GreyWolf1129
Get off my planet.
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
- Messages
- 8,444
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- 11,166
Just so you know we're human, and sometimes painfully so, I thought I'd share a few examples of just how we can have fun on the job, sometimes at the expense of another officer...and sometimes at our own.
Anything I post here is factual. And first person. Either I was there, or I was there right after it happened. Obviously, the names, numbers, and locations have been changed to protect the embarrassed.
First one is on me...
Working the night shift (8p - 8a). Midshift is at 2am, and we meet (all 4 of us) at a Huddle House just off the interstate to eat. It was a weeknight, and very quiet. I'm exhausted; the meal doesn't help; so I run a couple of miles north on I-95 and set up in the median to "run RADAR". I pick a spot where I can see both north and southbound traffic. There is almost none; just the truckers and the occasional car.
Dispatch calls me with a question about something admin related (I was the sergeant). We always answer with our badge number and location. This proves critical later.
About 5 minutes later, I see a set of headlights come out of the curve behind me at high speed. Way high speed. I have just enough time to key my rear antenna. The RADAR unit screams, and the display reads "133". By the time I read it, the car is past me, and moving away at...well...133 miles per hour.
In gear, spray gravel, find the blacktop, and off we go. Now, I'm wide awake. It takes a mile or so for me to wind up to top speed, and another few seconds to gather my wits. I do the math: I'm fully half a mile behind the bad guy; he was going 133; and I'm topped out at 129. We're in a long straightaway. I can still see his taillights, barely, and I don't need Dick Tracy to tell me that I'm not gaining. At this point, I'm still "dark" (no blue lights), and I haven't called it out on the radio.
In the meantime, I have passed the only two other vehicles on my side of the "I"; two tractor-trailers running together. I have a CB in my car, which has proven to be a great tool for us, as the truckers will tell us about DUI's and reckless drivers. It does register with me that they are not talking about the car I'm after, but I don't give that minor point the attention it deserves...
At a mile and a half in, I finally realize there's no point in calling a chase on a vehicle I cannot describe, so I decide to hit my lights just to see what will happen. To my utter amazement, I see brake lights. Mind you, when I turn on my lights, my video camera automatically comes on. And when I see the brake lights, I naturally say "What a dumbass." All he had to do was keep going, and I would have backed out. Live to fight another day.
The car pulls over to the shoulder of the road, with me closing in fast. As I slow down, and right before I see the vehicle clearly, my CB finally springs to life. The words I hear leave no doubt that it's one of the two truckers behind me, and that they have seen the entire episode unfold.
"Ha ha ha...you see that county mountie chasing that Bear?"
It was a GSP trooper. One I knew well, and worked with all the time. He was one his way home after his shift, heard dispatch call me a few minutes before (we listen to each others' frequencies), knew where I was, and decided to have a little fun with me. It was a classic fly-by, and it worked like a champ.
I pull in behind the car, realize it's him, turn off my lights, and pull up beside him with my car wheezing at the effort I just put it through. He rolls down his passenger window, looks at me with a smile that only a mischevous child could emulate, and says "Whuuut...you didn't see me?"
It took me a few seconds to spool down before I busted out laughing. Classic.
I tried and tried, but never did get him back.
Go Vols.
Anything I post here is factual. And first person. Either I was there, or I was there right after it happened. Obviously, the names, numbers, and locations have been changed to protect the embarrassed.
First one is on me...
Working the night shift (8p - 8a). Midshift is at 2am, and we meet (all 4 of us) at a Huddle House just off the interstate to eat. It was a weeknight, and very quiet. I'm exhausted; the meal doesn't help; so I run a couple of miles north on I-95 and set up in the median to "run RADAR". I pick a spot where I can see both north and southbound traffic. There is almost none; just the truckers and the occasional car.
Dispatch calls me with a question about something admin related (I was the sergeant). We always answer with our badge number and location. This proves critical later.
About 5 minutes later, I see a set of headlights come out of the curve behind me at high speed. Way high speed. I have just enough time to key my rear antenna. The RADAR unit screams, and the display reads "133". By the time I read it, the car is past me, and moving away at...well...133 miles per hour.
In gear, spray gravel, find the blacktop, and off we go. Now, I'm wide awake. It takes a mile or so for me to wind up to top speed, and another few seconds to gather my wits. I do the math: I'm fully half a mile behind the bad guy; he was going 133; and I'm topped out at 129. We're in a long straightaway. I can still see his taillights, barely, and I don't need Dick Tracy to tell me that I'm not gaining. At this point, I'm still "dark" (no blue lights), and I haven't called it out on the radio.
In the meantime, I have passed the only two other vehicles on my side of the "I"; two tractor-trailers running together. I have a CB in my car, which has proven to be a great tool for us, as the truckers will tell us about DUI's and reckless drivers. It does register with me that they are not talking about the car I'm after, but I don't give that minor point the attention it deserves...
At a mile and a half in, I finally realize there's no point in calling a chase on a vehicle I cannot describe, so I decide to hit my lights just to see what will happen. To my utter amazement, I see brake lights. Mind you, when I turn on my lights, my video camera automatically comes on. And when I see the brake lights, I naturally say "What a dumbass." All he had to do was keep going, and I would have backed out. Live to fight another day.
The car pulls over to the shoulder of the road, with me closing in fast. As I slow down, and right before I see the vehicle clearly, my CB finally springs to life. The words I hear leave no doubt that it's one of the two truckers behind me, and that they have seen the entire episode unfold.
"Ha ha ha...you see that county mountie chasing that Bear?"
It was a GSP trooper. One I knew well, and worked with all the time. He was one his way home after his shift, heard dispatch call me a few minutes before (we listen to each others' frequencies), knew where I was, and decided to have a little fun with me. It was a classic fly-by, and it worked like a champ.
I pull in behind the car, realize it's him, turn off my lights, and pull up beside him with my car wheezing at the effort I just put it through. He rolls down his passenger window, looks at me with a smile that only a mischevous child could emulate, and says "Whuuut...you didn't see me?"
It took me a few seconds to spool down before I busted out laughing. Classic.
I tried and tried, but never did get him back.
Go Vols.
