It was like a movie

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Badge415

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Do you remember the old Twilight Zone episode when William Shatner saw a monster ripping up the wing on the airplane he was on? I was on a call recently that reminded me of that episode.

A man, who I’ll call Frank, was driving down the freeway when someone opened the passenger door and tried to grab him. Frank tried to shake the guy off the car by swerving back and forth. The person then tried to stab Frank from underneath the car. That’s when he decided to exit the freeway.

The person was still under the car at this point, so Frank drove up onto the concrete median as he tried to get him off. A witness was behind him and described sparks coming out from underneath the car as he did this.

He then ran a red light and crashed into another car at the intersection. After the crash, the person under Frank’s car climbed out and jumped into the trunk of the victim vehicle.

Frank wasn’t DUI. He was just mentally ill. He truly believed someone was trying to get him while he was driving. As he told the story, I said, “That sounds like a movie.” Frank nodded and agreed with me.

In the end, we had to open the truck of the victim car to show Frank there was no one in there.

It was an interesting call for sure. The only thing missing was Arnold Schwarzenegger doing battle with The Predator.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

“Can I have a chance?”

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Badge415

I was driving down the street at dusk when I saw a car with its flashers on. It was heading in the same direction and was going very slow. That’s when I saw a 2015 registration sticker on the license plate. Since we were going so slow, I decided to run the plate. The information came back showing it expired 6 months ago.

The car was now sputtering and almost coughing up smoke as it limped down the road. It was in critical condition at this point and the only thing missing was a storm cloud above it. I put my lights on and the car slowly pulled to the side like it was giving up.

I walked up and smelled something burning from the tired and beaten up looking car. I’m sure it was just waiting to be put out of its misery.

I told the driver the reason for the stop and asked for his license. He replied by saying, “I don’t have it on me.”

This is usually code for “I don’t have a license” or “It’s suspended.”

“Do you a license or did you forget it at home?”

“It’s suspended.”

Code words confirmed.

I did a record check and found out he was driving the same car in March when he was given a ticket for a suspended license, no insurance and expired registration.

I called a tow truck and filled out another ticket for his collection. I walked back up with the citation and told him the car was getting impounded. I next waited for the, “Can I have a chance” request.

“Can someone come pick up the car?”

“No. Your license is suspended and you keep driving.”

“My brother has a tow truck. Can he tow it home?”

I looked up for a moment wondering if he was for real. What kind of question was that? I’ve impounded a lot of cars in my time, but no one has anyone asked to impound their own car.

As the tow truck hooked up the car, the driver came up again and asked for a chance.

“Did you get a ticket in March?” I asked.

“No.”

“Yes you did. You were driving that car when you got stopped.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Did the cop take the car on that day?”

“No.”

“Well, that was your chance.”

He didn’t have anything to say after that. He knew the car was going for sure.

He was a nice guy, but sooner or later you have to take responsibility for your actions. I have no doubt he’ll drive again. It just wont’ be in that car for the next 30 days.

“I made a slow down”

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Badge415

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The other night a car made a right turn on a red light without stopping. It was as if the red light wasn’t there, so I decided to stop the car.

He had a head start on me so I pushed down on the gas pedal to catch up to him. The engine revved on “old faithful” as my patrol car gained on him.

Once I was behind him, I threw on the overheads and the car pulled to the curb. After it stopped, I walked up as my red and blue lights flashed and bounced off houses and passing cars.

“Hi, can I see your license?”

The driver, who was 20 years old, reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. As he grabbed for his license I asked, “Why didn’t you stop for the red light when you made the right turn?”

The driver, who was understandably nervous, handed me his license as he said, “I made a slow down.”

“A slow down?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “The light was red. Why didn’t you stop?”

“I yielded,” he said as if he was in a hot air balloon with a leak that was crashing toward he ground.

“What color is the light for yield?”

“Uh, yellow.”

That’s when an embarrassed look appeared on his face as he realized how silly his excuse sounded.

I have a feeling he’ll stop at this red light the next time he makes a right turn.

“It was hard to hear”

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Badge415

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It always cracks me up when people come up with stupid excuses when they’ve done something wrong.

The call went out as an injury collision at an intersection involving two cars. When I arrived, there were fire fighters pointing down a side street. I looked and there was a disabled car north of the intersection. I turned there and directed other officers to the next intersection where the crash was.

The driver, who was 17 years old and unlicensed, was crying and upset. Through sobs and tears she told me she had never been issued a license and took the car with her mother’s permission to get something to eat.

When mom arrived, I asked, “Did you know she had the car?”

“No.”

“She said she called you,” I said.

“No.”

I pointed to the driver and looked back at mom with a more serious tone in my voice as I said, “She called you right? She said she did.”

With hesitation and stuttering, mom finally said she spoke with her daughter on the phone. I asked, “What did she say when she called?”

“It was hard to hear her. She said she was going to get something to eat.”

“So, you gave her permission to drive then?”

“It was hard to hear. I was at a funeral.”

A loud funeral??? That was the best she could come up with?

“Funerals are quiet,” I said.

“It was hard to hear what she said.”

I couldn’t resist as I said, “It’s a funeral, not a wedding.”

In the end, it turned out the 17 year old, caused the crash when she made a left turn in front of another unlicensed driver. This was like the perfect storm of unlicensed drivers crashing into each other.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

She got a free ride (twice)

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Badge415

The call came out as a burglary in progress at an apartment complex at 10PM. When I arrived, dispatched advised over the radio that the caller was elderly and had the front door open.

I walked up to the apartment and saw a frail looking woman in her mid-70s standing just inside the door. She had one hand on the wheelchair in front of her for support. The other hand was holding a phone as she spoke to dispatch. The screen door was locked and it took her a long time to move 4 feet to open it for me.

She had called the police because she heard voices outside the door. Her hands were shaking and she moved at slower than a snails pace. We checked all the rooms for her while she stood next to the front door. We were about to leave when she told us she was going to bed.

I looked at the distance from the front door to her bedroom and thought it was going to take her forever to walk back. I looked at a new cop and said, “You should give her a ride in the wheelchair so she doesn’t have to walk that far.”

The officer, who just got off of training, looked at the woman and said, “Ma’am, can I give you a ride in your chair?”

She smiled and sat down in the wheelchair. He turned her around and started pushing her toward her room as she said, “I get a free ride.” I stood at the door as another officer followed to help tuck grandma into bed.

I heard the officers say goodnight to the woman as they left the room. That’s when one of the cops said, “How are we going to lock the door? It’s only a deadbolt.”

We stood there looking at the doorknob with a “WTF” look on our faces. One of the officers said, “Maybe we can climb out the window.”

“Maybe we can lock the deadbolt and slide the key under the door,” said the other officer. He went back to the bedroom and asked the woman where her key was. He then told us, “She doesn’t know where the key is.”

All three of us walked to grandma’s bedroom and told her the bad news about not being able to lock the door. She slowly sat up in bed with great effort. She grabbed ahold of the wheelchair and sat down for her second free ride of the night.

I shot video of the probationary officer as he pushed grandma back to the front door. They both had smiles on their faces.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

She just didn’t believe us

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Badge415

Traffic Control

A few months ago I was at a crash where a woman in her 40s ran a red light and collided into two other cars. After speaking with her I could tell she had major emotional problems. The accident made everything worse because she was driving her mother’s car and she didn’t want to tell her.

After a few minutes she started talking about not wanting to live. I called for a patrol unit to deal with her while I continued to handle the collision investigation part.

Two officers rolled up and spoke to the woman. A few minutes later one of the cops told me she really didn’t want to kill herself. He said she was an emotional wreck and more worried about telling her mother about the car. They helped out by calling mom and breaking the news to her.

When I was done, I walked over to where the woman was. She was still a mess, but things were better now that the officers had calmed her down and spoken to her mom.

I tried to make her feel better by telling her we had all been involved in on-duty crashes before.

She looked at me with a suspicious look and said, “No you haven’t.”

“Yes, I have. One time I hit a house,” I replied.

With a skeptical look she said, “No you didn’t. You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

I pointed to one of the cops and said, “I met him his first day at work when he crashed on his very first call.”

She looked over at him as he said, “I did.”

“No you didn’t. You’re lying.”

“Serious. I did.” he said.

The other cop then said, “I’ve crashed too.”

She squinted her eyes as she said, “You’re making this stuff up.”

No matter how much we told her about our traffic collisions she didn’t believe us. We all wished the stories weren’t true, but they were.

I know it sounds pretty far fetched for a police car to hit a house, but it was true. Maybe a picture of my crashed patrol car in the front yard of that house would’ve made her believe me.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Did she hang up on me?

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Badge415

The other night I drove to a person’s house to try and contact them about a traffic collision they were involved in the week before. The driver wasn’t home, but I got their phone number from someone who lived there.

I drove around the corner and pulled over so I could call her. The phone rang once and she said, “Hello?”

I told her my name and what police department I was from. I then asked, “Were you in a car accident last week?”

“Yes.”

I explained to her that I was the officer investigating the crash and asked, “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I’m driving. I can’t talk right now.”

“But you answered the phone,” I said shaking my head. “Can you pull over and tell me what happened then?”

“I’m driving. I can’t talk.” She then hung up.

I looked at my phone with a confused look as I wondered what just happened. What the heck was this lady talking about? It sure didn’t bother her to answer the phone when she was driving. Now she can’t talk when the cops call?

I hit redial.

Ring, ring, ring, ring, voicemail.

“Hi, this is the officer you just hung up on. Can you call me back so I can ask you what happened about the accident? I work until 3AM.” I left the department phone number and hung up as I said, “Thank you” in an overly cheerful voice.

Five minutes later I hit redial again, but it went back to voicemail. I never heard back from her the rest of the night. Did she think this was a random police calling sting where we try to catch you on the phone?

I guess I scared her into not using her phone for a while. I bet she had to fight the urge to touch it for the next hour, expecting it to be the cops to see if she answered again.

Part of me wanted to call at 3AM just so I could hang up on her too.

“Hi, this is Officer………” Click.

We could call it even then.

I can’t look at the sidewalk the same way

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Badge415

There are times at crashes when people try to describe what happened by writing on paper or using their finger to draw imaginary lines on their hand.

Some have even reached for my pen and grabbed it as they say, “Can I show you?’

That usually ends in a tug of war for my pen because it’s plain rude to try and grab it out of my hand. What are these people thinking?

Other times they flail their arms around trying to tell me what happened. It sometimes feels like I’m dodging karate chops while they tell their story. I recently told a woman at a crash, “Can you not poke me in the eye?”

The other night a guy was trying to tell me how the collision occurred. He was in his early 50s and had a thick Vietnamese accent. I got the story the first time, but he really wanted me to understand.

The car in front of him had stopped suddenly as the light turned red. He thought the car was going to continue through, but it didn’t and they crashed. Easy story, but apparently he wanted to add to it.

That’s when he suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me and started pointing to a large gap in the sidewalk. The gap was now an imaginary crosswalk where the car had stopped in front of him.

First of all, it just looks weird when a grown man is kneeling in front of a cop on a major highway where hundreds of cars pass every minute.

While he was on his knees, I turned to the other officers and said, “This is awkward.”

I looked at the guy and said, “Can you get up and shake it out?”

I took a step back and he stood up. We were back to normal again. He seemed to snap out of it, but then dropped back to his knees as I said, “Don’t go down again.”

I shook my head and smiled at the other cops as they laughed at what the guy was doing.

Somehow this gap in the sidewalk was going to make him feel better and justify the collision. He was talking a mile a minute when I looked over at the cops and said, “I can’t concentrate here.”

My comments were adult in nature and went right over his head. I just couldn’t resist.

After the guy left, I asked one of the cops a question about the call. They said, “Do you want me to get down on my knees and show you?”

That was the funniest thing I heard all night!

Where’s my mommy?

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Badge415

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The call came out as a felony hit and run involving a pedestrian with witnesses following the suspect. Dispatch updated the suspect’s location as it continued westbound on a major highway.

A few minutes later we caught up to the suspect and stopped the vehicle in a parking lot. After the interviews, we learned that the victim was transported to the hospital because her foot was run over. The suspect was arrested for felony hit and run and placed in the back of a police car. She also was driving on a suspended license.

This wasn’t the typical hit and run story though. This one had a bit of a twist to it.

What made this one a little different were the passengers in the suspect vehicle. They weren’t a bunch of hoodlums or gang members. They were the driver’s 6 and 3 year old daughters.

After mom was arrested, I walked up to the vehicle so I could get her purse and cell phone for her. There was an officer standing at the car wth the children. The 6 year old seemed to be having a good time taking with the officer.

I looked at her and asked, “Where’s mummy’s purse and cell phone?”

“Right there, ” she said as she pointed to the front seat.

“Thanks,” I replied.

I was about to walk away when she asked, “Where’s my mommy?”

I was kind of hoping to avoid that one. What do you tell a 6 year old? You can’t just say, “Mommy went to jail because she ran over a woman.”

Instead, I went with, “Mommy is talking to a police officer.”

“OK.”

“Your daddy is coming,” I said.

“My daddy is coming?”

“He’ll be here soon.”

“OK.”

I took the purse and phone to the patrol car and gave them to the officer. He then drove her to jail.

A few minutes later I walked by the vehicle and the little girl asked, “Where’s my mommy?”

“She’s talking with the officer at the police station,” I replied.

“Ok. Do you have kids?’ she asked. It was the cutest thing.

“I do. Do you want to see a picture of them?”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile.

I took my phone out and showed her a picture of my kids. The little girl looked at my daughter and said, “She’s pretty!”

You can’t beat a child’s innocence.

Spring cleaning

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Badge415

A few weeks ago, I was driving down the street when I saw an SUV parked on the side of the road with a bunch of clothes piled on the hood. This wasn’t something you see every day and I had to stop to see what the story was.

There was a woman in the passenger seat who got out and said hi as I walked up. I asked her, “What’s up with the clothes?”

“This isn’t my car,” she said. “It’s my friend’s car and she’s been doing some organizing.”

“She’s organizing on the hood of the car?” I asked. I took a quick look inside the vehicle and noticed the backseat was also piled high with clothes.

“Yeah. She’ll be right back. She just went down the street.”

I engaged the woman in small talk as she told me about being homeless for the last five years. She was 25 years old, blonde, thin and had major acne. She was quite entertaining and was more than happy to talk about life on the street.

“I used to live in my car in San Francisco. It was so stuffed with clothes I had to sleep like a “human Tetris.”

Not human Tetris. The real deal.

That was downright funny and I burst out with laughter because I played Tetris back in the day and knew exactly what she was talking about.

That’s when a woman and a man walked up. She had bright red hair and was about 45 years old. She was smoking a cigarette and was the vehicle’s owner.

“I just stopped by to take a picture of all the clothes,” I said as I pulled out my iPad. “Do you want to be in the picture too?”

The woman laughed as she said, “Oh God, no!” She then retreated behind the SUV because she was camera shy.

After I took the picture, the woman with red hair started folding clothes as she said, “I’m doing some organizing.”

“I heard,” I replied.

She went on to tell me how she had been giving clothes away as she tried to make room in her car. She held up clothes and looked at them like she was in a department store. Once she was satisfied, she folded them and made piles on the hood. It was actually funny to watch.

I finally had to say goodbye because I had another call to go to. They seemed happy I had stopped by to talk and waved as I drove away. The first woman even told me to have a safe night.

It’s always fun to stop and talk with people. Everyone one has a story. They just need the right person to tell it to. Plus, I would’ve never heard the phrase “human Tetris” unless I stopped.

You just never know what you’re going to see out on patrol.