Years ago I rented a room in an old house in Koreatown. One day I went out to check the mailbox and there were two men pointing pistols at me as soon as I stepped out onto the front porch of the house. Their guns were identical, which was the only clue I had that they were police. "Don't shoot me, please!" was all I could think to say. One of them grabbed me by my neck and then both of them pressed their guns against my head. They pulled me off the porch and my hands were then cuffed behind my back and one of the cops pushed me forward while the other tripped me so I landed on my face. One of them stepped on the back of my head and pressed my face into the dirt. They addressed me as "fucking punk," and shouted questions about who else was in the house. This went on for a few minutes and then some uniformed cops pulled up and went into the house and came back out and eventually I was able to inform them that I lived there. I had no way of proving it though and they didn't seem inclined to believe me.
Then my landlord, John, arrived. He watched from across the street for a moment, unsure whether or not to approach. Finally he decided to intervene on my behalf. He was a coke addict who shot-up in his arms, legs, and hands, so he rolled his sleeves down to his wrists to cover his track marks, shoved his hands into his pockets, and asked one of the cops what was going on.
The cop explained that they'd gotten a call that there were "a bunch of robbers" in this house, and they'd caught this guy, me, coming out. John told him that it was his house and I rented a room there.
After a while they uncuffed me. One of the cops said, "I guess this was just a misunderstanding." Then all the cops left.
Over the years I've received similar treatment from the LAPD on many occasions. It's just one of those things you have to expect when you live in Los Angeles. It never occurred to me to make a lifestyle out of complaining about it, but then, I don't have the benefit of a race-card.
I feel ya brother.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first came to Hollywood I was living for a month or so at a hotel on Sunset while I looked for a place to rent. One night at 3AM I was woke up by a loud knock on the door followed by shouts of "Open up, LAPD". As I was only wearing boxer shorts I reached for some clothes to get dressed but the pounding got louder and more urgent with what sounded like a mag-light. I opened the door and in a flash was pulled out into the breezeway, had my hands pulled behind my back while the cop smashed me against the wall - face first. He jammed his baton into the small of my back and as I looked to my right his partner had his 357 pointed directly at my head. I nervously asked "Officer, what's wrong...would you like some i.d.?", to which both of them replied in unison "Shut the fuck up!!" while the baton dug deeper into my back and my hair was grabbed to push my face further into the wall. The PIG with the gun went into my room with his gun out and a mag light shining bright. He came back out about 30 seconds later and told his partner "There's no one in there". The PIG with the baton in my back let up somewhat and yelled down to the courtyard below, "Are you sure this is the room?", to which some sketchy looking freak said, "Yeah, room 9." The PIGS replied, "This is room 6!" They looked at each other and said "This is bullshit", then let me go and started to walk away. I called out, "Officer, what is going on?" No response. I followed after them yelling at them, "What are your badge numbers? Tell me!" One of them turned around and stared at me with abject hate, "If you take one more step I'm going to arrest you for indecent exposure." They both walked away quickly. Since I was only wearing my underwear, I couldn't very well follow them out onto Sunset Blvd.
The next morning I found out from the hotel check-in guy that they had checked a crackhead into one of the rooms and he called the cops and said his sister was murdered in my room. Nice. The next day at work I looked like a zombie and my boss thought I was nuts. My loss.
About the only good thing that came out of Obama's "stupidly" comment is that all parties involved look like the assholes they truly are. Nothing has changed, only everyone is more dug into their mindsets. The cops still hate their jobs and most of the people they are supposed to "serve and protect", and blacks still hate cops and think they're all racists.
Best of all Obama has offended yet one more group of powerful men in this country who happen to have daily access to deadly weapons. His enemies list is growing by the day. The gun and bible clingers hate him, the military hates him, the CIA really hates him (and Pelosi), and now rank and file middle-class white male cops hate him too. Makes you wonder who will take orders from him, let alone protect him when things go pear shaped and the coup is at hand.