Holidays on the streets as police officer tend to be very much the same as regular days just with a little "buzz" in the area. On my particular beat with a shopping mall, this buzz made itself known in the form of high volume last minute Christmas shopping. When I say the traffic was bad, the traffic was horrible. Yet for some people stuck in traffic, their eyes begin to wander and that led to an eventful 911 call for me.
A person called 911 stating there was a male lying on the ground not moving and they had no clue if he was breathing or even alive. Just getting to the call was a mess with traffic with my blue lights paving the way for the red and white lights of the ambulance behind me. We arrive on the side of a parking lot where sure enough there was man in a fetal position not moving. I walk up to the man with my gloves on and try to get him to respond. The man wakes up and I recognize him as a man I arrested just back in October for breaking into a business and destroying an AC unit in order to sleep inside of it. I spoke to the man and asked him if he was hurt or injured and he said no to both, stating he had just got out of the hospital this morning. This man is generally always under the influence and homeless and this just gets more surprising when I tell you this fact about him. This man is well known for having won the lottery many years ago. He took all the money that many of us hope to win one day and completely blew every last dollar of it. On a holiday like Christmas, it makes you really value the things that you do have and not what you hope to one day have.
As the day grew longer and the hours started to creep into early Christmas morning itself, I was put on a traffic detail in an area where we had a pizza delivery man get robbed and his car taken (yes this occurred on Christmas Eve as well). My mindset was I was not going to write a ticket being the Christmas mood but that I would stop a few cars and see how things went. I noticed a car with a passenger side break light that was out and initiated a traffic stop. I noticed there were four people inside and asked for another officer. I went up to the car and asked for ID from the people inside just letting them know why I had stopped the vehicle and came back to my car to run everybody. The rear driver side passenger ended up having two felony warrants for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and cruelty to children in the second degree after causing substantial harm to a child. I placed the man in handcuffs and verified the warrant. As always, when someone was under arrest, I began to search the man (I always use gloves-that goes without question: you do NOT want to get poked by a needle, cut with a knife, or wind up touching something you do NOT want to touch). Halfway through the search of the person he asks me if he can bring his HIV medicine from inside the car with him to jail. You always have to watch out for your safety from all sorts of threats out there on the street, including the biological ones. The man begins to ask me how long it may take for him to see a judge. Being that tomorrow was Christmas, the day after Christmas was a holiday, and then the weekend approached-he wouldn't see a judge until Monday (spending four days in jail before knowing his fate).
Time away from family at the holidays makes you appreciate what you have. This particular arrest was my 200th arrest on the street. Both my 100th and 200th arrest were for felony arrests.
Immediately following my ten hour shift, I began the seven hour drive home to spend the holidays with my family (albeit only for a few days until I return to work on Monday) and enjoy the precious time with them. I hope you have a similar well enjoyed time with you families at this time of the year as well and I'll write again on Monday leading up to the craziest night of the year- New Year's Eve.
No comments:
Post a Comment