Accused!! I was sixteen years old in the fall of 1975. I don’t remember now exactly what day it was, but I know it was mid-week because of what happened. My parents were off on the road somewhere driving a truck. They were a team of co-drivers, which meant one drove while the other slept. They could legally cover more ground and get loads delivered much faster that way. My sister, Pam, had just left her husband and was living back at home. Because she was eighteen at the time, Pam became my guardian while our parents were working. That was likely a huge mistake, sort of like the wolf being placed in charge of the sheep! Around nine this particular evening, the phone suddenly rang. When I answered, Sean, a female friend of ours, had sneaked out of her mom’s apartment. She wanted me to pick her up at a store about a half mile from her home. Being the big brother type, I picked her up as soon as I could. Sean’s refusal to go back home and her insistence that she would just leave again, meant that I had to bring her back to our house for her own safety. We arrived back at my house to visit with Pam about 9:30! Shortly after arriving, Pam told us she had heard from her new, possible boyfriend Bobby. He was on his way over to visit and would be there anytime. Within minutes, Bobby knocked on the door. We visited for a few hours. Sean began nodding off, so I offered to take her back home. Having had a couple of beers, I knew it was a mistake, but Sean needed to go home. I was still sober though, so we started out the door. That’s when history changed! I noticed Bobby’s Pinto was parked behind our Datsun, so I stuck my head back inside the door and asked him to move, so we could get out. Bobby tossed me his keys and said I should just take his car. That little move, tossing those keys, set off what would be my most terrifying night of my young life! I didn’t see the change, in the form of a wave, in the fabric of time as the keys flew through the air to me. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, either! Bobby, obviously thinking with the wrong head, didn’t realize what he had in his car. Me, being sixteen meant my life was about to get serious! First, there was a half of a case of beer iced down in a cooler in the back. Second, there were three in-dash model am/fm cassette radios laying in the back seat. Bobby was a radio repairman, but at the time that didn’t matter. Third, and probably worst of all, there was a weed pipe with residue and a roach clip laying in the ashtray. Luckily, there were no roaches or weed, but at that time residue was plenty for a serious charge. I never took the time to check out the car I happened to be driving for contraband. I just hopped in and took Sean home. After dropping her outside her apartment, the two beers I had drunk earlier decided they wanted out of my body, NOW! There was nothing around open at that time, so I turned in behind the junior high school on a tiny, service road and relieved myself. When I got back in the car and started to leave, police cars, with lights and sirens blaring, came from both directions! What had I done?? We had a cop in Nederland who resorted to violence way too often. I don’t remember his name now, so I’ll call him Stroud. Stroud was a mean bastard of a cop who didn’t mind beating people to get his way. Wouldn’t you know he was the lead cop in the small force that caught me! I stopped as soon as I saw them coming and he pulled his car up to where our driver side windows faced one another. Then after glaring at me for a few seconds, which seemed to me like an hour, he said, “Where’s your buddy?” Shaking, I said, “There isn’t anybody with me, sir!” Angrily he said, “I asked where is your buddy, the guy you dropped off! Where did he go? Is he breaking into the school?” Still shaking, I replied, “I told you there was nobody with me, sir! I’m alone! I just stopped right back there to pee because I wasn’t going to make it home! If you like, I’ll show you where I peed!” Still angry, Stroud said, “Shut off the car, then get out and step in front of it! Put your hands on the hood and don’t move! NOW!” All of the cars had been silenced, but the lights were still twirling red and blue. As I stood with my hands on the hood. I heard from behind the Pinto, another cop saying, “Stroud, he may be telling the truth! I found a wet spot back here!” Though I felt a slight, short lived, ease the real trouble was about to start! Another cop shouted, “Hey, Stroud! How old is this kid? There’s a half case of beer in this cooler back here!” Then another cop said, “Why would he have three, car stereos in the back seat?” Next, Stroud came from the driver’s seat on Bobby’s Pinto with the weed pipe and roach clip and slammed them down on the hood! He then said, “I’ve got you, son!” He took my billfold from my back pocket, the stuff from my other pockets, and slammed them on the hood! Then he hand cuffed me! As he was slipping his weapon out of it’s holster he said, “Now, I’m gonna get the truth out of you one way or another!” Luckily, I had already peed or I would have at that moment! Feeling very intimidated, I began to whimper and said, “I don’t know what you want me to say, but I just took a girl home to those apartments and had to pee, so I stopped here!” He asked, “What girl? What’s her name?” I told him about Sean sneaking out, calling, visiting, and then my bringing her back home to her apartment. For some reason, he wasn’t satisfied with my story, so he said, “We’re going for a little ride around these apartments, and if we find the cars where these radios came from, we’ll have you for several offences!” At least, he had released his grip on his weapon, so I wasn’t to get a beating; not yet anyway! They placed me in the back of a squad car and we went for a ride around all of the apartment buildings checking whether there were any cars broken into with radios missing. Luckily, there weren’t! When we arrived at the police station, there sat Bobby’s Pinto. They walked me past it as we went inside. Then they ran what they informed me were rap sheets on me and Bobby. Mine naturally came back clean, but Bobby’s came back rather long. No pending charges, but that guy had been very busy, and not in a good way! By about 4:30am, Bobby came walking into the police station, where he had to explain everything from the beer to the radios to the pipe and roach clip. Being a confidential informant, he had a relationship with the cops, so I finally got released and made it back home about 5:00am. It seemed like I had only climbed into my bed when my alarm went off to go to school. I should have skipped and slept, but I had already missed too many days. So after a quick shower, I got dressed and headed out to school. I was actually doing okay until fourth period, but who could ever stay awake in Algebra anyway? The bell at the end of class woke me from a deep, head back, snoring sleep. Everyone in my class and the class across the hall were laughing loudly! As I stood to leave for lunch, my teacher asked, “Do you want to tell me about it?” After telling her the shortened version she said, “Here, Danny, take one of my husband’s cards. He’s a lawyer and could have helped you last night, so you could have gotten some sleep before school instead of during!” I thanked her and apologized profusely for my having fallen asleep in her class. I believe I learned my lesson about dealing with cops and friend’s cars! Memories!!
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 13:24:04 +0000
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