So Far This Week...

Thursday:

I got ready to go to work. Walked out to my patrol car to head to work, and my car wouldn't start. Again. It was acting up on Monday, and the City Shop came out and jumped it off. Said it needed a new battery, but it should be okay for a while. Apparently not. So they brought out a new battery and I was all set. But that set the tone for my day.

I got to roll call, and the Sergeant informed me that since Mike has a cold, and they don't want me to get sick too, Milan would ride with me. Milan went to school with Cynthia. Literally. He is a couple years older than she. But it's not like I had a choice here, so no big deal. First call was an accident. I misjudged how much room I had to pull in behind the vehicles and was too close to the accident scene. It wasn't really that big of a deal, but he wouldn't let it rest. And he had heard about Mike's misadventures in the passenger seat of my car, so he was a nervous wreck. I am NOT a bad driver, but when someone is sitting over there grabbing the oh-shit handle for every curve, it gets annoying.

We got a little busy. I tried for two HOURS to swing by headquarters (AKA 35) to pee. At first, I was trying to go before I had to go too badly. Every time I would get close, we'd get another call. They gave us an alarm call at a residence, which we checked and everything was good. So I said, "We're going to 35, right now." I pulled out of the subdivision and started that way, and this guy in a pick-up truck stops for his stop sign, then pulls out RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I narrowly avoided hitting him. I wasn't speeding or doing anything that might have made the accident my fault in any way. (I did get Milan to admit that if he had been driving, he probably would have hit him because he would have been driving faster than I was. Point for Darya.) I pulled the guy over to cuss him out, and naturally, he doesn't have a driver's license. Now he's going to jail, and I STILL gotta pee. Great! By the time I got him in cuffs, waited for the wrecker to tow his truck, and got him to the jail, I was doing the pee-pee dance. I was able to get one of the deputies to take pity on me and let me use the staff restroom at the jail. Now here's the other thing: Lately, I've been having trouble with the buckle on my gun belt catching and I am really having to struggle to get it undone. UGH! Of course, I had to fight that battle too. By the time I was finally able to go, I had to GO! But I made it!!!

The rest of the night was fairly quiet. We had one domestic call that we thought was fixin' to blow up in our faces. This elderly lady called because her daughter and her boyfriend were arguing. She gave the wrong address, but we found her. So we entered the apartment to talk to the parties, and they were locked in the back bedroom. There was no doorknob on the door, just a deadbolt. How strange! We couldn't hear them arguing, but it sure sounded like they were tossing each other around in there. No one was saying anything, not even, "Ouch!" I banged on the door, and identified us as "Police!" No response, just more hitting noises. So Milan called for back-up, not knowing what we had, and before we busted the door down. I'm still not 100% sure what was going on in there, but they did finally open the door and come out. Just about the time back-up arrived. They said they were just arguing. Neither party had bruises, so we sent the guy on his way, lectured the female about putting her kids and mother first. And we left. Still haven't figured that one out.....

Friday:

We weren't terribly busy tonight. We had a few calls and only one or two reports. It was decided early on that since I have driver's training early tomorrow morning, I would leave to go home at 11pm. Around 9:30, I turned around on a car that had no headlights. Shockingly, the driver didn't have a driver's license. So I arrested him. When his uncle arrived to take his little brother, he said that they thought since the kid was 17, he didn't have to have a driver's license. Okay, now I've heard it all.

About the time I'm placing the kid under arrest, they gave out an Armed Robbery. But I'm going to the jail, so I miss out on that one. When we get about done, they gave out another one. We were dispatched to it, but we didn't get there first. So we just checked the area for the suspect, then headed back to 35 so I could go home. About the time I was almost home, they gave out yet ANOTHER armed robbery. Crap! I miss all the good stuff! This time, the K9 unit was able to pick up a scent and they arrested the perpetrators. They didn't commit the first two, though. We think those were the same perp, but we don't know who.

On Saturday morning, I hear that I also missed out on a Homicide. Did I mention that I miss ALL the good stuff?

Saturday:

Today was my mini-EVOC class. It was quite beneficial, but with the exception of the death of a few orange cones, uneventful. The funny stuff happened after I hit the street.

By the time I got home and cleaned up, it was 4 o'clock when I got to work. No big deal, as I was getting paid since 7:45 this morning. So I picked up Mike, and we hit the street. Handled some piddly stuff and got gas. We stopped a guy for running a red light, and we didn't buy his story about his wife and the emergency room. He ended up getting two citations, and as he was signing them, he was wishing us bad karma. I warned him that he might not want to do that, as it was bad karma for him. As it turned out, it was for he and Mike. I didn't get a chance to hand him his driver's license and insurance card because he was being so pissy, he pulled out in a huff. So he had to drive all the way back to the station later to get them. Mike got the brunt of the karma deal...

Dispatch gave us an alarm call at the parking deck off the square. No biggie. More piddly stuff. So I pulled up in the deck and Mike says, "Let me out at the elevator and I'll ride it down and check the first floor. You check the deck and pick me up at the top." So I do. I get to the top and he calls me on the radio and says to meet him on the first floor. I get down there, and I can't find him anywhere.

I'm starting to get a little worried, then it dawned on me. I walked over to the elevator and knocked on it. I said, "Mike, are you in there?" He says, "Um, yeah. I'm stuck. Call the Lieutenant and tell him what's going on." I lost it! I was laughing SO hard, I could barely talk on the radio. I'm still laughing! Fortunately, we were able to get him out by going up to the next level and calling the elevator. But in the meantime, we ALL had a good laugh out of it. Mike said, "Next time, the rookie gets in the elevator." I said, "Next time, the rookie uses the stairs!" Since I ended up climbing them all anyway to put "Out of Order" signs on all the doors.

The Chief called my cell phone a little later to make sure Mike wasn't too traumatized. He said that his wife, my friend Wanda, was listening to the radio and said, "What's wrong with Darya? She sounds like she's crying." The Chief told her no, that it sounded like I was laughing my ass off. He said, "Tell Mike that if he's that desperate to get out of the car with you, he doesn't have to go lock himself in the elevator!"

A little later, we stopped by McDonald's and got milkshakes. We saw a vehicle with an expired tag, and so I decided to stop it. When I braked, Mike's milkshake fell, and spilled all over his feet and my floorboards. Poor Guy! He just needed to give it up and go home before anything worse happened. Fortunately, nothing else did. We handle more piddly stuff, and I left at regular time.