One Night on a Highway.

Law enforcement is a strange career that affords many opportunities to experience some of the most unusual events. I have, through almost 15 years of being a corrections officer, street cop and investigator, encountered some strange things. I thought that I might from time to time share some of those situations with you all. I won't put on here any situations that I am sure most of you don't want to hear and that I would like to forget, but I will share some things that made me laugh and still have the ability to make me chuckle when I remember it, or I might put on here some of the more exciting things that I encountered. I might, at times, put things on here that caused me to stop and ponder life. The things that may have caused me to stop and think about life are not always pleasant things, but they are things that merit telling in spite of their unpleasantness.

One of the things I have been asked by many people, that have learned I have been a cop, is, "Did you ever have to shoot anyone?" The answer to that question is, no. I am very thankful for that, but without fail, when I am asked the question one situation comes to mind and these words are among the very next spoken by me. "No, but I remember the closest I ever came to having to shoot someone."

Back when I first went to work as a street cop, I was working for a small East Texas town called Tool, Texas. I worked for a guy who was the very first cop I ever rode with, Bubba Buchanan. Bubba was a good cop who knew how to deal with people in a very persuasive way without ever having to threaten or use force. That is the greatest ability a cop can have. I, on the other hand, was just out of the academy and had my ideas of what being a cop meant. Believe me when I say, at that time I had no idea how to be a cop.

On one particular night, I guess it was about 11:00 PM, I made a traffic stop. I don't really remember why, but it was probably defective equipment. That was always one of my favorites because I never liked writing tickets and no one really expected you to write tickets for defective equipment. Anyway, after I stopped this vehicle, I approached the driver's side of the car and introduced myself as Officer McEntire of the Tool Police Department. I told the driver why I had stopped him and asked to see his driver's license and insurance. In spite of my lack of experience, there were some things I learned rather quickly and one of those things was the ability to understand certain looks that associated with questioning a suspect. One thing about people, most of us react to certain things the same, and it doesn't matter that we lead completely different kinds of lifestyles. One of the things we do when we are asked questions, of which we know our answer is not going to be the one the asking person is looking for, is we prelude our answer with a suspicious grin; so, when I saw this expression come across this guy's face, I knew he was going to tell me he didn't have his license with him or that he didn't have a license at all. I was right. He told me he didn't have a license. Of course, an answer like this means I need to get some clarification. So, I asked him, "Do you mean you don't have a license with you or do you mean you have never had a driver's license?" He told me that he has never had a driver's license. Now, this guy was about thirty years old. In this country, you have to wonder how does a man make it to thirty years of age and never have a driver's license. It is possible, but the truth is, it ain't likely! Now, I have to consider whether this guy is telling the truth or not. If he isn't, which is probably going to be the case, then he will probably lie about who he is. I asked him to stand to the rear of the vehicle. I looked at the passenger who was sitting there and looking straight ahead just staring. I asked him if he had any ID on him. He said, "no." I told him that I would be back with him in a minute and to just wait in the car. He acknowledged my statement in the affirmative by a mere nod of the head. I, then, made my way back to speak with the driver. I asked him, "you know it is against the law for you to drive without a license?" There was that grin again. He said he knew that but............ I never had much use for "but............" no matter what followed. I asked him for his name and date of birth. There was a slight hesitation with the question, "My name?" One indicator that a person is about to lie to you is that they will repeat your question back to you. They do this because their mind needs just a second to process the lie. So he repeated my question and I said "yes, your name." He then gave me a name. By this time I am pretty sure that he is not telling me the truth. I told him stay there while I went back to check and see if he had any warrants. After I had completed the check on the name he gave me, I went back to talk to him. The check was negative and again that is very difficult to believe for someone of his age. I asked him once more, "What is your name and date of birth again?" Much like the first time, a hesitation followed with the response to my question, "why, is there a problem?" I replied, "well, I'm not sure." He then gave me the same name but the DOB was different than his initial one. I really don't remember if it was the day or the year that had changed but it was not the same. I also noticed the man remaining in the car, kept looking back at me. I told the driver to please turn around as I reached for my handcuffs. He backed up a little and asked me, "why?" I told him things don't seem right and I just need to make sure that everyone remains safe. I told him that he is not under arrest but this is for his and my safety. He then, reluctantly, turned his back to me with his hands behind him. As I am placing the cuffs on him, the passenger got out of the car and asked me what I was doing. I told him to get back in the car and that I would be with him in a minute. He slowly got back into the car, but he is now very focused on me and what I am doing with his partner. I then told the driver that the DOB he gave me was different than the first one he gave me. He then became very belligerent and started to yell at me saying I was lying. I told him that I was not and I told him that I had it on tape, should I play it back to him. He said, "yes." I learned then that bluffing is not a good thing to do when dealing with criminals. I didn't have a tape and by the time I gave my response of, "well, I am not going to play it for you," he knew I didn't have a tape. Now the situation escalated again. He was screaming and I was telling him to calm down but this was not doing any good. The passenger was now out of the car and moving toward us and he too was screaming at me to let them go. The driver then moved to the ditch and I moved over with him. I then pushed him to the ground so that I could control his movement. He was trying to get up so I went over and was trying to keep him on the ground. I was on my portable radio and asking for back up. I was the only Tool police officer that was working, so I knew my back up would be coming from Seven Points Police Department. I didn't know how long it would be before they could get there. I was still struggling with the driver, trying to keep him on the ground but the passenger was out and only a few feet away from me with his hands balled into a fist. He was screaming for me to let his friend up. I kept ordering him to back away. Then, all of a sudden, he turned and jumped into their car again, now, he was sprawled face down across the front seat. I could tell he was searching for something. I then got up and let the driver stand to his feet. I was now more focused on the passenger who was a much greater threat at the time. The driver got to his feet and then began running down the highway. He was handcuffed so I let him go. I then moved around so that I was positioned in a way that would allow me to get a better view of the passenger. I then drew my weapon and pointed it at him. I was screaming for him to get out of the car and show me his hands. I could plainly see that he was frantically looking for something under the driver's side front seat. I kept yelling at him. At this point, I am so close to pulling the trigger of my weapon that this guy will never come closer to death without dying than he was at that moment. I was scared and had huge amounts of adrenalin pouring throughout my body. I feared that I was about to take this man's life or I was about to lose mine. About that time I heard sirens screaming as they pulled up behind me. I guess they must have been very close when I called in for back up. The man in the car must have also heard the sirens because he then looked behind him and saw me for the first time. He saw me standing there with my gun pointing at him and shaking uncontrollably. I am pretty sure at that moment he must have realized how dangerous the situation was for him, and he then put his hands up and got out of the car. I placed handcuffs on him and the other cop drove up the road and picked up the driver about a quarter mile away.

It turned out the driver did have a DL, and he had a couple of warrants out of Red Oak, Texas. He just didn't want to go to jail. Since then I have had experiences that would probably better justify the use of deadly force, but my lack of experience at that time brought me closer to shooting a man than any other time in my law enforcement career. I checked the car after the situation was brought back under control and found under the driver's seat a knife that was about eight inches long. I am sure the passenger had plans on gutting me like a fish, if only he could have found that knife a little quicker. Thank God, he didn't. Somebody would have died.