Chronicles: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Warrior - ECoach - P90X

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 4

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

Nothing happened.

Okay, something happened but what Hollywood had taught me was going to happen, didn't.  Not even close.  Not even "based on a true story" close.

I heard the gun go off as a distant pop, quieter than a champagne cork on the far side of the restaurant.  Forget about the tinkling of the brass hitting the cement.  I barely heard the gun go off.  I couldn't hear the guy coming behind me asking if I needed help.  My ears didn't ring because of the close proximity to the mini-explosion.

I have forgotten to put my ear protection on at the firing line before and let me tell you, dang does that hurt and boy do your ears ring for a while.

Not when you do it for real, at least not for me.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 3

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

"I'm not going to kill you," meaning it at the time but not lowering the gun at all.  I had my Glock pointed right at his nose.  It didn't feel odd or scary or anything.  It was like I talked to guys with knives at gunpoint all the time.

"So Mike, how's the wife and kids?  Nice knife you have.  What do you think about my Glock?"

Doug started walking toward me and I started walking backward.  He kept asking me to shoot him and I kept telling him that I wasn't going to.  After several steps, I started yelling, "Drop the knife!"  I did this for rest of our little stroll.  I'm suprised that there weren't more rubberneckers initially because there were ear-witnesses that heard me from their back yard. 

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 2

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

I told dispatch that I was on scene and she acknowledged my transmission with the time: 1922 (7:20 pm).

I pulled the car to the right and parked.  I opened the door and looked down beside my seat where I kept my wooden baton.  This happened long enough ago that expandible batons hadn't made their way to mainstream yet.  Pepper spray was becoming more common but our department didn't carry it (what happened on this day would change that).  Our bat belt back then was pretty slim pickin's.  My only weapon (that was designed as a weapon) was my gun.  I had a knife in my boot.

I couldn't think of why I would need my stick for a suicidal individual.  It was nice when we started carrying expandible batons because you didn't have to try to guess whether or not you would need it.  It was just there.  If I would have taken my stick on this call back then, it wouldn't have change anything.  If it happened today and I had a stick, things would have been very different.  I'll cover that in later posts but I will tell you this little bit.  My last year of patrol, I was carrying two guns, an expandible baton, pepper spray, and five knives.  My last year, I was armed, not just physically but mentally.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

It was a beautiful day.  Sunny, hot but not scorchingly hot.  Not that it mattered to me anyway.  I had been a cop for almost 14 months at that point and it was still fun to put the costume on.  It didn't matter that there were days that I could feel sweat running in rivulets down my spine.  I was a cop and sweating was part of the price that I paid.  It was worth it.

One of the nice things about being a small town cop back then and living in your own jurisdiction was that you could go home or go to other officer's homes during shift on your break.  The city had a diameter of about 3 miles.  You could respond from anyplace in the city and be on scene within a minute or two.

Ask a Cop: Corn Bust - Part 8

Showtime has been pre-empted for the conclusion of the Corn Bust.  My apologies to Heart and Charley Pride but I want to finish this story before tomorrow and that kind of limits my options.

Billy was in jail and the next day I came in to start on the report.  The most time consuming part was going to be listening to the tape of the chase and writing down each every turn and road that the chase went on.  45 minutes spent turning every every minute or so meant that I had a lot of recounting to do.

I was sitting there typing up the rest of the report first putting off the road list until Slider was free to help out when my phone rang.  The caller was giving me an anonymous tip of where a guy with a warrant was.  I hung up, double checked that there was a warrant and went to pick up the guy.

I had debated whether or not to do it but decided that a warrant was such a quick arrest that I could fit it in and still get right back into my report.

Ask a Cop: Corn Bust - Part 7

Cops started showing up and soon we had a dozen cops around the field.  The chief showed up and assigned me to be Incident Command.  The problem with the situation was that we thought Billy was armed and so any search of the corn field was going to be very dangerous.

I called for a K9.  I assigned Ninja to cover the K9 since the handler would be busy.  The dog went in on Billy's scent but lost it.  They crossed the field a couple of times but came up empty.

This had no essentially turned into a barricaded subject.  I called for more officers.  We were going to have to make a chain of officers across the field and search it row by row.  I called out all our officers and the county SWAT team.  The stand off went into the next shift so everyone stayed and the new officers came to the scene.

Ask a Cop: Corn Bust - Part 6

The car blocking the exit from the parking lot moved out of the way.  They were probably trying to get out of the way of the cop car but that also meant that Billy was free to go again.  He shut the car door and hit the gas.  I shut my door, put my seatbelt back on, and told dispatch that the footchase was off and that we were still in a car chase.

Billy charged out into the road, not caring about the traffic.  Slider was pretty much brought to a stop by the traffic.  I called out Billy's direction and we got back on the road as quickly as we could.  We were well behind any possible chase.

I didn't find out what happened next until I was back at the office and a deputy filled me in.  When Billy had charged out onto Main Street, he drove right in front of a Purple Mustang.  Billy went east in his purple Neon and the driver of the Purple Mustang took after him in a fit of road rage.

Ask a Cop: Corn Bust - Part 5

Slider and I had barely missed the tree when I had ordered him to make a turn too quickly.  We were lucky.  A couple of the others weren't so lucky.

This chase went round and round Tinytown.  Troopers and deputies had pretty much contained the town so that if Billy tried to leave, he'd get spiked.  Well, at least they would try.  Spiking up to this point had not worked and there were going to be a couple more attempts before the chase was over.

Ninja was off duty when this whole thing started but happened to be in the office when a corrections officer brought my car back to the police department.  I had left it at the side of the road where Slider had made the initial stop.  It was unlocked and running when we left.  A local corrections officer brought it back to the office so that it wouldn't get stolen.  That was nice of him.

I don't remember if Ninja got called in or if he happened to be in the office when the corrections officer brought my car back.  Which ever it was, Ninja hopped in my car and came out to help.

Ask a Cop: Corn Bust - Part 4

Billy zipped around and headed back into Tinytown.  We chased him around street after street, around blocks, and up alleys.  This chase went on and on.  The entire chase took 45 minutes with a great deal of the going around in a one-mile diameter in Tinytown.

All those cops worked their way up the freeway as we were chasing around Tinytown.  They fanned out and worked their way into town.

Billy had a good idea and had there only been one or two cop cars following him, he might have gotten away.  He would drive up the alleys that ran north and south in Tinytown.  The alleys were just gravel roads and when he went flying down them, an incredible amount of dust came billowing up behind him completely blocking off all visibility for the cop following him.  The cop would have to slow way down to make his way safely through the alley. 

Ask a Cop: Corn Bust - Part 3

Billy saw all those cars and did the only thing he could in the situation.  He put the car up on two wheels so that it would fit between the cop cars parked in his way.

Just seeing if you're paying attention.

He actually went into the median and into the northbound lanes.  Slider followed him while Chuck and the Chief went into the median and got in front of Billy.  Billy started back to the north.  The Chief stopped sideways in the fast lane.  Billy gunned it and went straight for the Chief.  The Chief braced for impact but Billy turned at the last second and went around him.  The chase was on again and it wasn't long before we were all back up to 100 mph.

The cops that had been set up got in their cars and started north but at a more liesurely pace.  They were going to be ready in case Billy turned back around.