S2K: Off-road police vehicle
08-03-2006, 06:12 PM
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S2K: Off-road police vehicle
Yesterday I spent probably an hour washing my S. I was going to wax it but had too many other things to do, so I left for my regular church singles group just before 7pm. I'm sure it was the car-washing that caused what follows.
I had heard there was a fugitive loose in the area I'd be driving through, maybe 8 miles from my house. I'm an auxiliary deputy sheriff (in North Carolina, auxiliary or reserve officers have the same arrest powers and use-of-force authority as regulars, we just work part-time as volunteers instead of full-time for pay) in my county and I carry my duty belt and weapons in my trunk--the shotgun case baaaaarely fits. Sure enough, I see one patrol car after another parked along the highway, and when I ask if they need another hand, I'm directed to the temporary command post at the Boy Scout camp. Yes, they could use another deputy.
Our subject was a creep who had been arrested in the county north of us for the second-degree murder of his 18-month-old stepson. Since he wasn't charged with first-degree murder, he was able to make bail and then, surprise, didn't feel like showing up for court. He had been camping out in the woods near the Scout camp for several days before, and was near the road looking suspicious when a deputy stopped him for questioning. He saw his name come up on the patrol car computer as wanted, and took off into the woods again.
Having no patrol car of my own, I got back in the S and went down the road they told me to. My station was waaaaaay back in the woods. I kept going, and going, and going, over the dirt road, asking other officers posted along it where I should stop. They said keep going, and turn right on this other dirt road, and go down to where the Elizabethtown officers on 4-wheelers are. Well, THAT road was not just dirt, it had a lot of big-ass muddy ruts! This is not where you want to take a low-riding RWD sports car. When duty calls, you do what you gotta do.
I just kept my speed up and powered through, weeping at the thought of all that mud, and a couple times had to stop and jog ahead to pick out a path where I wouldn't get stuck, and wouldn't get scratched too bad. I went on and on like this for maybe half a mile, and finally, ahead in a clearing, were two fellow cops on 4-wheelers. I stopped short of them because there was just too much mud to go forward prudently from there.
They told me later that they heard me coming and figured "that mo-fo just stole a car and he's trying to ditch it cause NObody has any other business back here" but when I got out wearing my hat that says "Deputy Sheriff" they just stared at me and my S, which is the only one in the county. "How in thee HAIL did you get that thing back here without getting stuck?"
I just said: "Skill."
Actually I didn't know any better, and sure didn't know that off-road trucks had gotten stuck like glue in some of those ruts! But seeing is believing, so now I'm sure they know me as that crazy deputy with the red car that can do anything. They also said that Honda should demonstrate what I just did in the S, and they'd sell like hotcakes.
We drove back up the road and staked out a section of dirt road, not really expecting to find the guy, so we shot the breeze until we got orders to meet back at the command post. Regular deputies were sent out with night vision and I was assigned to the command post for security of our EMTs until relieved at 7 the next morning. I was settling in for a long night and thankful that we had plenty of donated sandwich supplies and junk food. And mourning the loss of my beautiful wash job. And thinking of all the mud on the floor and splattered on the dash from getting in and out with tactical boots.
Lucky us, the bad guy came out of hiding a couple hours later and snuck up to a house maybe a quarter mile from where I was, to steal food and get a drink of water. That happened to be the home of the former camp ranger--we call him Tater--and his dogs started barking. Now Tater's dogs only bark for a good reason, so Tater armed himself and opened the door to the carport. The bad guy looked up from the water hose into nine millimeters of impending death, and immediately flopped down begging Tater not to kill him. Tater's son called us, and a deputy responded at the speed of light to cuff-n-stuff the sumbitch. He went immediately to jail, and the rest of us were home by 11.
I was dreading washing off all that mud, but as it happened, today was my appointment to get XM Radio installed at Lumberton Honda where I got it from. They were nice enough to wash my S, and very well done, for no charge. They left the interior to me, though!
Now if I could only get skinny enough to get in and out of my S while wearing a full duty belt and protective vest. As it is, I look like Mr. Incredible at the beginning of the movie ("grrrrnt ... arrrrrrgh .... maybe just a salad").
Here's the story: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=238952
I had heard there was a fugitive loose in the area I'd be driving through, maybe 8 miles from my house. I'm an auxiliary deputy sheriff (in North Carolina, auxiliary or reserve officers have the same arrest powers and use-of-force authority as regulars, we just work part-time as volunteers instead of full-time for pay) in my county and I carry my duty belt and weapons in my trunk--the shotgun case baaaaarely fits. Sure enough, I see one patrol car after another parked along the highway, and when I ask if they need another hand, I'm directed to the temporary command post at the Boy Scout camp. Yes, they could use another deputy.
Our subject was a creep who had been arrested in the county north of us for the second-degree murder of his 18-month-old stepson. Since he wasn't charged with first-degree murder, he was able to make bail and then, surprise, didn't feel like showing up for court. He had been camping out in the woods near the Scout camp for several days before, and was near the road looking suspicious when a deputy stopped him for questioning. He saw his name come up on the patrol car computer as wanted, and took off into the woods again.
Having no patrol car of my own, I got back in the S and went down the road they told me to. My station was waaaaaay back in the woods. I kept going, and going, and going, over the dirt road, asking other officers posted along it where I should stop. They said keep going, and turn right on this other dirt road, and go down to where the Elizabethtown officers on 4-wheelers are. Well, THAT road was not just dirt, it had a lot of big-ass muddy ruts! This is not where you want to take a low-riding RWD sports car. When duty calls, you do what you gotta do.
I just kept my speed up and powered through, weeping at the thought of all that mud, and a couple times had to stop and jog ahead to pick out a path where I wouldn't get stuck, and wouldn't get scratched too bad. I went on and on like this for maybe half a mile, and finally, ahead in a clearing, were two fellow cops on 4-wheelers. I stopped short of them because there was just too much mud to go forward prudently from there.
They told me later that they heard me coming and figured "that mo-fo just stole a car and he's trying to ditch it cause NObody has any other business back here" but when I got out wearing my hat that says "Deputy Sheriff" they just stared at me and my S, which is the only one in the county. "How in thee HAIL did you get that thing back here without getting stuck?"
I just said: "Skill."
Actually I didn't know any better, and sure didn't know that off-road trucks had gotten stuck like glue in some of those ruts! But seeing is believing, so now I'm sure they know me as that crazy deputy with the red car that can do anything. They also said that Honda should demonstrate what I just did in the S, and they'd sell like hotcakes.
We drove back up the road and staked out a section of dirt road, not really expecting to find the guy, so we shot the breeze until we got orders to meet back at the command post. Regular deputies were sent out with night vision and I was assigned to the command post for security of our EMTs until relieved at 7 the next morning. I was settling in for a long night and thankful that we had plenty of donated sandwich supplies and junk food. And mourning the loss of my beautiful wash job. And thinking of all the mud on the floor and splattered on the dash from getting in and out with tactical boots.
Lucky us, the bad guy came out of hiding a couple hours later and snuck up to a house maybe a quarter mile from where I was, to steal food and get a drink of water. That happened to be the home of the former camp ranger--we call him Tater--and his dogs started barking. Now Tater's dogs only bark for a good reason, so Tater armed himself and opened the door to the carport. The bad guy looked up from the water hose into nine millimeters of impending death, and immediately flopped down begging Tater not to kill him. Tater's son called us, and a deputy responded at the speed of light to cuff-n-stuff the sumbitch. He went immediately to jail, and the rest of us were home by 11.
I was dreading washing off all that mud, but as it happened, today was my appointment to get XM Radio installed at Lumberton Honda where I got it from. They were nice enough to wash my S, and very well done, for no charge. They left the interior to me, though!
Now if I could only get skinny enough to get in and out of my S while wearing a full duty belt and protective vest. As it is, I look like Mr. Incredible at the beginning of the movie ("grrrrnt ... arrrrrrgh .... maybe just a salad").
Here's the story: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=238952
that was the best part.
