Sonoma County's finest...
Sep. 15th, 2007 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaMy blood runs cold and my heart may skip a beat whenever I see a police vehicle in my rear view mirror. Its oh so much worse if the bubble lights are flashing.
Sixteen years ago, I was driving home after a long day at work. It was in fact my birthday. I was on the cell phone talking with my kid sister, who'd called to wish me a happy birthday, when I saw the bubble lights. Just a few moment earlier I had seen two cop cars careen past me in the opposite direction. I hung up and pulled over to the side of the road. Did I have a tail light out? Had I inadvertently made an illegal move?
I looked over my shoulder and saw not one but two patrol cars side by side. Their kleig lights were on, doors were open and guns were drawn. The loudspeaker blared for me to put my hands up and turn back around. Definitely not a tail light.
Turns out there had been a phone report of a red pickup with a man driving while brandishing a shotgun out the window in the area. I had the misfortune to be driving a maroon pickup. Within a few minutes I had been directed to drop my keys out the window, get out of the truck and walk backwards towards the patrol cars with my hands over my head. When they made me kneel in the middle of the road, at gun point, I was terrified I was going to fall and/or get shot for no reason. Rodney King had had the living crap beaten out of him on nat'l TV just 3-4 weeks earlier. I was roughly handcuffed with my arms behind me, though I was not resisting them at all, inadvertently injuring my right shoulder. I lost 2 months of work thereafter, and never have really been the same whenever police are right behind me. I will find any excuse to turn, just so no cop is right on my tail.
I decided today that I needed to get some paperwork done and I wanted no distractions. Sitting at my desk in the office would have the internet and email at my fingertips. Home, well is home. My husband was home today and can be a horndog at the most inopportune times, not that I mind that. I know a small side road, where there is shade, decent radio and cell phone reception and almost no traffic. Honestly, you're more likely to be passed by the occasional cyclist, than my another automotive. I figured it would be a great place to go get some paperwork done. I've done it before.
I was dictating away, while NPR played quietly in the background, when all of the sudden I heard a car horn, that was not a normal horn. It sounded like it was being projected through a loudspeaker. I looked up startled. Directly in front of me, well almost directly in front of me was a Sonoma County Sheriff in his patrol car. He held up his hands as though shrugging his shoulders and looked rather perturbed. I put down my paperwork and dictaphone and opened my door. I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do. I stood up nest to my car. He got out of his and lumbered over. He stood a good half foot taller than I, and was bulked up with by what I suspect was a bullet proof vest.
Now I'd pulled mostly off the road onto the shoulder, but I was on the wrong side of this country road. It's a two lane road, but almost nobody uses it. I'd been there for nearly 45 minutes and no one had driven past.
"Is there a problem, officer?"
"What the hell are you doing there" he demanded.
"I'm sort of hiding, so I can get some paperwork done without being interrupted."
"What?!?"
"I'm a Dr. in Santa Rosa, and I'm on call. I'm trying to get some paperwork done but still be in a place where my service can get a hold of me if they need to."
"Is anyone in that car with you?"
"No, officer."
He peered into my backseat. No body there, just a stack of medical charts.
On the frond seat next to where I had been sitting was a dictaphone, my computer case another couple of charts and a coffee cup. At this point, it dawned on him I really was exactly what I said I was.
At this point, he seemed to realize I really was doing what I said I was. Not someone he needed to hassle. At least I hoped not. He shook his head and walked back to his vehicle.
He called over his shoulder, "You shouldn't be blocking the road." Then he left me in peace.
I sat there and finally exhaled. Blocking the road? How do you block a rarely used two lane country road, from the shoulder?
Sixteen years ago, I was driving home after a long day at work. It was in fact my birthday. I was on the cell phone talking with my kid sister, who'd called to wish me a happy birthday, when I saw the bubble lights. Just a few moment earlier I had seen two cop cars careen past me in the opposite direction. I hung up and pulled over to the side of the road. Did I have a tail light out? Had I inadvertently made an illegal move?
I looked over my shoulder and saw not one but two patrol cars side by side. Their kleig lights were on, doors were open and guns were drawn. The loudspeaker blared for me to put my hands up and turn back around. Definitely not a tail light.
Turns out there had been a phone report of a red pickup with a man driving while brandishing a shotgun out the window in the area. I had the misfortune to be driving a maroon pickup. Within a few minutes I had been directed to drop my keys out the window, get out of the truck and walk backwards towards the patrol cars with my hands over my head. When they made me kneel in the middle of the road, at gun point, I was terrified I was going to fall and/or get shot for no reason. Rodney King had had the living crap beaten out of him on nat'l TV just 3-4 weeks earlier. I was roughly handcuffed with my arms behind me, though I was not resisting them at all, inadvertently injuring my right shoulder. I lost 2 months of work thereafter, and never have really been the same whenever police are right behind me. I will find any excuse to turn, just so no cop is right on my tail.
I decided today that I needed to get some paperwork done and I wanted no distractions. Sitting at my desk in the office would have the internet and email at my fingertips. Home, well is home. My husband was home today and can be a horndog at the most inopportune times, not that I mind that. I know a small side road, where there is shade, decent radio and cell phone reception and almost no traffic. Honestly, you're more likely to be passed by the occasional cyclist, than my another automotive. I figured it would be a great place to go get some paperwork done. I've done it before.
I was dictating away, while NPR played quietly in the background, when all of the sudden I heard a car horn, that was not a normal horn. It sounded like it was being projected through a loudspeaker. I looked up startled. Directly in front of me, well almost directly in front of me was a Sonoma County Sheriff in his patrol car. He held up his hands as though shrugging his shoulders and looked rather perturbed. I put down my paperwork and dictaphone and opened my door. I wasn't sure what he wanted me to do. I stood up nest to my car. He got out of his and lumbered over. He stood a good half foot taller than I, and was bulked up with by what I suspect was a bullet proof vest.
Now I'd pulled mostly off the road onto the shoulder, but I was on the wrong side of this country road. It's a two lane road, but almost nobody uses it. I'd been there for nearly 45 minutes and no one had driven past.
"Is there a problem, officer?"
"What the hell are you doing there" he demanded.
"I'm sort of hiding, so I can get some paperwork done without being interrupted."
"What?!?"
"I'm a Dr. in Santa Rosa, and I'm on call. I'm trying to get some paperwork done but still be in a place where my service can get a hold of me if they need to."
"Is anyone in that car with you?"
"No, officer."
He peered into my backseat. No body there, just a stack of medical charts.
On the frond seat next to where I had been sitting was a dictaphone, my computer case another couple of charts and a coffee cup. At this point, it dawned on him I really was exactly what I said I was.
At this point, he seemed to realize I really was doing what I said I was. Not someone he needed to hassle. At least I hoped not. He shook his head and walked back to his vehicle.
He called over his shoulder, "You shouldn't be blocking the road." Then he left me in peace.
I sat there and finally exhaled. Blocking the road? How do you block a rarely used two lane country road, from the shoulder?
