Couple of reasons why I'm pursuing my CHL

[jamisjockey]

Depends on what state you're in.

Texas!

I kind of figured that.

The broken windshield was part of an example, and unless you never ever leave the state of texas, its entirely possible you could travel in a state where a vehicle is required to have an unbroken windshield.

[LAYGO]

Laygo, I can't tell from your story whether the Addison police officer profiled you because you're Hispanic or not. It's certainly possible he did, but it may also be possible that he profiled the car; expired tag, typical gangbanger ride, etc., etc. My daughters have dated both black men and Hispanic men, and my oldest married a Puerto Rican. My youngest is dating a second-generation Mexican-American. (They're both wonderful guys, btw.) So I have personally observed prejudice toward both blacks and Hispanics and know what it looks like.

I write this because I want you to consider something. If you read Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, there's a passage where she tells the story of shopping in a store in Africa. The clerk was rude and discourteous. It reminded Maya of many incidents in America that she had experienced and attributed to racism. But the clerk was a black African. It was an eye-opening experience for Maya (and for me when I read it), because it taught her that not all maltreatment can be attributed to racism. It made her rethink many of the memories from her childhood and youth. Some people are just jerks (and for many different reasons). Your race has nothing to do with their behavior.

I'm not saying that's the case in your Addison caper. Just that you should always leave open the possibility that the person you are interacting with is a jerk, or just got their butt chewed by their supervisor, or just got a radio call describing a car very similar to yours that was involved in a robbery, or any of a million other reasons than racism. Racism absolutely exists, everywhere in the world. There's no question about that. But it doesn't explain every interaction between people of different races, and it should not be the default assumption when things don't go as we would like.

Your behavior was admirable in the situation. It's unfortunate that the officer didn't take that into account. I'm not sure I would be as patient as you were under similar circumstances.

You're absolutely right. It could've been him just being a jerk. A costly experience none the less.

I do like your point about the officer not taking into account my attitude. I will be sure to point it out to any future encounters I have. Thanks.

[AdioSS]

hi LAYGO

[rmr1923]

your movie theater story sounds similar to something that happened to my family several years back in Houston. i want to say it was maybe 1990-ish, i was 7 or 8 years old when this happened and can remember it in great detail. we were at the mall (can't remember which one) and when we come out there are 2 guys sitting on the trunk of my mom's car. my dad politely asks them to move, telling them this is our car and we're getting in to leave. they immediately started threatening both my parents, my dad got us in the back seat as quickly as possible and my mom got in the passenger seat, but the 2 men blocked the drivers door and pulled a knife on my dad. my mom started screaming, my dad put his hands up in the air and tried to calm them down, finally they just asked for his wallet, took the cash out and threw the wallet on the ground and ran off. my dad didn't have a CHL but he carried a loaded .38 special under the front seat. i remember driving out of the parking lot, my dad with that gun in his lap incase those 2 guys tried to mess with us again, we were all scared out of our minds. i don't have kids yet, but if something like this were to happen when my wife and i were out, i'd like the comfort of knowing that i have a way to protect the both of us.

a couple months ago my wife was at home sick from work, she called me at work crying saying that a naked man was banging on the front door and telling her to open up. i told her to call the police and i'd call the apartment office, the office got a couple maintenance guys over there right away (carrying hammers and a crow bar nonetheless) and scared the guy off. police got a general description of the guy from my wife and we thought we'd seen the last of him. she told me a couple weeks later she felt like she'd been followed on several occasions, turns out this guy was stalking her. she refused to leave the house without me, and even when we went places together i felt uncomfortable knowing that i had no way of protecting her if this lunatic were to follow us somewhere again. we didn't know who he was or where he lived, we can only assume he staked out the apartment and followed when she left. we finally spotted him one day at the grocery store, called the police (they had an off-duty cop in the store at the time), the officer came over right away and questioned the man. turns out this guy had several arrest warrants, he is in prison now and we've moved from that apartment since. but i'll never forget that sickening feeling of knowing that this guy was following us, just waiting for us to leave or get separated from one another even for a minute, and knowing that i had no real way of protecting her. this is the main reason i'm getting my CHL.

[LAYGO]

hi LAYGO

Adios saying hi. :) Irony?

[LAYGO]

your movie theater story sounds similar to something that happened to my family several years back in Houston. i want to say it was maybe 1990-ish, i was 7 or 8 years old when this happened and can remember it in great detail. we were at the mall (can't remember which one) and when we come out there are 2 guys sitting on the trunk of my mom's car. my dad politely asks them to move, telling them this is our car and we're getting in to leave. they immediately started threatening both my parents, my dad got us in the back seat as quickly as possible and my mom got in the passenger seat, but the 2 men blocked the drivers door and pulled a knife on my dad. my mom started screaming, my dad put his hands up in the air and tried to calm them down, finally they just asked for his wallet, took the cash out and threw the wallet on the ground and ran off. my dad didn't have a CHL but he carried a loaded .38 special under the front seat. i remember driving out of the parking lot, my dad with that gun in his lap incase those 2 guys tried to mess with us again, we were all scared out of our minds. i don't have kids yet, but if something like this were to happen when my wife and i were out, i'd like the comfort of knowing that i have a way to protect the both of us.

a couple months ago my wife was at home sick from work, she called me at work crying saying that a naked man was banging on the front door and telling her to open up. i told her to call the police and i'd call the apartment office, the office got a couple maintenance guys over there right away (carrying hammers and a crow bar nonetheless) and scared the guy off. police got a general description of the guy from my wife and we thought we'd seen the last of him. she told me a couple weeks later she felt like she'd been followed on several occasions, turns out this guy was stalking her. she refused to leave the house without me, and even when we went places together i felt uncomfortable knowing that i had no way of protecting her if this lunatic were to follow us somewhere again. we didn't know who he was or where he lived, we can only assume he staked out the apartment and followed when she left. we finally spotted him one day at the grocery store, called the police (they had an off-duty cop in the store at the time), the officer came over right away and questioned the man. turns out this guy had several arrest warrants, he is in prison now and we've moved from that apartment since. but i'll never forget that sickening feeling of knowing that this guy was following us, just waiting for us to leave or get separated from one another even for a minute, and knowing that i had no real way of protecting her. this is the main reason i'm getting my CHL.

Glad you made it out safe in both encounters.

I hated that feeling of not being able to do anything & the main reason why I too am trying to get my CHL.

Unrelated to the CHL, but that same sickening feeling of being unable to do anything occurred in 1992-93 for me. I came across a single car accident at 630am in the middle of a TORRENTIAL downpour. I watched a car pulling out of a prison facility drive right by it & keep going. It's not in my nature to ignore, so I pulled over. This incident occurred not 2 months after completing my classroom training for an Emergency Care Attendent (40 hrs classroom less + ER + ride along than an EMT (at that time)). Put on my Dad's old Army issue rain coat & went to see what was going on.

I found a mid '80s Caprice with the roof caved in from having gone up on 2 wheels & hitting a telephone pole right across the roof, then falling back down on all 4 wheels. The lady was pinned inside, roof to the top of the seat headrests. She was in & out of consciousness, was able to answer a couple of my questions. That was about all I could do. I couldn't open the door, I couldn't get in or get her out. I didn't have a cell phone (car phones being the new rage then). Someone else drove up & slowed, I told them to get to a payphone as quickly & safely as they could & call in an ambulance. Another person drove up, said she was a nurse, asked if I needed help & I must've answered wrong because she left. Yet another person comes up & he's a police officer and has a car phone. Calls EVERYONE, including LifeFlight.

I don't know how long it was, but it was now daylight as everyone was arriving. It was raining so hard, jaws of life weren't working. I watched as that first police officer started yanking on the windshield to get it off. He was doing it barehanded & was cutting his fingers up in the process. I was still just watching this all happen. After awhile, they get the windshield off & pull her out of the car via the hole there now & LifeFlight her. I leave, head home to shower after being drenched in the rain, call them to let them know what's going on why I'm running late.

When I get to work, I'm asked to cover another tech on another unit & when I get there, it's the nurse that pulled over asking if I needed help. I asked her why she didn't stay, she said I seemed to have control of it all. I didn't. Not one bit.

After, I call my Mom (remember, 20yr paramedic), she says to call the hospital & find out what happened to her. I do & find out the lady passed away. Her liver was lacerated & bled out on the surgery table. I called my Mom back to relay the news & that's when I lost it. I just couldn't talk. My Mom had the responding EMT Supervisor give me a call to process it & he helped me realized that I had done everything in my power to help the lady & even if it was him, the same result would've happened. It did give me some relief, but it was still tough.

[baldeagle]

LAYGO, I just reread this whole thread, and my comments about racism still stand. However, I think being arrested for what you were arrested for is unusual. When I first came to Texas I was stopped and ticketed for no insurance and an out of state DL (in state longer than 3 months). No big deal. This officer definitely seemed to be looking for something, anything, that would give him an excuse to arrest you. Maybe it really was racism. It just seems excessive to me. Usually you get the ticket, and you go home.

BTW, I commend you for being willing to share so much detail about your life. Many people wouldn't be willing to do that.

[LAYGO]

LAYGO, I just reread this whole thread, and my comments about racism still stand. However, I think being arrested for what you were arrested for is unusual. When I first came to Texas I was stopped and ticketed for no insurance and an out of state DL (in state longer than 3 months). No big deal. This officer definitely seemed to be looking for something, anything, that would give him an excuse to arrest you. Maybe it really was racism. It just seems excessive to me. Usually you get the ticket, and you go home.

BTW, I commend you for being willing to share so much detail about your life. Many people wouldn't be willing to do that.

Right. That was my original point, he arrested me for the expired registration/expired inspection/no insurance which THEN gave him the right to search the vehicle ("search subsequent to arrest"). He turned the vehicle over to my SO.

I fully expected to be ticketed. In fact, I had all those charges based on the arrest dismissed shortly after . . . except the weapon. I did get deferred for it, but it's still there as an arrest/charge.

[drjoker]

All this too because I came to the aid of a woman I saw needing help. That's my Mom's paramedic and Dad's Vietnam medic again rubbing off on me.

As a helpful good Samaritan, I applaud you. The world needs more people like you.
I, like you, are a good Samaritan and help out my fellow person whenever I can. I've lived in L.A. and visited New York before. I can tell you for a fact that there are more good Samaritans in Texas than these other places. That's why I'm a proud Texan.

[gigag04]

hi LAYGO

Adios saying hi. :) Irony?

18 months later...really?

[GlockDude26]

If they are pulling you over for something else (tail light out, broken windshield, expired tags), they immediately begin profiling you to figure out what else you've got going on.

Broken windshield? That's a crock of fish. The windshield isn't even an inspection item.

i was certified to do saftey inspections for a while. most of the rules never change except ones to do with emission testing so these should still be in place. the windhsield had two rules....

1. there was to be no tinting below what they called an as-1 line (top left or right corner of the windshield on the inside about 4 inches down.
2. if the windshield had cracks that "impaired vision" it was basically a judgement call on weither or not to fail it.

[drjoker]

your movie theater story sounds similar to something that happened to my family several years back in Houston. i want to say it was maybe 1990-ish, i was 7 or 8 years old when this happened and can remember it in great detail. we were at the mall (can't remember which one) and when we come out there are 2 guys sitting on the trunk of my mom's car. my dad politely asks them to move, telling them this is our car and we're getting in to leave. they immediately started threatening both my parents, my dad got us in the back seat as quickly as possible and my mom got in the passenger seat, but the 2 men blocked the drivers door and pulled a knife on my dad. my mom started screaming, my dad put his hands up in the air and tried to calm them down, finally they just asked for his wallet, took the cash out and threw the wallet on the ground and ran off. my dad didn't have a CHL but he carried a loaded .38 special under the front seat. i remember driving out of the parking lot, my dad with that gun in his lap incase those 2 guys tried to mess with us again, we were all scared out of our minds. i don't have kids yet, but if something like this were to happen when my wife and i were out, i'd like the comfort of knowing that i have a way to protect the both of us.

a couple months ago my wife was at home sick from work, she called me at work crying saying that a naked man was banging on the front door and telling her to open up. i told her to call the police and i'd call the apartment office, the office got a couple maintenance guys over there right away (carrying hammers and a crow bar nonetheless) and scared the guy off. police got a general description of the guy from my wife and we thought we'd seen the last of him. she told me a couple weeks later she felt like she'd been followed on several occasions, turns out this guy was stalking her. she refused to leave the house without me, and even when we went places together i felt uncomfortable knowing that i had no way of protecting her if this lunatic were to follow us somewhere again. we didn't know who he was or where he lived, we can only assume he staked out the apartment and followed when she left. we finally spotted him one day at the grocery store, called the police (they had an off-duty cop in the store at the time), the officer came over right away and questioned the man. turns out this guy had several arrest warrants, he is in prison now and we've moved from that apartment since. but i'll never forget that sickening feeling of knowing that this guy was following us, just waiting for us to leave or get separated from one another even for a minute, and knowing that i had no real way of protecting her. this is the main reason i'm getting my CHL.

Your dad should've taught your mom to shoot that 38. Remember, a wife is the husband's wingwoman on the road of life. You have to be able to count on each other to have each others' backs.

[LAYGO]

All this too because I came to the aid of a woman I saw needing help. That's my Mom's paramedic and Dad's Vietnam medic again rubbing off on me.

As a helpful good Samaritan, I applaud you. The world needs more people like you.
I, like you, are a good Samaritan and help out my fellow person whenever I can. I've lived in L.A. and visited New York before. I can tell you for a fact that there are more good Samaritans in Texas than these other places. That's why I'm a proud Texan.

Thank you!

[LAYGO]

hi LAYGO

Adios saying hi. :) Irony?

18 months later...really?

Some bonds are stronger than time. ;)

[Fangs]

Well since we're here, I had a random thought.

What if instead of a costume club LAYGO had one of these under his seat?



Burglary tool?