said, “I just wanted to say thank you.”

The words “You did CPR on my mom” instantly triggered the memory from that night. In fast forward motion, I remembered the call coming out over the radio about a woman who wasn’t breathing. I was there within a minute and arrived before the paramedics.

The family was upstairs when I entered the house. The sound of my boots jogging up the wood stairs told them that I was coming to help. I then saw a man bent over a hospital bed doing chest compressions on his wife. I went around to the other side and took over, hoping the paramedics would get there soon.

Then there was her mother’s lifeless face two feet away from mine as I started chest compressions. Of course, the two other CPR attempts went through my mind for the next two minutes before the paramedics arrived. She was pronounced dead a minute later.

I was in the hallway when the man made a phone call. The first words into the phone were, “Mom’s dead.”

All of this flashed through my head as I shook her hand and said thank you for stopping to talk with me.

“How long ago was that?”

“It was 6 months ago.”

She stood there and told me some stories about her parents and her mother’s illness. After a few minutes I pointed to the chair across from me and said, “Do you want to sit down?”

She smiled and took a seat. She told me about a trip she recently took and how she was her mother’s caregiver for years. She thanked me a few more times and finally went back to her seat.

A few minutes later I was dispatched to a call. I gathered my things and walked over to her table to say goodbye. Even though her mother died, she appreciated that I had tried to help. Her thank you went a long way that night and meant a lot.

Police work isn’t always about catching the bad guy and car chases. It’s about the people we meet and emotionally touch throughout our careers. That’s where the real satisfaction of the job comes.

“Do I have to die now?”

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Badge415

On Thursday night one of our police units was rear ended by a new driver, who just got his license issued a month ago. The damage was minor and there were no injuries, which was good.

The driver was understandably nervous while I did the interview. After I was done I wrote the report number on a card and told him to call his insurance company.

He said, “What do I do now?”

“Call your insurance company and tell them what happened. Give them the report number and let them worry about it.”

“OK, but what do I do now?”

“Call you insurance company and let them know what happened,” I said again.

“But I have so many questions.”

“It was just an accident. Don’t worry,” I said.

I explained to him a couple of times that his insurance company would handle everything from here on out.

The male, who was from Saudi Arabia asked, “Am I going to jail?”

“No, it’s an accident. You can leave now. Just call you insurance company.”

“Do I have to die now?”

Where did that come from? It was something from way out in left field and I never saw it coming. Apparently this guy was really stressed out over this. After some reassuring words and some jokes he started to relax. I then wondered how they handled traffic collisions where he was from.

I told someone, “They must be really take traffic enforcement seriously over there.”

In the end, we shook hands and he actually started to smile. He went up to the officer and apologized for hitting him. That’s when I said, “Since you hit him, you need to give the officer knuckles.”

The officer and the driver gave each other a weird look at first like they weren’t sure what to do. With some encouragement from me, they held up their hands and did a fist bump. It was worth watching because it was awkward and downright funny.

Sometimes you just have to have fun out here.

I got to watch ignorance from a front row seat

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Badge415

Tonight I got to see ignorance in its purist form. Just when I thought I’d seen it all, something else comes up. I always joke around that I keep going back to work just to see what’s going to happen next. As usual, I wasn’t disappointed.

I was sent to a traffic collision involving two vehicles on the west side of the city. When we arrived, my partner spoke to both drivers while I helped out with the paperwork. The victim driver was a Korean male in his 70s, who spoke little English. The driver who rear ended him was a Caucasian female in her early 20s.

Through translation, the male told my partner he was making a right turn into the driveway when he was rear ended. The female driver said the vehicle in front of her was stopped and she never saw it slow down. I asked her what she was doing inside the car at the time to prevent her from seeing the vehicle slow down. She replied she was just driving down the street.

It didn’t take a first grader to know she wasn’t paying attention when the vehicle slowed down in front of her. The points of rest and damage supported the victim’s version of the story.

While I was filling out paperwork she kept telling someone that the vehicle was stopped in front of her. She said it over and over to a point where I wanted to say, “You just can’t go around crashing into people.” I just held my tongue as she whined and didn’t accept responsibility for what she had done.

That’s when the man, who I assumed was her father said, “Asian drivers.”

The woman replied, “Do I have permission to be slightly racist now?”

All I could say to myself was “wow” because I was only 7-10 feet away from them when they said this. It was as if I was invisible. Who would say that in front of a cop investigating their collision?

I couldn’t believe this ignorant knucklehead was actually mad at the old guy she had just crashed into. Never mind the 100 feet of pre-impact locked wheel skid marks her vehicle left before the crash. I just stood there and shook my head as I watched pure ignorance in action.

This was the perfect example of the common theme of the blog, which is, “You just can’t make this stuff up.”

Be safe out there.

How deep did I stick my foot in my mouth?

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Badge415

One night I responded to an injury collision at a freeway off ramp. When I got there, I saw two crashed cars in the intersection and the southbound lanes of the street were blocked.

There was something in the street I had never seen before. One of the drivers was sitting in a lawn chair. I’d seen a lot of things in my time as an officer, but never a chair in the street with an injured person sitting in it. I later found out the witness had taken a chair out of her trunk and gave it to the driver to sit in.

The woman looked to be about 60 years old. She had a frail look about her by the way she sat in the chair. She was leaning to the side and looked to be in lot of pain.

I asked her what happened while she was still sitting in the chair. She answered my questions in a way that made it look like she was older than she appeared. She was either very frail or had a pre-existing condition that was aggravated by the collision.

There was a man standing next to the woman the entire time. He looked to be in his mid-30s. When I was done with the interview I wrote the report number down on a card. I decided to hand the card to the male because I assumed he was the woman’s son.

I looked at the man and asked, “Are you her son?”

“She’s my wife,” he replied with a funny look.

“Oh, you look good for your age.” I said as I tried to turn a negative into a positive.

That’s when the woman in the chair said, “Are you saying I look old?”

Oops

The witness started laughing in the background as she put her hand up to her mouth. I turned toward the woman in the chair and said the first thing that popped into my head.

“Wow, that got awkward. Here’s the report number and call your insurance company.”

There wasn’t much left for me to do or say after that so I walked over to the officer who was helping me with the paperwork and asked, “How old is she?”

I found out the woman was only in her early-40s. I stood there and asked one of the firefighters how old he thought the woman was. He estimated she was about 60 years old. I then asked another firefighter and he gave the same answer. Now I didn’t feel so bad.

Of course, I told them what happened to me and they laughed at how I put my foot in my mouth.

You never know what’s going to happen out on the street.

The Star Wars couple

Posted on September 19, 2015 by Badge415

Last night I went to a call in which two parked cars were hit. When I arrived, I saw a man standing there with a Darth Vader t-shirt on. His wife’s shirt had a Storm Trooper shooting a blaster with a laser coming out of it with the words “Pew Pew.” It’s not every day you get to meet a Star Wars couple at a crash.

The driver, who we will call Frank, told me he was tired and spent the entire day at Disneyland. His wife was driving in front of him at the time in another vehicle with their kids. He dozed off and never saw the parked cars before the crash. His wife didn’t know about the collision until he called her with the bad news.

His wife was both upset and hilarious at the same time. She couldn’t believe he had crashed into the parked cars. Their car suffered major damage and she said, “I’m getting the new car. He can have mine.” At one point Frank was banished to the other vehicle as she said, “Go wait over there.”

We talked with her as we waited for the tow truck. Of course, the subject of Star Wars came up and we learned she was a huge fan. We also found out Frank didn’t become a Star Wars fan until he met his wife. From that point on, he was young Jedi in training.

As the tow truck picked up the car, it got closer for Frank to meet his fate on the drive home with his Master Jedi. When it was time to leave, Frank walked up to us and said goodbye as he held out his hand. Something told me he was going to need Yoda, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi on his side at the same time. I shook his hand as I said, “May the force be with you.” He laughed after hearing that.

That’s when his wife said, “When he gets home I’m going to Pew Pew him.” That just made us laugh even more because of the shirt she was wearing. After all these years, I never thought I would hear the words “Pew Pew” at a collision scene.

In the end I asked if I could take pictures of their shirts. They proudly posed for the photos and shook our hands when they left.

That’s when one of the officers said, “Why can’t they all be like that?” I totally agreed. It always makes the job easier and fun when you run into super nice people.

Frank, I hope the “Pew Pew” wasn’t that bad when you got home.

Hitting the jackpot on September 11

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Badge415

Photo courtesy of Flickr

One of the fun parts of this job is the reactions that kids give when they see you walking around in uniform or sitting in the police car. Whenever I see a child waving at me, I make sure to wave back. The smile on their face and the wave back is always worth it.

On September 11, I was sitting in my car in a parking lot when a family walked by. The mother and father told their 5 year old son to wave at me, which he did. I said hi back at the same time I put my emergency lights on for him. He was surprised to see the lights come on and had the “wow” look on his face.

I got out of the car and said, “Do you want to sit in the police car?”

The boy’s face lit up as he turned toward his parents. His mom and dad told him to go ahead. He started to climb into the car when he spotted a penny that was near the seat. He grabbed the penny and tried to give it to me. I waved my hand at him as I said, “Keep it. It’s yours.”

With a surprised look he shoved the penny into his shorts pocket as fast as he could. He then sat down in the driver seat with a satisfied look on his face as I closed the door for him.

His mother took out her phone and told him to smile so she could take a picture. After the photo was taken I opened the door so he could get out. As he started to get out of the car I pointed to the area on the door where I put spare change as I said, “What’s in there?”

The little boy peeked at the door handle and saw nickels, dimes and a quarter. He looked at me as I said, “Go ahead. You can have them.”

His eyes got huge and then looked back at the coins because he had just hit the lottery. His huge jackpot eyes then looked back at me to be sure.

“Go ahead.”

He grabbed at the change like his hands were miniature Pac Mans gobbling up everything he could find. He had the biggest smile as he put the change into his pockets as deep as he could to make sure none would come out. His parents then told him, “What do you say?”

With a quick turn of the head he said, “Thank you.”

Before the boy left, I said, “Keep the coins so you will always remember that today was September 11th.”

Talking with a drug addict

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Badge415

A few weeks ago I was driving through an intersection when I noticed a transient standing on the median with a sign asking for money. On my second pass around the area I saw the same guy step into the street against the “Don’t Walk” symbol as he walked in front of a car. That’s when I decided I was going to stop and talk with him.

I parked my car in the driveway of a gas station and waited for him to come over to the corner. I told him hi and asked to speak with him. He waved both hands in the air as he said, “Come on man. I’m starving. I’m just trying to make some money.”

I told him I wanted talk for two reasons. The first was about walking in front of the car. The second was because someone had just taken money from the tip jar at my favorite chicken restaurant 100 yards down the street. I gave him the description of the suspect and asked if he had seen that guy walking around here.

He calmed down after hearing that and told me he liked the food at that restaurant too. He also said he hadn’t seen anyone that fit the description.

I then decided to ask him questions about how long he’d been on the street, where he grew up and where his family was. For the next 15 to 20 minutes he talked about being addicted to heroin, being homeless and not being able to walk away from living on the street. He told me where he grew up and said his mother sometimes visited him out here.

I felt bad for his mother and wondered what she had gone through over the years, yet she still drove out to visit him on the street. Based on where she lived, she had to take two different freeways to get here.

I asked him about being able to go back home for help. The man, who was in his early 30s, said he could, but he always ended up back on the street because of his addiction.

I asked how him much he spent a day on heroin. He said, “I spent $45 today and I didn’t even get high. I’m pissed.” He then said, “I spent enough to stay well.”

We talked for a little while longer about what it’s like to have withdrawal symptoms and how he started using drugs, along with his time in jail. He had been nice to me and spoke freely about his problems so I asked, “Do you want a sandwich?”

His eyes lit up as he said, “Yes.”

“It’s salami.”

“I love salami.”

I walked over to my car and got the sandwich out of my cooler. I went back to where he was and handed it to him.

He smiled as he said, “Thanks officer. What’s your name?” I told him and we said goodbye.

I drove away still thinking about his mother coming out to visit him. That wasn’t the first time I’ve heard about a parent coming out to see their homeless adult child on the street. We never wonder about the families and what they sometimes go through. It’s something to think about.

A once in a lifetime moment in my police career

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Badge415

Everyone knows what happened on September 11, 2001, but does anyone remember the candle light vigil that was planned a few days later?

Back in September of 2001, I was on my way to work when I heard on the radio about a national candle light vigil that was planned at dusk. I didn’t think anything of it because I was working.

During that time, a new officer named Steve came to the traffic detail from patrol. He was going to ride with me for three weeks before going on his own as an accident investigator.

When we loaded up the patrol car that night I had no idea what Steve had planned for me. I thought it was going to be a regular night, but it turned out to be something much more.

Before we left the back lot of the police station Steve said, “I brought candles. We’re going to stand on the street and light them.”

I wasn’t sure about his idea. I couldn’t see myself standing on the side of the road while holding a candle. Steve seemed pretty passionate about it so I figured I would just roll with it.

As dusk approached it was time for the candle light vigil. We stopped on a small street and Steve pulled out two huge candles. The candles were so big I figured Steve was planning on staying for a while. We lit them and stood there on the sidewalk next to our patrol car.

I felt a little self-conscious just standing there by ourselves. I wasn’t sure how long we were going to stay, but Steve was in this for the long haul. There was plenty of wax on those candles so we weren’t leaving any time soon.

As cars passed, I wondered what they were thinking. I wondered if they had ever seen two officers standing on the side of the road with large candles in their hands. The answer was probably not.

That’s when something amazing happened. The moment was like the sound of a bat knocking a baseball out of the park for a home run. A little girl, her younger brother and her mother walked up to us with candles. The girl, who was about 10 years said, “Can we pray with you?”

It’s a sentence I’ve never forgotten. Out of the tens of thousands of people I’ve met on this job, she’s one of the people I’ll never forget.

“Of course,” we said.

Now we were five. We lit their candles and stood with them. We couldn’t communicate with her mother because she only spoke Spanish, so we stood there and just smiled at each other.

Then it happened again and again. More people came up and stood with us. They all had candles in their hands. Our group that started out as two had now grown to fifteen. I never expected this. Who would’ve thought this was possible?

And it continued to happen as more people came out and stood with us. They all had candles in their hands also. Before we knew it, our group had grown to 30 people.

I was amazed that these people wanted to stand with us. We had never met, but it didn’t matter. We weren’t cops and citizens at that moment. We were just people who were touched by what happened on 9/11.

Over half of the group didn’t speak English, but that didn’t matter to them or us. Our hearts and minds spoke RED, WHITE and BLUE, which was the only language that mattered at that moment.

The United States of America was attacked and they were there to stand with us and show their support. The destruction and death was at such a large scale, they felt compelled to come out.

After a while the candles started to go out and it was time to leave. The moment was over as quickly as it took to blow out a flame. The group broke apart and everyone walked back to their homes, never to be seen again.

I often wonder if any of those people look at that spot and remember how great of a moment it really was for us to come together like that. There are a lot of street corners in the city that have stories that I’ve been part of. Each corner has a unique story, but this patch of sidewalk has a story that will never be seen again. It was on moment in time that will stay with Steve and I forever.

After we left, there were people all over the streets waving American flags and cheering at the police car as we went by. It was one of those nights where it was great to be out there to witness so many people united as Americans.

It was a once in a life time moment and I’m glad I was part of it.

Where were you on September 11, 2001 and what do you do to remember that day?

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Badge415

What were you doing on September 11, 2001 when you first heard about the attacks?

It was after 8AM on that day when my friend Robert called and woke me up. I had been asleep for 3 hours when the phone rang. I answered the phone with my eyes closed as I said, “Hello.”

“John, two planes hit the World Trade Center,” said Robert.

I was half asleep and I wondered why he was calling about a plane crash. Robert was my first roommate from college. We had always kept in touch, but a call from him at this time of the day was unusual.

All I could say was, “Huh?”

“Turn on the TV. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. It’s horrible.”

That got my eyes to open up this time. How could two planes crash into each other and hit the buildings? This must’ve been some type of horrible accident. Robert’s voice told me something was wrong and I should turn on the TV.

I turned the TV on and the grogginess left my body as I took in the images of the Twin Towers collapsing into a pile of twisted metal as it was replayed over and over. Then there was the video of the crowd running away from the large cloud of dust that soon surrounded and choked them. There was no way I was going back to sleep after seeing that. It was a day no one would forget.

Fast forward 14 years later.

This Friday, my daughter’s elementary school will celebrate Patriot Day with an assembly. The assembly is an annual event at the school where parents are invited to come. Additionally, parents, who are firefighters, police officers, or in the military are invited to attend in uniform to participate also.

Every year the principal introduces the people in uniform at the start of the assembly. One by one, we stand up and wave at the crowd.

After the introductions, the principal gives a speech to the children about what 9-11 means and why it’s important to remember that day. Every year her words are powerful and passionate as she talks about those who lost their lives on that day. She also tells the children about what people in uniform do to protect them and the sacrifices they make.

Afterward, children from the different grade levels come up and give short speeches about Patriot Day and what it means. This is followed by each grade performing a patriotic song for the school.

This will be my last Patriot Day assembly because my daughter is in sixth grade. It’s weird to know this will be the final time I wear my uniform at her school. Patriot Day was always something my kids looked forward to because the school made it a big deal.

Every year it’s been fun to see the smile on my kid’s faces when I’ve shown up. The pride in their eyes made me feel like I hit the jackpot at a Las Vegas casino. One fond memory I have was when my daughter pointed to me with a big smile and said, “That’s my dad.”

This Friday I’ll be there for the final time, along with other parents in uniform as our elementary school pays tribute to the fallen from that day. None of the children at the school were born at the time, but our principal will make sure they never forget.

Take a moment on Friday and remember those who died on that September morning in 2001. It was a day when things changed forever and when the fight was brought to us.

Never forget.