cops
Sun Aug 12 03:46:22 EDT 2001
8/7/01 pinkee had a bad asthma attack. I found this out when I got home. I was told she wanted me to go to the emergency room where she was. From what very little I knew of asthma, I was not certain she'd survive the night.
On my way to the hospital, I pulled into a parking lot to check my map. Cops apparently noticed me pull back out of this parking lot as soon as they pulled into it. They followed me, and ran my plate, which came back as invalid, because I haven't put my new vanity plate on yet. So they pulled me over.
I, not knowing if my girlfriend was going to survive the night, got out of my car, and said "My girlfriend is in the hospital because she can't breathe".. or something close. I gave them the name of the hospital. In my excitement, I said it wrong.
They asked me to put my hands on my car. I got searched by cop #1.
Cop #1 said "What's all this stuff on your belt?" I said "One of them
is a gun." He said "What ?" I said "One of them is a gun, my permit
is in my wallet in my back right pocket." It still blows my mind that
he stopped searching me at that point. Didn't notice the two spare
magazines I was wearing, and he would not have noticed the kel-tek p32
I tend to carry in my pocket (which I wasn't at the time).
He asked me to dig my carry permit out of my wallet, and I did.
Nobody ever asked to see my license, so they never actually visually
verified my identity.
My Kimber 1911 Compact somehow ended up in Cop #2's hands. Cop #1 kept telling cop #2 not to play with it. Cop #2, moments later, said, in a shocked tone "The hammer's back.", to which I responded, "Yeah, and the safety's on". Cop #2 said "That's a weird safety". I said, in an appalled tone "That's a 1911, you don't know how to operate that safety ??" Cop #1 responded "No, we're only trained on one gun." (Note that this was admission that they are not properly trained to handle my firearm, which cop #2 is currently playing with)
They told me they felt it was reckless of me to carry a gun with its hammer cocked.
I repeated a number of times that my girlfriend was in the hospital because she couldn't breathe. Cop #1 just replied "Well we don't know that." I asked if they wanted her cell phone number. They said no. I wish I'd suggested that they call the emergency room and ask if she was admitted.
10 minutes after they pulled me over, cop #1 told me they were going to let me go. 15 minutes after that (yes, for a total of 25 minutes), they did, in fact, let me go, without any tickets or charges.
They told me there was no record of me having a carry permit (other than the physical copy they had in their hands), told me they were letting me go, and handed me my kimber back - unloaded and slidelocked (an appropriate state). Cop #1 then lectured me about the recklessness of carrying my Kimber with its hammer cocked. I pointed out the two safeties on the gun. He said that the biggest problem with this was that they are required to unload the gun, and are not trained on it. So this person who has no experience with my firearm was lecturing me on the use of it.
It was an extremely aggravating experience.
I must say I appreciate that it could have gone
much worse though. And as cop #1 walked away, I told him "Thank you very much."
Ugh.
Pinkee ended up being fine, after inhaling a bunch of medicine in oxygen. They gave her a new emergency inhaler.
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