Fifty years ago I was new in San Fernando California with a brand new job. I was 24 years old, single and worked swing shift as a guard. I got off, put on a jacket over my uniform shirt and stopped at a bar I had never been in. It was far from my style place so I downed one glass of beer and left. As I was pulling away from the front of the bar I seen a cruiser and knew he seen me. It was a full moonlight night. The cop turned around, SHUT his lights off and followed me over two miles. I was looking in the rear view mirror and seen him turn on his lights, speed up and hit me with the reds.
I pulled over and we went through the drill. He was obviously disappointed that I was sober. What did it for me was when he literaly scratched his head and then get the idea to write me up for cutting a corner. I was thinking what corner, but kept my mouth shut and signed the ticket. The next morning I went with my camera and looked at the intersection I had supposedly cut. There was a high built up island with a stop light on it. If I had cut the corner the way he drew it I certainly would have felt it, knocked down the stop light and probley got hung up on the divider. On top of that I knew he was following me and was doing my best to not go one mile over and obey all laws. I also noticed he wrote my truck was blue when it was white.
I decided to contest the ticket. At court a hot lookin lookalike to Marcia Clark, a assistant DA, maybe her?, tried to talk me into going to traffic school before my case come up. I said no, BS I am innocent and not going to school. I noticed the cop who wrote me, went over and sat alongside him because that is the way I was.
Case came up, cop got on the stand and I asked him first, was he color blind? He started to tell me no, they had to be ---The judge broke in, snorted at me and said that wouldnt make a difference anyway. Then he eyeballed the ticket, stopped the conversation and told the bailiff to get him such and such law book.
He read what he needed, asked the cop what he thought he had wrote me for. Turned out the numbers he law code he put down didnt have nothing to do with anything! He had pulled some numbers out of his butt and thought I would be so thankful for not getting a DUI I no doubt would thankfully pay the lesser charge.
The judge told me I could go and told the cop, I want to see you in my chambers!
That was the very start of my career of working for the hugest defense plant that at that time hired almost no one but retired LEO, military, or every other type of LE agency you could name. I spent over 35 years working with all them and am here to tell you there are both good and bad cops. Almost every one of my many co workers and close friends were one or the other, and I will tell you I aint a "Hero" worshiper.
When I got up to leave I told my new cop friend, "Sorry about that". He growled back, "Happens all the time" as he got up to check out the Judges chamber.
