A valet story

It was a rare night. I was by myself. I finished evaluating AR last night and he decided to take tonight off.

One of the major nuisances in the part of the city that I patrol is illegal parking. There is not any zoning so there are businesses and residences built right on top of each other. A number of the businesses are night clubs and bars. As you can imagine, this creates a parking nightmare at night.

Residential streets end up being clogged with cars that park in the street and while the owners walk to the bars and clubs. The city has responded by making public streets permit parking only during certain hours. The city has also put up tow away signs on those streets if the vehicle does not have a valid permit to park on that city block.

A fellow officer ran out of parking tickets on one of these streets and asked for someone to bring by a parking ticket book. I checked by with him and he ticketed 4 cars and I ticketed three cars for parking on a public street without a permit. While we were ticketing the cars, an Infiniti G35 kept driving by. After noticing the car a few times, we started to watch it a little more closely. The Infiniti would pull over at the end of the block and pick up a valet driver and then ferry him to the parking lot that the valet drivers used to park the cars. This parking lot was a few blocks away from the valet stand where patrons dropped off their cars.

On one trip down the street, we noticed that the Infiniti had a valet coupon on the dashboard. This led us to believe that the valet company was using a customer's car to ferry drivers from the business to the parking lot. We doubted that the Infiniti's owner had given the valet company permission to use their car in that manner. We went to the valet stand and asked for the manager. A phone call was made.

A few minutes later we noticed the Infiniti pull over at the same corner. We watched the manager get out of the car and tell the driver to take off. We stopped the Infiniti and started investigating. We were able to find the Infiniti's owner in a nearby bar. Not surprisingly, he had not given the valet company permission to use his car in that manner. The owner stated that he had given the valet company the keys at 11:45 PM. We stopped the Infiniti at 2 AM. They had been using his car for over two hours. We then called the district attorney's office. The DA that we spoke with seemed to take our story personally. Maybe he uses valet services fom time to time?

We ended up taking the valet driver and manager to jail. The driver for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle since he did not have permission to use the vehicle in that manner and the manager for criminal trespass since he did not have permission to be in the vehicle. I guess the moral of the story is, if you use valet services, check the odometer of your vehicle before you give it to them and when you get the vehicle back. You never know what they might have been doing with your vehicle.

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Spring Break part 1

For Valentine's Day earlier this year, I gave Jennifer a pair of concert tickets for Casting Crowns. I was hoping that she would decide to take me with her. The concert was on the Friday evening before Spring Break. When I purchased the tickets, I did not know that A1 would have Little League practice on Friday evenings and that A2 would have dance on Friday evenings. Fortunately for us, the Grandparents came to the rescue. Jen's mom took A1 to dance. A2 tagged along. After dance, they met my parents for dinner. Luckily for them, rain earlier in the week caused the cancellation of A2's practice. So, my parents took over child watching duties after dinner. After the kids went to sleep, my parents were able to go home since Jen's Grandmother was staying with us. It was a team effort. Thank you.

Thankfully, I had recuperated enough from my stomach virus to attend the concert. The venue was about 50 miles from our house and we left two and a half hours before the concert started. It was a good thing. It took us well over two hours to make the drive. A helicopter would have been nice. Thankfully, neither one of us was hungry, so we did not need to stop for dinner. The concert was great. Casting Crowns put on a very good show. Strangely, there was a 30 minute intermission in the middle of the Casting Crowns set. It was for a great cause, World Vision. Using donations, they feed hungry children all over the world. It was just strange to stop the show altogether. In previous concerts, the band would talk about whatever cause they were promoting for a few minutes and then resume playing. Not this time. The intermission nearly put Jen and I to sleep. We tried to get online on our iPhones, but so did everyone else. We managed to make it through and enjoyed the rest of the concert. We left just before the end of the show and made it home in good time. We still had the rental car so I was not concerned about gas mileage.

The following day, A2 had Little League practice in the middle of the day. I used the time to walk around the Toyota dealership that is right next door to the fields. I had found out a few days earlier that my Camry Hybrid had been totaled in the accident. The cost to fix the vehicle was over $23 K. One part in particular, a power inverter had been damaged and the part alone was $5900. Wow. So, I was in the market for a new car. I looked at the new Camry Hybrids and I liked the small changes that had been made to them in the past year.

I was still a little nervous about the unexplained acceleration problems and the recalls. I did some research and found out that the Camry Hybrids had not ever been a part of the gas petal recall. Additionally, the recall that they were a part of, the floor mats, was just ridiculous. If the floor mat is left installed with the clips that Toyota uses, the mat will not move. However, if the owner removes the clips or even worse, adds additional mats on top of the factory mat, those mats can slide forward and get in the way of the petals. This is true for EVERY vehicle. Toyota was recalling thousands of vehicles to shave down floor mats so that stupid owners could have room to stack additional mats on top of the factory floor mats. I was not planning on stacking floor mats, so my concerns about the safety of the Camry Hybrids was alleviated. I did look around at a few other vehicles, but we ended up buying another Camry Hybrid. Same color, same options, just a year newer.

A little later that afternoon, Jen hosted a baby shower for her sister at our house. By all accounts, it was just the type of event that you would expect from Jen. Very well decorated, planned, and executed. Jen throws great parties and showers.

Only two days down, more to come later.

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Jen 1, virus 0

Very early in the morning of March 8th, Jen began to realize one of her greatest fears. A2 woke up and started calling for Jen saying that her stomach hurt. Sure enough, a short time later, A2 began throwing up. The throwing up continued throughout the day. There would be periods of inactivity during which hopes would be raised that the worst was over. This was always followed by another round of heaving. In the past with our kids, stomach viruses passed in the span of a half day or so. At least the throwing up portion of the virus. This time was different. A2 spent the night in our bedroom, which meant that Jen did not sleep.

Tuesday dawned and A2 was still not feeling well. She threw up a few more times during the day and we decided to call the doctor's office in the afternoon. They wanted to see her. After A1 got home from school, we headed to the doctor's office. A2 started out the trip very uncomfortable and we thought that she was going to get sick in the truck. Then she calmed down and took a nap. She woke up 25 minutes later when we arrived at the doctor's office and she was a new child. She was acting like she felt great. It was a night and day difference from the beginning of the drive. Just remarkable. The doctor told us that some viruses stick around for a few days and that she might have a relapse in the next day or two. That statement turned out to be prophetic.

On Wednesdays my parents generously volunteer to come up to the house and watch A2. A2 was fine all day long and acting like her normal self. She took her usual nap. After waking up she was a little lethargic. She wanted to lay down on the couch and watch a movie. I obliged her. All of the sudden, relapse time. Suck. After getting her cleaned up, she was reborn. Thankfully, that was the last of it for A2 this time around.

On Thursday, I was riding the zero tolerance unit with B. B was working overtime for another officer and my rookie was off. B likes to drive and I am getting used to being the passenger. Being the zero tolerance unit required us to patrol the high crime areas of the beat. This resulted in lots of starts and stops and turns. Bad news for me. I started feeling nauseous. So we took a little break and I started feeling better. That was the calm before the storm. I ended up getting sick a little later in a parking lot. It was one of those times when death seemed like the best option. I recovered enough to drive home. I slept and then felt good enough to attend a concert that night. I did not eat anything for 40 hours. The virus lingered and I did not feel completely back to normal until Monday.

Sunday evening, A1 came to us and said that his stomach hurt. Not good. We were not at home. We quickly headed home and a few hours later, it was confirmed. A1 had the virus. He slept in our room that night which meant no sleep for Jen again. A1 took Monday to recover and was back to normal by Tuesday morning.

During this week long ordeal, Jen was a trooper. She absolutely hates to throw up and has a major fear of contracting a stomach virus. Threw it all, she took fabulous care of us. While taking care of us, she also cleaned. Our home is usually clean, but this week, it was spotless. Lysol, Clorex wipes, disposable gloves, and baby wipes were a few of her tools of choice. How the virus survived in the house for a week is a mystery. Every surface was scrubbed with virus killing chemicals. She did everything possible to eradicate the virus from our house outside of burning it down. It was quite a showdown. The virus won a few battles, but Jen won the war.

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Unstable? I don't think so

Two weeks ago, AR and I were dispatched to a suspicious event at a very nice apartment complex. The type of complex that has fountains and multiple pools and cabanas and the monthly rent is more than most house notes. Lindsey, the person who called, met us outside of the leasing office. She did not want us to come to her apartment and she did not want her roommates to know that she had called the police.

Lindsey stated that she was a student at the local university. She was also a member of a sorority. About a month ago, she moved into this apartment complex with two of her sorority sisters. Lindsey has a dog as does her roommate S. The other roommate, C, hates dogs. So, three roommates, two dogs, and one roommate that hates dogs. Lately there had been quite a few arguments between the roommates. C is always complaining about the dogs. C knew before moving in that her two roommates were bringing dogs. According to Lindsey, the arguments were beginning to escalate and Lindsey was becoming worried for her and her dog's safety.

The three roommates all share the same kitchen and refrigerator. They all buy separate groceries and everyone knows whose stuff is whose. For breakfast, Lindsey poured herself a glass of her pineapple orange apple juice. She immediately noticed a strong chemical odor coming from the juice. She had poured the juice into a clear glass and she held up the glass to a light. She noticed white particulates in the juice. She said that it looked like Oxy Clean. She thought that the juice might be out of date and checked the bottle, but it was well before the use date. So, Lindsey took out her other bottle of juice and poured a glass of passion fruit. The passion fruit juice had the same chemical odor and the same white particulates.

At this point, Lindsay thinks that C has tried to poison her. She has heard C make comments in the past about messing with someone's food or shampoo because they made her mad. So, what does Lindsey do? She starts to pour out the juice and calls her mom. When she tells her mom that she is pouring out the juice, her mom yells at her to stop pouring out the juice. There is about a shot glass worth of juice left in each bottle when we arrive.

I asked Lindsey what she wanted us to do. I was trying to find out how far Lindsey wanted to go. Did she want to go through with the process of filing criminal charges against her sorority sister? She was not sure, so she called her mother. After a long conversation with lots of questions for us, this is what they, Lindsey and her mother, wanted. They wanted us to make a report, they wanted us to take samples of the juice, and they wanted to keep some of the juice and the bottle so that they could have the juice tested themselves at an independent lab. Why did they want independent testing? Because they did not want to go through with pursuing criminal charges until it was determined that the juice was actually tainted. Ok, I understand that. Why did they want to wait? Because they did not want to ruin the friendship with sorority sister C. That is where they lost me.

In my mind, the friendship was already toast. If I was sure enough to call the police and make a report, I would already be making plans to move out and would have nothing to do with that roommate.

While AR was talking to Lindsey and getting the information for the report, I made some phone calls to determine what we needed to do with the juice. I talked to three different investigators, the property room, and the crime scene unit. After hearing the story, every single person asked me if Lindsey had been diagnosed with a mental illness. We get lots of calls where people think that someone is out to get them and usually these people are mentally unstable. That is the first thing that I thought. But, after talking to Lindsey and her mother for quite some time, I decided that Lindsey seemed mentally competent. Unfortunately for Lindsey, she moved in with a complete nut job.

We ended up taking the juice bottles and taking multiple samples of the juice. We then tagged the samples into our property room. They will not be tested until an investigator decides that there is sufficient reason to have them tested after interviewing everyone involved. We then took the bottles back to Lindsey for her to have tested. Hopefully for her sake, her lab results come back quickly.

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That's going to leave a mark

Last Friday evening started out like every other recent Friday evening. Jen takes A2 to dance and then A1 and I meet them for dinner. Then we all go to A1's Little League baseball practice. I leave practice a little early so that I can get home, change clothes, and then leave for work. On this night, I was driving down the main drag doing my usual speed, somewhere around 35 mph (battery power of course), as I was approaching the freeway. When out of nowhere I was slammed into by another vehicle. The collision was almost head on. I did not have time to react, swerve, or even apply the brakes.

All of the sudden, the airbag punched me in the chest as the car slammed to a stop. If you have not had the airbag experience, let me tell you, it gets your attention. I imagine it is like being a quarterback and being blindsided by Ray Lewis. Or like being an office worker in any of the Terry Tate office linebacker videos (http://bit.ly/bFkK3d). It is a very jarring experience. It is better than hitting the steering wheel or windshield, but still rather shocking. While the airbag powder was still in the air, I managed to open the driver's side door about 12 inches (all it would open) and walk over to the other vehicle. The driver had opened their door and was hysterical. A witness and I got her out of the vehicle and helped her to walk across the roadway and to sit down and wait for medical personnel. The driver stated that she thought that the turn was protected during a green light. When in fact, the turn is only protected with an arrow which she did not have. Both of our lights were green and she failed to yield the right of way when turning left.

Local police and ambulance services showed up about three minutes later. The other driver was loaded into an ambulance and transported to a local hospital. She were complaining of back and neck pain. I was checked out on the scene by the ambulance attendants. I decided to stay on the scene and not get checked out in an emergency room. The investigating officer was very friendly and stated that this type of accident occurs at this location frequently. I recognized one of the ambulance driver's from work. His regular job is with HFD and we have spoken on many scenes at work. They all offered me a ride home, but I had called my cousin and asked him to come and get me. I did not want Jen to have to load up the kids and bring them to an accident scene. My cousin arrived as the wrecker was picking up the Camry. We transferred all of my stuff into his car and he drove me home.

I notified my insurance company of the accident that evening. The other driver had valid insurance with a discount insurance provider. I have gotten the claim number and adjusters name from her insurance company, but so far the adjuster has not returned my calls. I will find out tomorrow from my insurance company if my car is a total loss. I do not think that it is, but I imagine that hybrids are very expensive to fix. In the mean time, I am driving around in a rented Ford Flex. It looks like a boxy bread truck. There is a surprising amount of room inside and A1 really likes it. I am still very sore and my chest has some bruising, but overall I am doing fine. It had been a long time since I had been in an accident and had just received a safe driving certificate at work. I am thankful that I was by myself and I hope that it is a long time before I get hit by an airbag again.

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With a friend like me, who needs enemies?

This is the fourth day of evaluation for S. He is doing very well and will be done with evaluation tomorrow. I have been fortunate lately. All of the rookies that I have recently evaluated have been exceptional. That makes my job easier.

After doing a few traffic stops we were dispatched to a major accident. We arrived to find only one vehicle with very minor (a scratch) damage. The other driver was returned to the scene. That driver went to jail for having 7 warrants. As we were waiting for S to take care of things, I was reminded of a funny story.

Awhile ago I checked by with B on a burglary of a motor vehicle in progress. The location was right next to the complex where B lives. We arrived and of course, the suspect was gone. As we were gathering information, two females exited an apartment to walk their dogs. B looked at them and then said to me, "I think that is Lindsey."

Ok, I'll bite. "Who is Lindsey?" B said that Lindsey was an ex- girlfriend. They were still walking and by this time were about 100 feet away from us. I asked B again what her name was. He told me. So, I turned as shouted "Lindsey". She quickly turned around. I looked at B and said, "Yup, it is Lindsey."

The two females returned and Lindsey was looking at us, not sure who had called her name. She was looking at B with a questioning look on her face. So, I came to the rescue again. I said, "Hey Lindsey, yes it is B." Needless to say, B was less than pleased with me. On the other hand, I was very proud of myself.

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