OH OH, WHAT HAVE WE HERE? by Harland Eastwood A very interesting incident happened not long after we graduated. I would guess that it was the fall of 1962. The central character in our story is 1962 GHS grad Lloyd “Sandy” Samson. Sandy was a fun loving guy whose father’s hobby was rebuilding wrecked cars and he just happened to be very good at what he did. During the winter of 1961 the elder Samson bought a wrecked 1957 Alfa-Romeo “Spider” roadster and spent the next seven or eight months rebuilding it back to original condition. One day several of us guys went to see the finished project. It was white with red leather interior. The paint and body were perfect and it looked just like the brand new sports car that it was. It was not long before Sandy could be seen cruising through Lou’s parking lot on Friday and Saturday nights. Needless to say his sharp looking sports car caught nearly everyone’s attention. Not many weeks later Sandy made the scene at Lou’s early one Saturday evening. This was before the usual action got started for the evening. Again I will have to guess at the hour as I do not remember that detail. My guess is that it was just about dusk or a little before. The main thing to remember is that most of the daytime businesses had closed for the day, including a small used car lot that sat on the south side of 152nd, about 3/4 of a block west of 1st Ave. In other words, it was kitty-corner across from Lou’s. I do not remember the name of the business, and I do not think that it was there very long, perhaps less than six months. Traffic was minimal at that time of day and Sandy stopped in front of the used car lot and got out, as if to check out the inventory. When no one was looking he backed his Alfa Romeo in alongside the line of used cars, which made it look very much like one of the cars that were for sale. With that task accomplished Sandy walked across the street to hang out at Lou’s. It wasn’t long before the regular crowd started to show up. Soon the parking lot was filled with kids and cars. As was the custom at that time, the local “County- Mounty” showed up in the familiar green and white patrol car and parked in the upper part of Lou’s lot. It is supposed that their presence would deter burn-outs, drinking and other illegal activities. It did not take long for the officers to notice Sandy milling around, which is just exactly what he wanted. Once Sandy had their attention, he proceeded to “mosey” across the street and head for the used car lot where he tried real hard to look suspicious. Sandy acted if he was interested in the shiny white Alfa sitting in the lot. The top of the Alfa was down and the officers had a good vantage point to observe Sandy lean over the car and look inside. Sandy continued to walk around the sports car as if he was admiring a car which under normal circumstances was well out of his reach financially. When Sandy was sure that he had the officers’ undivided attention he opened the door and got in. He ducked down as if he was fiddling with something under the dash. It was at this time that Sandy put his key in the ignition and started the motor. After a few minutes he looked all around as if to see if the coast was clear and drove slowly out of the lot and west on 152nd. Since the patrol car was parked in the shadows alongside Lou’s and it was now dark, the officers were sure they had just witnessed a young, long haired punk hotwire an expensive Alfa Romeo “Spider” sports car. You could almost read their minds. This was grand theft auto and they were about to make a name for themselves with a “slam dunk” arrest. At least it certainly looked that way. Sandy had played right into their hands….or had he? It was lights and sirens right from the start. The officers had no trouble catching up with the slow moving Alfa and soon had what looked like a scared young man, ready to face the music. The officers got out and approached the car, one on each side The exact conversation has long since been forgotten, but as near as I can recall, it went something like this. Patrolman: “Good evening, I suppose this is your car?” Sandy: “That’s right, officer.” Patrolman: “It seems to me that this car cost more than you can afford. What did you do, rob a bank?.” Sandy: “No, sir.” Patrolman: “Let me see your license.” Sandy: “Certainly officer. Was I speeding?” It was at this time that the other officer spotted a whiskey bottle behind the seat. As he reached down to pick it up, he muttered, “Oh oh, what do we have here?” Patrolman, waiting for an answer: Sandy: “Ah…..it’s root beer, officer.” Patrolman: “Sure it is.” Sandy: “No, really. Go ahead and take a drink!” Officer, rather indignantly: “No! I can’t drink while I am on duty.” By this time the other officer had called in the license plate to verify that the car was stolen, as the first officer continued to question Sandy about his expensive ride. At some point during the interrogation the officers started to change their tune. At first they had been rather cocky, thinking they had this guy right where they wanted him, but as the questioning continued they felt their airtight case starting to unravel. The police dispatcher had radioed back, “No, the car had not been reported as stolen.” The next part of the case involved the “open container.” Although the bottle had originally contained a popular brand of blended whiskey, on that particular night it did indeed have root beer. Then the registration checked out. Now it was starting to look like maybe, just maybe, Sandy had been telling the truth, but he certainly must be guilty of something. Try as they might the officers could find nothing. Sandy had told the truth all along. He had parked his Alfa in the used car lot because he knew that parking was often limited at the ever popular Lou’s. He loved root beer and had found an old bottle to carry his favorite beverage along with him. He really hadn’t noticed what kind of bottle it was. By now it was clear that the slam dunk arrest of Sandy on a variety of charges was going nowhere fast and the officers knew it. There would be no arrest that night. For those of us who watched the event from the safety of Lou’s parking lot, it had been impossible to ignore the red lights. While we did not know what the problem was, we were sure that Sandy was going to jail. No one really wanted to get any closer than they already were. After all, there was always a possible chance somehow we might be implicated as well. After the lights were turned off and the police car quietly slipped away, Sandy drove back to Lou’s to tell us the above tale. The whole thing seemed impossible, but we had seen it with our own eyes. The entire incident had taken over an hour to sort out, but in the end the police officers were forced to let Sandy go on his way. Sandy had taken on the entire police department and had won and it is doubtful that the officers ever knew what hit them. This was one time when Sandy had the last laugh and we all laughed with him.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 23:21:47 +0000
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