So the week before Christmas is always hectic. People rushing to get ready for the holiday and scrambling to get gifts together for loved ones. Sometimes when you're getting ready for a holiday, you lose track of other basic things-and that's how this week's entry get its theme.
I was third in line at a traffic light as it began to turn yellow. The first truck went clearly through the light and then the light turned solid red. A good two seconds after the light turned red, the pickup truck in front of me decided to go through the light also. Now most people paying attention would never try and do that with a cop right behind them. I stopped the guy and he told me he was just trying to follow his friend in front of him and didn't even realize the light was red or the fact that I was right behind him. In my Christmas spirit, I decided to give him a break and sent him on his way. I did tell him that using GSP to coordinate with his friend probably would be the smarter and safer decision and he obliged!
I was out tag running, looking for a vehicle to stop when I came across a tag that had been suspended for about three months. Tags in my state are usually suspended when the vehicle has a lapse in insurance. I pulled the car over and noticed the driver was about 18 years and proudly flaunting that he had JUST come home from basic training. I normally give breaks on moving violations to teachers, military, medical personnel, etc. However for something like this (which is fixable and usually gets the fine dropped), I write the ticket. If the vehicle gets into an accident (when it really shouldn't have been on the roadway), I could be liable for not taking any action. I wrote the guy a ticket and when I went to the window he was incredibly upset I was writing him a ticket. I even broke it down to him and explained EXACTLY how to get the ticket thrown out and he still wasn't having any of it. I even told him what to do to avoid getting another one before his courtdate. Hopefully he listened to me.
I responded to an apartment complex on a call of shots fired and about 30 people gathered around in the back. I was ready for a large crowd as I expected this type of situation in the complex and I got there relatively really quick. However, when I got there, there was nothing going on anywhere. Not even a cat running around.
To close out the week, I had to go to an assisted living home where all the residents have these medical alarms in their room where they can call for help if they need it. They're constantly going off, even in unoccupied rooms (which is really creepy actually), We got two calls simultaneously and both were false alarms. At least the week ended on an easy note!
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Stolen or Not Stolen?
I was stopped at a light and saw this car in front of me. I ran the tag and the tag came back to a trailblazer and this was a small black sedan. I pulled the car over and an older female was driving.
I asked her what the situation was with the tag and she said she didn't know because the car wasn't hers. I asked her who the car belonged to and she told me it was Mr. John's car. I asked her if she had any registration paperwork and she came up empty handed. I asked her if she had a phone number for this "Mr. John" and she said no. I had her place her hands on the steering wheel while I went to look and write down the VIN from the dash. I realized the VIN was missing and I immediately went to place her in handcuffs. I ran the VIN from another location and found out that the car actually belonged to her! I asked her why she lied to me and she said she didn't want to get in trouble. The car actually had canceled registration so she slapped on a tag from another car that she owned. What could have just been an impound of her car turned into her car getting impounded and her going to jail!
While I ended up staying late with that arrest, I was on my way back to the precinct to go home when I hopped on the highway and saw this pickup truck weaving ALL over two lanes. I knew this was something I couldn't ignore and pulled it over. The car couldn't decide where it was going to pull over but finally did. It turns out the car didn't even have a valid tag on it. The driver told me he bought the car from a family in a neighboring state, whose grandfather died (it was his old truck). The grandfather's title was missing and he needed it to get it registered. The truck needed a TON of work and it had a very strong pull to it (which explained the weaving). Thankfully he wasn't intoxicated and I didn't have to have an even later night. The guy got a ticket for not having his vehicle registered past the allowed time from the state.
I asked her what the situation was with the tag and she said she didn't know because the car wasn't hers. I asked her who the car belonged to and she told me it was Mr. John's car. I asked her if she had any registration paperwork and she came up empty handed. I asked her if she had a phone number for this "Mr. John" and she said no. I had her place her hands on the steering wheel while I went to look and write down the VIN from the dash. I realized the VIN was missing and I immediately went to place her in handcuffs. I ran the VIN from another location and found out that the car actually belonged to her! I asked her why she lied to me and she said she didn't want to get in trouble. The car actually had canceled registration so she slapped on a tag from another car that she owned. What could have just been an impound of her car turned into her car getting impounded and her going to jail!
While I ended up staying late with that arrest, I was on my way back to the precinct to go home when I hopped on the highway and saw this pickup truck weaving ALL over two lanes. I knew this was something I couldn't ignore and pulled it over. The car couldn't decide where it was going to pull over but finally did. It turns out the car didn't even have a valid tag on it. The driver told me he bought the car from a family in a neighboring state, whose grandfather died (it was his old truck). The grandfather's title was missing and he needed it to get it registered. The truck needed a TON of work and it had a very strong pull to it (which explained the weaving). Thankfully he wasn't intoxicated and I didn't have to have an even later night. The guy got a ticket for not having his vehicle registered past the allowed time from the state.
Breaking For Change
So I've fallen behind a bit because it just has been SO busy lately. So the next few posts will be snippets of what happened in December thus far.
There's this pink house in the zone that's huge, with broken windows that have never been fixed, vines growing all over it....you get the picture. Take your typical haunted creepy house and this is it. To top it off, the person who lives there is a Voodoo priestess. She's constantly getting into trances and then calling 911 and just mumbling on the phone. I've been there plenty of times, even when I had the TV show COPS with me. Every time I go there she answers the door with her eyes spaced out and tells me everything is ok. The inside of the house has creepy figurines and always smells like incense burning. It's crazy!
I answered a call for a vehicle break in at the mall on my beat. There's an office there for the power company. This employee drives a Dodge Charger and her vehicle has been broken into twice in the last few months. The first time, a firearm was stolen from her vehicle. The lady did what she needed to do and never left anything in plain sight in her car to prevent future thefts...Then a guy broke into her car and stole maybe $5 worth of coins in the cup holder...and she's left with hundreds in damages to her door lock.
There's this pink house in the zone that's huge, with broken windows that have never been fixed, vines growing all over it....you get the picture. Take your typical haunted creepy house and this is it. To top it off, the person who lives there is a Voodoo priestess. She's constantly getting into trances and then calling 911 and just mumbling on the phone. I've been there plenty of times, even when I had the TV show COPS with me. Every time I go there she answers the door with her eyes spaced out and tells me everything is ok. The inside of the house has creepy figurines and always smells like incense burning. It's crazy!
I answered a call for a vehicle break in at the mall on my beat. There's an office there for the power company. This employee drives a Dodge Charger and her vehicle has been broken into twice in the last few months. The first time, a firearm was stolen from her vehicle. The lady did what she needed to do and never left anything in plain sight in her car to prevent future thefts...Then a guy broke into her car and stole maybe $5 worth of coins in the cup holder...and she's left with hundreds in damages to her door lock.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
As the Weather Cools, The Streets Get Hotter
So this has been a crazy week just in the last three days. We've had two officer-involved shootings, one of which had a fatal result. Not to mention, the days have been pretty crazy.
Sunday I responded to a call of shots being fired at a city park within a residential neighborhood. The caller stated he could see people hanging out in the park and the gunshots sounded like they were coming from two different guns. I was the first one on scene. I couldn't hear any gunshots by the time I got in the area but started to creep very slowly in my patrol car as I rolled up the scene. The park was empty but there was an SUV parked just on the side of the park with someone inside. I quickly gave the tag number to my dispatcher who ran it as I approached. A black female hopped out of the SUV with a cigarette in her hand. I asked her if she had heard anything recently and she said she did hear the shooting coming from the park but didn't see anyone. I asked her why she was just hanging out on the road in the dark and she told me she lives just down the street but didn't like smoking in front of her kids. The tag confirmed she lived right down the street. She went along on her way but my heart was pounding not knowing what was going on when she jumped out like that .
Monday was an insane day. As soon as I got my keys, I got a hot call on the other sector since I was the only car in service at the time. It was an all brawl in the parking lot of a state labor office. I responded code to the scene as I kept getting updates that the brawl was just getting more intense. I pulled up and paramedics were treating a woman and a male who was bleeding from his mouth. Everyone was trying to tell me at once what was going on. Apparently, the male bleeding from his mouth was the passenger in a parked vehicle who opened the door and banged his door on the parked vehicle the woman was sitting in. The male began to walk away and the female said he couldn't leave because he hit her car. The male didn't want to deal with the female so he hopped back in the car and told his friend to drive away. The male couldn't back out because the female was behind the car so he started to maneuver in sort of a three-point turn style. The female went to approach the driver and was inadvertently hit. This caused a huge scene in the parking lot. The male passenger stepped out and yelled at the female and then shoved her. The crowd didn't like this and began to beat the male in force. The female's daughter came outside of the labor office and slugged the guy who punched her in the jaw. I placed both males under arrest (the driver ended up having two warrants for failing to appear on tickets of expired tag and a handicap parking ticket from four years ago...). I ended up giving the female's daughter a copy of charges for the disorderly conduct because to be honest, I would have done the same if I saw my own mother get hit. The driver had a jack russell terrier named Roscoe and I really didn't want to put the dog in the pound so I waited about 2 hours for someone to come pick up the little guy. Real cute dog that I walked around the patrol car for a bit to stretch it's legs.
Later Monday night, I responded to a burglar in a residence call. A person called 911 to state they saw someone breaking into the vacant house next door and when they realized they had been spotted they brandished what appeared to be a firearm in the guy's direction. The guy fearing for the safety of himself and his family fired a single shot in the direction of the perp. He didn't hit anything but that was sure a hair raising moment as we responded to a burglary in progress-shots fired. Hell of a last call for the day.
Sunday I responded to a call of shots being fired at a city park within a residential neighborhood. The caller stated he could see people hanging out in the park and the gunshots sounded like they were coming from two different guns. I was the first one on scene. I couldn't hear any gunshots by the time I got in the area but started to creep very slowly in my patrol car as I rolled up the scene. The park was empty but there was an SUV parked just on the side of the park with someone inside. I quickly gave the tag number to my dispatcher who ran it as I approached. A black female hopped out of the SUV with a cigarette in her hand. I asked her if she had heard anything recently and she said she did hear the shooting coming from the park but didn't see anyone. I asked her why she was just hanging out on the road in the dark and she told me she lives just down the street but didn't like smoking in front of her kids. The tag confirmed she lived right down the street. She went along on her way but my heart was pounding not knowing what was going on when she jumped out like that .
Monday was an insane day. As soon as I got my keys, I got a hot call on the other sector since I was the only car in service at the time. It was an all brawl in the parking lot of a state labor office. I responded code to the scene as I kept getting updates that the brawl was just getting more intense. I pulled up and paramedics were treating a woman and a male who was bleeding from his mouth. Everyone was trying to tell me at once what was going on. Apparently, the male bleeding from his mouth was the passenger in a parked vehicle who opened the door and banged his door on the parked vehicle the woman was sitting in. The male began to walk away and the female said he couldn't leave because he hit her car. The male didn't want to deal with the female so he hopped back in the car and told his friend to drive away. The male couldn't back out because the female was behind the car so he started to maneuver in sort of a three-point turn style. The female went to approach the driver and was inadvertently hit. This caused a huge scene in the parking lot. The male passenger stepped out and yelled at the female and then shoved her. The crowd didn't like this and began to beat the male in force. The female's daughter came outside of the labor office and slugged the guy who punched her in the jaw. I placed both males under arrest (the driver ended up having two warrants for failing to appear on tickets of expired tag and a handicap parking ticket from four years ago...). I ended up giving the female's daughter a copy of charges for the disorderly conduct because to be honest, I would have done the same if I saw my own mother get hit. The driver had a jack russell terrier named Roscoe and I really didn't want to put the dog in the pound so I waited about 2 hours for someone to come pick up the little guy. Real cute dog that I walked around the patrol car for a bit to stretch it's legs.
Later Monday night, I responded to a burglar in a residence call. A person called 911 to state they saw someone breaking into the vacant house next door and when they realized they had been spotted they brandished what appeared to be a firearm in the guy's direction. The guy fearing for the safety of himself and his family fired a single shot in the direction of the perp. He didn't hit anything but that was sure a hair raising moment as we responded to a burglary in progress-shots fired. Hell of a last call for the day.
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