Smokey Goes Down

So one of the most embarrassing events that can happen to an officer is an accident. Not only do you have to have people look at you on the side of the road, but then your so called "friends" on the force make fun of you for a long time. Here is my most recent wreck.

It was a rainy, sleety, snowy night. I had just got a run on a fire in a house. I got in my car and turned on my lights. As I came to an overpass I thought "It is slick better go pretty slow". My speed for once was way below the speed limit. I was going 35 in a 55 due to the weather. Halfway into the turn on the overpass my ass end swings out from behind me. My training kicked in and I turned the wheels, let off of the gas, and did not hit the brake. The car continued to turn until I was going backwards down the ramp. At one point I thought I had saved it, then the tires hit another patch of ice and I made one more 90 degree turn. This last turn forced the rear end of my car into a guard rail. After hitting the guardrail the car stopped against the guardrail with my door against it. I could not get out. I assumed that the whole rear end of my car was destroyed. It turns out that it was not, just the left side of the bumper and my tail light. As I am sitting there waiting for a tow truck, 6 cars spin out right where I spun out and they almost clobbered me.

What is weird is that this is the second accident that I have been in this year. The first was not my fault at all, a crazy Mexican lady with no license decided to disregard other cars and drive around them. This almost resulted in a T Bone of our cars. She did succeed in killing my car though. In both that accident and this latest one, I could see the whole incident occurring. And before each impact I distinctly remembering "I got it, I avoided it." Then BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!! And I think to myself "SHIT!" It is just funny what you remember and what one thinks about when they have no control over a machine. Another point to this is that police cars are tanks. I have not been injured in either of the accidents, amazingly.

To end this story it was my Dad's 55th birthday. So happy birthday DAD!

Wintermeiser

As I sit here in my police car blogging I am reminded by how much I hate the cold weather. Looking out my windows and seeing sleet and snow and realizing that I am one ignorant dumb ass driver away from standing outside away depresses me. Well that might be a little over the top, but it still sucks, BAD!!!! The problem with cold weather for a cop is that we have to be prepared to stand outside for long periods of time. Then on top of that we have to be comfortable enough to sit in a heated car, move around (so we can access all our equipment), and not restricted in movement in case we have to take physical action or chase someone. This makes for quite a conundrum. So I say "screw you winter"!!!!!

Eye Gazing....In a Way

So I am not sure what to title this blog entry. But it amazes me at how people change their reaction to you when they realize that one is a police officer. I have noticed that people awkwardly stare at me, mainly due to my height. This is happened for as long as I can remember. I am quite accustomed to it, though I do not like it. I always think of some great one liners to throw at them, but I choose to refrain myself. However, a completely different stare occurred today.

I was playing basketball with guys at church. We normally play twice a week and have some big names, from the area, show up to play with us. Today I was wearing my Police jersey from our annual butt whooping we give to the hose draggers. Obviously it says Police on it. Well a kid playing with us asks if I am a cop. I state that I am. He then goes on to give me the "eye f**king" stare. This is the stare that people who have dealt with police before give to size up the cop. It is basically to inquire into if they feel they can whoop my ass. This stare occurred for the whole game. He did not think I saw him, though I doubt he would have looked away if I had looked at him. (Quick Tips to "eye f**ckers": Most cops are aware of everything going on around them at all times whether you realize it or not. Whether or not we act on what we see depends on different criteria, but we are trained to think about events and individuals that surround us. Take this as a fair warning. Though I hope no one that reads my blog qualifies.)

This leads me to the question of "What in the hell makes people look at someone, especially cops, and think about whether they can whoop somebody else's ass?" It makes no sense to me, and yet I see it daily. This leads me to another blog entry on the audacity of people to argue or buck up.