I’m not sure why we thought throwing M-80’S into the middle of the street that Halloween would be so much fun? As suddenly as it blew up, about 5 of us scattered and I heard the screeching of tires from a few blocks away. We giggled as we seen the town cop come up to the area we were just at. The rest of the night we laughed about it and walked without a care through the town. As the night got late, my friends went home and I started walking home as well. It was around this time I noticed it snowing hard. Without a car, I took off through the snow that was already getting deep.
I then heard a car pull up along side of me. “Do you want a ride? It’s snowing pretty hard.” “Sure. Thank you.” It was the same cop we were harassing hours before. As we pulled up to my house, I thanked him. “No problem. And oh, by the way. You may want to save the fireworks for the fourth next time.”
Leaving Czech Day’s that year we had always heard about sobriety checks looking for drunk drivers. We were plenty early. And hadn’t been drinking anyways. But our friends had taken off and we were getting tired. So we headed home. About a mile out of town though we realized we both needed to use the bathroom. And used the minimum maintenance road that was there. As we shut off the lights, got out of the car, and made our pit-stop. Suddenly we noticed a car coming up behind us. Then a rotating red, white and blue light. We zipped up our pants and walked back around to see the police approaching us. At first cautiously. Then I could see the officer laughing. “Umm, you guys been drinking?” “No we haven’t officer.” “You really shouldn’t park in the dark like that. Some one could run into you.” “Sorry sir.” “By the way, why didn’t you use the bathrooms in town?” Lets face it, he had a good point.
As baseball practice wrapped up I stayed back to talk with one of my friends. Then I heard tires peel out and almost as quickly police sirens. As we looked up, one of the players on our team was getting chewed out by the local cop. I had heard once he actually had people beg him to give him a ticket just to stop his screaming and ranting. Only to get a longer lecture. As we listened from quite a ways away, we could here him lecture him about safety. And living with the mistakes a person makes in life. We were all terrified to get pulled over by him.
As I come out from the bowling alley that night I reached into my pocket and realized my keys were not in there. And as I walked to my car door my biggest fear came alive. They were in the ignition with the doors locked. As we struggled around the car my friend I was with suggested a rock through the window. I said not a chance. It was about then a police officer walked up behind us. “Something wrong guys?” “Yeah we locked the keys in the car. Could you help us?” “Well, I could help you call a locksmith. Unless you want to break in with a rock. (Did he really just say that?) He shined his light through the window. Then tried opening the door. Yep. Still locked. Then he walked to the other door and opened it. My friend forgot to lock his side. “Um, sorry. Thank you.” He let out a big laugh.”Don’t worry. It happens.” As he walked away.
I personally have tons of stories like these. Simple kind acts. And some that are not as good. I have had some officers over react with me. But I think back to the officers that helped me. Police officers are human. I feel that this gets lost in the mix sometimes. And like all humans, there can be good ones, and there can be bad ones. And from my stand point, I really can’t imagine what they go through on a daily basis.
What has happened in Minneapolis is unreal. And quite frankly inexcusable. But what did we watch? How bad police officers are? Or did we see bad police officers?
I try to keep this website on a positive slope. And I do my best to try to leave out big subjects you can find better sources for than myself. That is why I shared these stories with you. Because odds are, you know a police officer that deserves to be recognized rather than thrown into a group he or she doesn’t belong in. And if you think back, there were probably some that helped you along the way as well.
Here is what the Sioux Falls police department posted on the subject. Click Here to see their post.
Until next time.