Happy New Year

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Badge415

_DSC7459 The clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve night and it didn’t take long before we had our first DUI collision of 2016. Luckily the first victim was only a tree and not some unlucky person, who was minding their own business on their way home.

After the DUI investigation was completed, the driver was handcuffed and told he was under arrest. I was standing there when he said, “But I’m not drunk.”

I pointed to the tree the guy crashed into and joked to another officer, “Doesn’t he realize he failed the driving test?”

The driver was given the option of a blood or breath test. After he decided on the blood test I started to walk away. That’s when he said, “I’m not drunk” again.

His car was stuck on the median and up against a tree with a flat tire and a damaged rim. Its front bumper and grille were also damaged. After looking at the car and hearing him over and over, I wondered if he realized how silly he sounded at this moment.

You just can’t go around hitting things. Especially after drinking 4 or 5 beers on New Year’s Eve night. Maybe it’s time he drank from the cup of responsibility instead. It wasn’t like tree jumped out in front of him.

Have a safe 2016.

I shouldn’t comment on DMV photos

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Badge415

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The other night I responded to a hit and run collision in the parking lot at a fast food restaurant. When I arrived, I saw a man in the parking lot, who was about 35 years old. He saw the police car and flagged me down. I stopped and asked, “Did you call the police?”

“Yes. Thank you for coming.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“I was walking past the drive thru when a Jeep hit me. I ended up on the hood.”

“Did you fall to the ground?”

“No, I fell on my feet.”

“You fell on your feet? Don’t you mean you landed on your feet?”

“No. I fell on my feet.”

I had never heard that before, but I went with it. After he gave me a description of the driver and vehicle, I asked if he was injured from the collision.

“My shoulder hurts. I asked my wife to look at my face to see if one side was drooping.”

What? Was this guy injured in a crash or was he having a stroke? I should’ve asked if one of his arms was numb too.

After I got his statement, I asked him if I could see his identification. He reached into his back pocket and pulled his wallet out. He thumbed through it and handed me his license. I looked at it and noticed his eyes were looking up and to the right. I turned the license toward him and asked, “What were you looking at when they took the picture?”

“My eyes are kind of crooked,” he replied.

Oops, I hadn’t noticed that. I wasn’t really sure where the conversation could go from there, but I tried to salvage it. That was the least I could do.

“Look at me.” I said. He turned his head as I took a quick look. “Naw. You look fine.”

He laughed at that, which was good, because I thought it was funny. Maybe I shouldn’t comment on people’s DMV photo anymore. Well, I probably will. You never know what’s going to come up.

The funny things people say

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Badge415

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People sometimes say the funniest things at traffic collisions. That was the case one night years ago when I was sent to an injury collision where a Chevy Tahoe rolled down an embankment.

When I pulled up, there was a woman already in the ambulance with a broken nose. There were a couple of passengers with minor injuries standing with officers, who were writing their information down. The driver, a male in his 20s, was with another officer. Someone came up to me and said, “He’s HBD,” meaning he had been drinking.

I walked down the sidewalk and looked over the edge to where the vehicle was. The Tahoe had rolled down the hill a couple of times and came to rest on its roof in the playground area of a daycare center. There was a crushed jungle gym underneath it that now resembled a pancake. At least the daycare closed at the time.

I walked up to the driver and asked, “What happened?”

He said, “I was turning and lost control. I hit the curb and we rolled over.”

I could tell he had been drinking and asked, “How many beers did you have tonight?”

“Just two.”

“Two? I said with a raised eyebrow. “Come on man. I can smell it on you from over here?”

The driver pointed to his passengers and said, “It’s because their beer spilled on me when we crashed.”

It’s one of the best DUI remarks ever.

A Christmas Eve stabbing

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Badge415

It was about 2:40AM when I pulled up to a stabbing call on Christmas Eve. I parked my car and walked toward the house where the stabbing was. I entered the house and saw a couple of people sitting on the couch. They obviously were sleeping when all the commotion started. I walked through the house toward the backyard where the other officers were. That’s when I saw the victim lying on his side with cops kneeling beside him.

I stood there wondering what kind of person stabs another on Christmas Eve.

When the paramedics arrived, they surrounded the victim and went to work. One of the paramedics took out a pair of scissors and started cutting his shirt off. When the shirt was removed I was able to see numerous stab wounds on the victim’s side and back.

After a few minutes I looked at my watch and decided it was time to leave because it was the end of my shift. As I headed back to my car the paramedics were right behind me as they wheeled the victim to the ambulance. They loaded him up and took off with their lights and siren on.

The call was a perfect example of how some people don’t care what the calendar says. It wasn’t Christmas Eve to the suspect. It was just Thursday morning and he stabbed someone. It’s amazing how human life means so little to some people out here on the street.

It’s the dark side of society most people don’t know about. For most people this would be shocking to see. For me, it was just another “normal” day at work.

Now it’s time to enjoy the next two days off. Merry Christmas.

I’ll wait for another ride

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Badge415

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Last night I responded to a hit and run crash involving an SUV, that was disabled in the road. When I arrived, it was turned the wrong way and blocking a lane. It’s right rear tire had been torn from the vehicle and was in the street blocking another lane. The crash also ripped off the rear bumper and tossed it aside like an old toy on Christmas morning. The driver was standing on the sidewalk with two car seats next to her.

She told me, “I was in the intersection when I saw the car coming right at me.”

The suspect vehicle went through a red light and hit the victim on the right rear wheel and bumper area, causing it to spin out of control. Her two small children were in the back seat at the time. The driver said, “I thought we were going to roll over.”

It was amazing they were not injured. This crash could’ve been worse.

After I was done with the interview, I handed her a card with the report number on it. I wished her luck and told her to call her insurance company. She thanked me as she watched her vehicle get dragged up onto a flatbed tow truck. She told me she only had liability insurance, which meant she was out of luck because this SUV was going to car heaven a week before Christmas.

She shook her head as she said, “I have no money to fix this.”

As I walked back to my car another officer pointed to her rear bumper, which was still in the street. I glanced down at it, but I wasn’t sure what he wanted to me look at. That’s when he pointed at a sticker on the bumper that said, “If you ride with me, be prepared to die with me.”

That’s not the type of sticker that I want on my car. That’s just asking for trouble from the car accident gods.

Remind me to never to get a ride from this woman or be on the same airplane with her.

It was a no brainer crash

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Badge415

FullSizeRender(29) On Wednesday night, I went to an injury collision involving a pedestrian and a vehicle. When I drove up, the pedestrian was still down in the street being treated by fire personnel.

The involved vehicle was parked along the curb, not too far from where the pedestrian was. I looked over at the SUV and saw fluid splashed all over the driver side window, hood, windshield and fender. It looked and smelled like coffee. There was also fluid spilled in the street and a lone paper cup in the road waiting to be run over.

The driver told me she was making a left turn at the intersection when she felt a thud and then saw fluid splash onto her vehicle. After the collision, she stopped and saw the pedestrian down in the street.

As calm as can be, the woman said, “I thought it was his brains.”

How traumatic that must’ve been for her. This isn’t something you hear every day and it wouldn’t have been my first time seeing splattered brain matter on the side of a car.

Of course, it’s a no brainer I was glad he wasn’t seriously injured. That would’ve been one headache of a call.

The naughty tie

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Badge415

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One common theme in police work is that you never know what’s going to happen next. You also never know what you’re going to hear either.

The other night, I was standing in a restaurant while on a hit and run call. A man and woman walked around the corner and stopped because we were in the way.

The woman then seductively ran her hand over the man’s holiday themed tie as she said, “Can I touch your Christmas balls?

That was too funny to hear. She thought it was amusing too and ran her hand over each and every ball on the tie.

My partner and I moved out of the way so they could pass. They had both been drinking and seemed like they were having a good time. As they walked by she mentioned his Christmas balls again.

That’s when I said, “Can I take a picture of your tie?”

“Sure.”

I took my phone out as he posed. That’s when she moved her hand to his tie and asked, “Do you want me to touch his Christmas balls again?”

I laughed again as I said, “That’s OK.” I took the picture knowing I had a new blog story to write. You can’t make this stuff up.

Should I tell him he’s getting married?

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Badge415

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What’s the difference between being a boyfriend or girlfriend compared to being a fiancé? I think we’d all agree they’re as different as night and day. Being a boyfriend or girlfriend means you get Christmas and birthday presents. Being a fiancé means you almost have health insurance coverage and half of the bank account.

A few weeks ago I was investigating a hit and run crash when I had to interview a man and a woman, who were witnesses. They also happened to be a couple.

I interviewed the man first and asked him about the crash. He described what happened and called the woman his “girlfriend” during the story. After we were done I spoke to her.

The “girlfriend” walked over to me and then told me what happened. During her statement she referred to the male as “My fiancé.”

This was a potentially fun and awkward situation. I wanted to say, “But he just said……”

Part of me wanted to tell her she had only achieved girlfriend status so far. Another part of me wanted to congratulate him on getting married. The look on their faces would’ve been priceless. It also would’ve spiced up the blog story too with some drama.

This could’ve been the first time a future groom was told by the cops he was getting married before he knew it.

It was a perfect moment, but my compassionate side talked my fun side out of telling them. One thing is for sure. They might want to clear up some things before making any long term plans.

Their relationship status on Facebook might be set at, “It’s complicated.”

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Thanks In-N-Out

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Badge415

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Last night I was stopped for a red light when I looked over and saw In-N-Out Burger. Even though I had food in my cooler, In-N-Out sounded so much better since I hadn’t been there in a long time.

The drive-thru line was long as usual, so I decided to go inside. I stood in line and was greeted by two employees at the counter. They took my order and one asked, “What do the stars mean?” as he pointed to my shirt sleeve.

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I pointed to the four stars and said, “Each one represents five years of service.”

“Wow. Twenty years.”

“Yep. Now, you can tell how old I am,” I said with a smile.

“You don’t look that old,” one replied.

I thanked him and laughed because he was about 20 years old. I took my receipt and one of the guys said, “Thank you for your service.”

I thanked him again and knew In-N-Out had to be a Badge415 blog story for sure.

Thanks In-N-Out Burger. Your employees can always be counted on to be super nice whether I’m on or off-duty.

Collision 2.0

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Badge415

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On Wednesday night I went to a crash on a residential street. While I was there, I remembered taking a spectacular collision a few years ago on the same street when a car struck a fence and drove into someone’s garage.

It was foggy last night and I asked the witness, “Didn’t a car hit a house over there?”

“Yes,” the witness replied.

I described the damage and how amazing the collision was. The witness told me the house belonged to her neighbor and she remembered that night also. We talked about it briefly and then moved on. I finished the call and left.

On Thursday night, I was sent to an injury collision in another part of the city involving two cars. After talking to the drivers, I contacted the passengers and wrote their information down. One of the passengers told me his address and it rang a bell. His address was very close to where I was last night. It was so close; he was probably my witness’s next door neighbor or two houses away.

Did he live in the house that I was talking about last night? What were the odds he was a past Badge415 customer?

After the tow trucks left, I drove away and pulled over to look up the address on a map. It turned out he lived in the same house that was hit by the car.

Did I jinx the guy by talking about his house last night?

I’ve met people from prior collisions before, but this took weird to an entirely new level. This poor guy now has the honor of being the only person in my career that was involved as a homeowner and as a passenger in my collision reports.

Maybe I should start carrying around stickers that say “I’ve met Badge415 twice.”

You can’t make this stuff up.