Monday, April 7, 2008 (16:20) I’d been setting outside for the past half hour waiting for Irving Brothers to deliver a load of dirt for my front yard. Three of the older dealers were standing on the southwest corner for the past five minutes when a car pulled up and parked across the street. The driver remained in the car while the passenger walked towards the group standing on the corner. He was not being very coy as he began asking them for drugs before he even crossed the street.
I’ve always said that the older dealers here have a little more common sense than the younger ones, and these guys proved it by quickly walking away from the obnoxious man. He was standing on the corner as they walked away and calling out “Come on, don’t you remember me? I need to get twenty. I’ve got my I.D. this time.” After they left, the man walked right over to Arlen, and tried to buy from him. Typically, Arlen would respond to such idiocy by threatening to shoot the man in the ass. But evidently he was in a good mood because he just laughed and told the guy to move on.
The guy lingered for a moment and turned towards me. I couldn’t resist having some fun so I said “Aren’t you going to ask me?” He looked at me strangely for a second, then walked back towards his car. A couple of the younger guys were standing by his car then and he turned towards them. After talking for a minute, this guy walked down the street and around the corner with the two young dealers. As they went out of sight, I told Arlen that either that guy was carrying a big gun or he’s just plain stupid to be walking off with those two. We were both openly speculating that the guy might be an undercover cop.
While this was occurring, I noticed something strange about the driver of the car who remained parked across the street from my house. Arlen and I were both talking quite loudly about the fact that he was here buying drugs. We were pointing at both the car and the other man and laughing about the situation. Whenever I’ve done this in the past I’ve gotten some reaction, either a stare or the driver will pull forward a bit. But this guy was totally unaffected, staring straight ahead the entire time and seemingly oblivious to what we were saying.
A few minutes later, the other guy came hobbling back around the corner, shirt rumpled and carrying one of his shoes in his hands. Arlen and I immediately began laughing as we knew he’d been hustled. The waiting car drove down the street bit and pulled over to let him in. As he walked to the car, he was shouting out loud “Those mother fuckers are gonna be sorry. I’ll come back down here with some people and take care of this. I’m best friends with Rusty York man, you mother fuckers are gonna be sorry.” Of course all his ranting just made Arlen and I laugh even harder.
Our laughing seemed to further upset this idiot and he then focused his attention on us saying “I’ll take care of you too. I’ll come back here and shoot both you’re asses.” I shouted back “Fuck you, that’s what you get for buying drugs here. Why don’t you come and shoot my ass right now?” I was still laughing as I knew this guy was all talk, but Arlen was not laughing. First, this guy had mistaken him for a drug dealer, and he just shook that off. But now this guy was threatening to shoot him, and Arlen doesn’t go for that kind of shit.
Arlen ran down the street about a half block to the waiting car and I quickly followed to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. Arlen actually had a hold of the man’s shirt as he was climbing into the car and he reached in and slapped the man across the face as the car began driving off. The car stopped after about twenty feet and the passenger stuck his head out the window and started cussing. Without hesitation, Arlen ran back and actually reached in and grabbed a hold of the guy. At this point, the car just sped the hell out of there and it is a wonder that either Arlen didn’t succeed in pulling this guy out through the window or Arlen didn’t get dragged off with the car.
I thought about calling FWPD to report the disturbance, but what the hell would be the point. I’m not even sure how I’d describe something like that over the phone. Anyway, I figured the idiot had probably learned his lesson and wouldn’t be back. But there was something that was bothering me still. The idiot was obviously not an undercover cop, as Tom and I had speculated. But during this entire episode that driver was remarkably cool, almost professional in his demeanor. I do not consider it unlikely that the driver of the car was actually an undercover cop, and the passenger was just one of his informants working off a debt.
On the off chance that this was an undercover police action, I thought that FWPD should hear my side of the story. I wanted them to know that by extending their drama to a couple of innocent bystanders, these two men had created a situation that could have easily turned very ugly. I will not say that I was carrying my Glock, model-19 weapon at the time because, as Paul Helmke will tell you, only criminals carry guns and there is no need for law abiding citizens to be armed. But I will say that if either of those men had produced a weapon, I feel very confident that I would have had the situation under control.
The message that I needed to convey to FWPD was quite simple. “If this was one of your officers, you need to realize that if he had produced a weapon without showing a badge, I would have put his ass down.” Of course even though my position was entirely defensive, just saying such a thing to most officers would come across as a threat. This was not something that the people at the front desk could handle, so I was trying to decide which of the officers that I knew would be best to speak with about the matter. As I was contemplating this, Officer Clayton (A member of FWPD Command Staff) just happened to drive slowly past my house. I flagged him down and briefed him on the situation. I told him the license plate number of the car and he quickly replied that “That’s not one of ours.” Of course I’m sure he wouldn’t have let me know if it was a cop, but at least I had gotten the message through just in case.
Just this morning I spoke with Officer Jefferson on the phone about the recent events here. I summed things up by telling him that although the guys are still active, relatively speaking things have been pretty calm here lately. Nobody on this block has been killed this year - at least not yet!
I'll say ONE thing about your neck o' the woods....things take their time when they happen.
ReplyDeleteAround MY area, it all goes down real fast.
Guy pulls up, another guy goes to window, exchange of "merchandise" and GONE in less time that it takes to steal a car.
You sneeze, and you miss it.
Sounds like the guy that got the hurting put on him might well have been a CI (confidential informant) for the driver who, by your description could have been some type of officer or agent. He seemed way past cool, and into the COLD zone, as in STONE COLD.
CIs take a chance that they might get the crap wailed out of them when they decide to roll on a seller, but making the buy and cutting a deal for less (if any) jail time beats taking a hard rap for a year or more in prison...ANY day (to them).
And law-enforcemnt works out deals like this every day of the year.
I'm just surprised that Arlen isn't doing some "quality time" in the hoosegow himself.
He must either live a charmed life, or he's a CI.
Just one more of the many: "Tales From the Southside".
Helluva way to live, ain't it?
B.G.
(it ain't living...it's EXISTING... and surviving)
Oh, I didn't mean being there first applied to you. My point is that "One has their reasons"
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing that, despite all the neighborhood issues, you still have neighbors that care enough to help you out. That sounds like a lot of dirt you had to shovel...
ReplyDeletePhil,
ReplyDeleteForgive me for letting my professional life spill into bloggage world :).
When an organization asks for help, it's more than just making the statement. There's a TON of work that needs to be done in order to enable people outside of the organization to "help".
Pardon me for pulling out my project management background, but these organizations need to define:
1) Scope - what do they mean by help?
2) Objectives - how do you know you've been successful? Met your goals?
3) Support system - what kind of support system (i.e. personnel within the organization and tools) are needed in order to make this effort a success.
4) Communication plan - how will you keep all interested stakeholders in the loop?
And those - to me - are just the fundamentals.
To ask for help and to have no well-thought out plan behind it is the equivalent of crying wolf.
Kristina
bobby g,
ReplyDelete"((10 ton of dirt? What the deuce are you making...a gun emplacement?
LMAO!))"
No, but I've considered it before. It sounds like you and I think alike on a lot of tactical issues. Some of the things I have done (or considered doing) here would probably surprise everyone but you.
The exterior siding of my house is now steel panels (think fire-resistance). Beneath these panels are thin sheets of polymer plastic which resist penetration (think bullet-resisance.) When I began siding my house, I actually checked the price of kevlar fabric. You can purchase it by the bolt, but it was way too expensive.
So now you know about the exterior of my house. I'll just leave the interior to your imagination (watch your step!)
kristina,
"When an organization asks for help, it's more than just making the statement. To ask for help and to have no well-thought out plan behind it is the equivalent of crying wolf." - Exactly what I was thinking.
fairplay,
Well, I could always get a job mowing bobby g's lawn. I'm sure he'd appreciate that I know how to clean up the trash as well.
Phil:
ReplyDeleteWhat? No ballistic-grade glass or one inch thick LEXAN for the windows?
Kevlar is a little steep, as is some carbon fiber materials...we need our OWN autoklave for that one...LOL!
Wonder how we could get our hands on ALL those police vests they hand back in after their expiration dates?
Make some damn fine "insulation", hmm?
I do mow my own lawn, but you're MORE than welcome to stop by and watch me (hardly feel the gun on my hip when I push that mower up the hill anymore).
I am in the market to find some landscaper than can place some nice BIG railroad ties along the side perimeter of my property line, though.
B.G.
You'll have to come up to the beach courts this summer and have a beer sometime. It's actually not far away from you at all.
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely do that Mike. You're there to the east of Tecumseh, just south of the river - correct?
ReplyDeleteI see your schedule and contact info on your myspace page, so I'll holler at you later in the year when you get things going there.