My reputation precedes me

Last month when I got back from the "Center of Excellence" (aka FLETC) I met the new girl. Tracy works days and was hired to mostly stand ship post (not just any ship, but the USS Constitution). She's fresh out of her seasonal law enforcement academy and eager to learn. The day shift guys try to break her from standing post and let her patrol at least a few hours a day.


My first week back I was on days so I got to work with Tracy. While we were driving around she told me she'd been looking forward to meeting me because she'd heard so much about me. Oh? She told me she'd heard I'm really tough and I laughed. Who'd been spreading these rumors? Tracy told me Dave (who used to work nights with me before getting on day shift) had told her the story of the drunk guy I "took to the ground." Really? I wracked my brain but I couldn't think of who she might mean. She told me it was the one who crashed his car in the projects and it all came back. Only Dave had drastically exaggerated and embellished the story.


This was way back when I first started here in Boston. What really happened was that Dave was sitting in his patrol car reading a magazine and minding his own business. It was almost quitting time and he wasn't looking for any trouble. But the car driving down the sidewalk was hard to ignore. Dave attempted to stop the car and it ran. Our little park is across the street from the Charlestown projects. They're not the worst in Boston. It's not Roxbury or Mattapan, but at least a couple times a month someone gets stabbed or shot over there. We're Rangers, not housing authority. Projects give me the creeps and we don't like to go in there. But he wrecked his car and bailed into the projects.


Ed and I hightailed it over from Bunker Hill to back-up Dave. We got there after the driver had split. Dave called for BPD to help us with the search. We got a disgruntled Sgt. who thought we were trying to give him our MVA report. He was no help at all.

We figured the driver was gone for good and we were checking out the nice job he did with his car. He ran it up onto a two foot tall concrete wall. The oil pan was punctured, a tire shredded, and the radiator was spilling antifreeze. We were amazed that he managed to dodge all the parked cars and the fire hydrant. It could've been much messier.


Suddenly, we noticed a white guy stumbling down the sidewalk, coming our way. Dave said, "Hey, that's the driver!" I figure the guy decided dealing with the cops was safer than being in the projects at 2am so he came back. But at the time, we were kind of stunned. I mean, how dumb (or drunk) do you have to be to get away... and then come back?


We surrounded him and my whole body was vibrating with tension. I figured if he ran once, he'd run again and I was ready to pounce. Dave got his ID and asked if the car was his. He glanced at it, denied that it was his car, and Dave told him to sit down on the concrete wall. The guy sat down and I was breathing down his neck. I didn't know why he'd come back, but he wasn't getting away again because even at 2am there are people in the projects watching us from their windows and doorways and there isn't any way I want to chase him in there.


Dave told the guy that he's going to find out who's car it is and Dave knows he was driving it. The guy looks at the car like he'd never seen it before and cries, tragically, "That's my mom's car!" At the same time he jumped up to his feet. That was my cue; I pounced. But all I did was sit him back down on the concrete wall. I didn't "take him to the ground", like Dave said.


Dave gave the guy SFSTs and he was arrested. I think he blew a .22 something.

But the point behind the story is the way Dave uses it to tell people about me. Everyone's heard his version. It cracks me up, the way he makes it sound like I flattened the guy onto the pavement, but it also makes me feel pretty good. Obviously Dave likes to work with me and trusts me to be his cover. That's the important thing. And of course, if the guy had needed to be flattened onto the pavement, I'd have done that to.

I really have a great group of coworkers. They are some fantastic guys and I love them. Most of the time.