In my entire life, I’ve only met one cop I ever liked. I once met another who didn’t seem like a bad guy after I talked my way out of a ticket.
The first time I ever dealt with cops was when I was seventeen and received my first speeding ticket. The massive cop cut me a break and gave me a ticket for “Disobeying a street sign” instead of an actual speeding ticket so that I wouldn’t get any points on my license. Why’d he do that? I don’t know, but it might have been because instead of pulling over right away, I pulled into a parking lot. When he asked me why, I told him it was for safety reasons, that I didn’t want to see him get clipped by a passing car.
This guy seemed nice, but years before, I saw him knock over a toddler while trying to break up what he thought was a fight between some twelve year old boys who were doing nothing more than a little slap-boxing while watching a high school football game. Those kids didn’t need to be cuffed, and the little girl that got ran over didn’t deserve those bruises.
The only cop I ever met that I liked was a PA Statey. I was stopped at a DUI check point, I admitted I had been drinking, and he gave me a sobriety test and then made me blow. I was, naturally, quite nervous, but I tried to relieve my stress by joking with him during the tests. After I passed, we ended up shooting the shit for a while. He gave me directions for getting home next time to avoid the check-points. He told me about his girlfriend, or, as it turned out, fiancé. She’d have been pissed if she heard him call her his girlfriend. He was a nice guy. Not your typical meat-head cop.
I once met a guy in college. He was a Criminal Justice major. “Oh so you want to be a cop?”
“Na I wanna do S.W.A.T. so that I can actually shoot people.” What a dumb, sad ass kid.
And these New York cops so far have impressed me only about as much as that college kid I once knew.
My first run-in with them was when my car wouldn’t start after visiting the DMV. I found a cop and asked her to give my car a jump. “Sorry, I can’t. We’re not allowed, it’s a liability. There could be a fire or something, and we can’t be responsible.” Her hands on her belt, her gun securely in its holster, she smiled sadly at me.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, I thought.
I still want to write a letter to the mayor of Peekskill, if there is one to write to.
***
The next story is much more tragic then my Latina cop who isn’t allowed to jump-start cars, but might not hesitate murdering someone for steeling.
It happened on the same day as my car troubles. A girl was being rushed to the hospital by her mother. She was suffering an asthma attack. When she hit traffic, she got out of the car screaming for help in the neighborhood. People came out, and a cop showed up. The New York Daily News had this to say:
An NYPD cop car driving on Kane St. came upon the scene, according to witnesses, and the officer backed on to Henry St.
"The cop did absolutely nothing," Domenech said. "Everybody is screaming at him because he was just standing there. It was a horrible situation because you could see the girl was not breathing."
Although cops are trained in basic first aid, including CPR, "He told me to my face, 'I don't know CPR,'" Ojeda said, as she wept over the death of her daughter.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/30/2010-08-30_bklyn_ma_claim_cop_let_kid_die_did_nothing_during_asthma_attack.html#ixzz17OgwvQxI
This kind of shit can make you sick to your stomach. Could the girl have lived if the cop provided CPR? Probably. It would have given her a better chance than if he just stood there, which is what he did. Well, at least he didn’t shoot her to death.
Because that’s exactly what happened to Danroy Henry Jr, 20. Police were responding to a call at a Thornwood, NY bar. Henry, who, after blood tests confirmed, was well over the legal BAC to drive, sat in his car. Cops walked up to the car, which was parked in a fire lane, and tapped on the window with a nightstick. Henry drove away, maybe even sped away, and one of the cops, as it has now been also confirmed, jumped onto the hood of the car and shot into Henry’s chest a bunch of times. They pulled him from the car and cuffed him. I remember, after this all happened, the news showed, only briefly, a blond white woman in a long white dress desperately trying to revive Henry while he was bleeding out with hands bound. Cops stood watching.
A couple more trigger hungry cops looking to play cowboy. I hope their guilt destroys them.
Last I heard, the investigation was ongoing.
Don’t get me wrong, there are good cops out there, but you see most of them in movies.
***
Damnit do I hate when people stereotype, or prejudge, or lump groups of people together. That’s not my intention, I’m just reporting on the shitty policing that’s been going on since I got here.
I mean, at least Bloomberg hasn’t ordered the bombing of any homes or anything. That would be the motivation I would need to MOVE.
Thoughts?
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