COPS in Avondale

Bad boys bad boys
Watcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
when they come for you
Bad boys, bad boys
Watcha gonna do, watcha gonna do
when they come for you

It's Saturday night, almost Sunday morning, my daughter and I are having a movie night, we just finished watching "Snakes on a Plane" and just started watching "Lady on the Water".

Coffee in hand and a very sweet piece of angel food cake just baked by my daughter we are really into the movie when "mi chica" comes in from the patio and tells us that there is a small SUV with the door open and radio blasting parked on the wrong side of the street on Crystal Lake Parkway.

The reason this was rare is because there is no parking on Crystal Lake even though many people come to fish at night. Even though they can only fish up until 11:00 p.m. we figure that could be the reason that the car is there. "Mi Chica" says that this is weird and that maybe she is going to call the police so they can come and check this out. I told her to give it a few more minutes and I too went to the patio and noticed that the headlights were also turned on.

Ten minutes later the call was made and she was told that it would be a while because all police cruisers were out responding to other calls. We figured at least we did our civic duty by reporting it, we just hoped that the driver wasn't hurt or even worse. All this time door remains open and radio is still blasting, headlamps on probably blinding upcoming traffic.

It's amazing how detached we are from each other, nobody stopped to check if anything was wrong, with so many crazy people out there and kids carrying guns and all most of us just decide to keep driving. Never mind that there could be someone in need of assistance, the mistrust we have for each other is now stronger than ever.

It took almost an hour and a half for the police to finally arrive. At this point my daughter yells, "The police is here", so we paused the movie and we went out to the patio were we could have full visuals of the cars.

The police cruiser parked right behind the SUV and engaged the high beams. The police officer got off his patrol and started walking very slowly towards the SUV, one hand held his spot light and the other firmly planted by his gun. He walked towards the open driver's door and looked inside then slowly went around the back to the passenger side hand still by the gun and flashed the light through the window, then walked back again towards the open door. Radio is still playing loud and by now we are thinking that maybe the SUV is abandoned.

The officer then taps his flash light on the windshield and starts saying, "Hey buddy, hello there, buddy, wake up". Tap, tap, tap, he goes again on the window, "Buddy, HEY, WAKE UP!" Finally I see someone getting off the car, it appears to be male. "Turn around, and don't move" the officer tells him. After the initial searching he proceeds to give him a sobriety test. We notice then that the driver is actually a young guy, wearing basketball shorts and jersey.

We see how this kid can't even take one step without almost falling, "Oh man, this kid is so drunk, hes is going to be taken in" is the first thing we said. Ten minutes later the officer tells the kid to sit on the sidewalk and don't move. We notice he is not handcuffed so it's obvious the officer doesn't think it's a high risk. While the officer is in his car, the kid stands up to stretch, "Sit your ass down... NOW!" commanded the officer. Another ten minutes and the officer goes to him again, more chat for a few more minutes and then sits him down again. Kid gets up and start going towards his the driver door. "COME BACK AND SIT YOUR ASS DOWN... NOW!!! The kid quickly complies with the request, no wait the command and just waits.

Almost 45 minutes later a motorcycle cop shows up, and now both of them call the kid. We hear very loud voices, keep in mind the kid has not been handcuffed at all so I said, they won't take him in, they are in fact going to give him a break. "Mi Chica" taught different, she said being a long weekend and with Sheriff Arpaio's zero tolerance he was going in for sure.

Both officers still talking loud to this kid, I couldn't make the conversation (I wished I had Harry Potter's extendable ears) but I imagined they were trying the "scare straight" tactic. Then I saw the kid walk towards the SUV's open door and get a cell phone.

"OK, cool he won't be taken in" I said. They are allowing him to call someone. Sure enough almost another 45 minutes later a car shows up and parks on a side street. A woman is walking towards the officers and the kid and another ten minute conversation. Then they both walk towards the SUV, kid get in the passenger side while the lady gets behind the wheel, and they both drive away.

So now here's the question I pose to you. Keeping in mind that we only saw the whole thing from half a block away and we don't know how drunk this kid was or how it was that he was parked on the wrong side of the street late at night with his door open and radio blasting. Maybe he realized he was too far gone and just pulled over and stopped thinking this was the safest thing to do. Maybe he actually lost it and his truck made it to that specific spot on it's own, we'll never know.

So, should the cops have taken him in on grounds that he could have caused a very serious or even fatal accident?. Or were they right to give him a second chance and to release him to his mom?

Me... I believe in second chances, so kudos to the police officers, they handled the whole thing calmly and professionally, nothing like what you see on COPS, that was for sure.

"Wow, it's now almost 3:30 a.m. Let's go to bed" said my daughter, at least you'll have something to blog about later dad.