Have you ever been arrested?

HS senior year, went with three buddies to see our basketball team play out of town. Got two cases of Coors in Hagerstown that afternoon.

Halftime, we gave some "friends" the keys to grab a couple beers. We get outside after the game, my one tire is slashed.

As I'm fixing it, the Boiling Springs, Pa., rent-a-cops come up and ask to help. And shine a flashlight in the backseat. And have us uncover what's under the coat.

After five minutes of begging ("My dad is going to KILL me."), the rent-a-cops confiscate the beer, put it in the back of their pick-up truck and drive away.

I think they were laughing. Us, we were catching up on our prayers.

 

It's difficult to find a parking spot where I lived on Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, and especially after midnight, which is when I was coming home from the P-T or a night on the town. Accrued about a grand in parking tickets and they towed my car once. A year later after another 500 bucks in tickets, they towed my car again.

Never arrested. Lucky considering the secret life I lived from 2002 till 2012.

 

A long time ago I was driving home from a friend's house pretty late. Turned from a side street onto a four-lane divided road and got pulled over. When I rolled down my window to ask what the hell I got pulled over for, the cop had his gun drawn and was screaming at me to hit the pavement face down.
Several other law enforcement types came up. After about 15 minutes, they let me go. Told me a convenience store had just been robbed on the corner where I turned. I've got to admit, I was kinda scared.

 

I was threatened with arrest a couple of weeks ago for driving with an out-of-state license.

Nevermind that it was valid. Moved to this state a few months back and got my car registered here but hadn't got my license renewed. Accused me of lying when I told him I was going home before letting me off with a warning, if you call a warning a threat to arrest me the next time he caught me without an in-state license.

This was a roadblock, by the way. Wasn't pulled over for speeding or anything else unsavory.

 

No. My former sister-in-law, however, is about to be indicted.

 

This made me laugh, and shake my head knowingly, because it brought back memories.

Once upon time, I covered a lot of swimming, oftentimes down at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, and I vividly remember how, every year, when I went there, I'd chuckle to myself about how it was time to go get my annual parking ticket in Long Beach, either because I couldn't find a legal spot, or else, because I found a legal spot with a parking meter, but then the money/time allotment would invariably be up while I was in the middle of covering competitions and writing, so I couldn't easily go restock the meter. I'd come out late at night, after everything was over, go across the street to the bar to send any stories, and then go to my car, where there inevitably would be a parking ticket sitting under the windshield wipers.

After many years of this, I finally learned to collect quarters, and started bring several rolls of them with me whenever I went down to Long Beach.

All that said, I've never been arrested, although I once got pulled over and the highway patrolwoman did a radio check on me and found that I had an unresolved moving violation in a faraway city from more than a year before. She came back to my window, asked if I remembered about it (I did, then) and she told me how she could/should be taking me into the county jail right now, just on the basis of that unpaid ticket.

She let me off with just a warning about my speeding for which she had stopped me, and told me to take care of that old ticket, which I did, promptly, as soon as the weekend was over.

 

One other rememberance: My senior year in college, I shared an apartment with another guy. One night, my girl and I decided to go out separately, her with her friends, me with my roommate and his friends. There were a couple of girls from another school who were visiting my roomie and we all end up going to a house party. A short while later, we hit a bar, and I bump into my girlfriend. We laugh, hang out for a while, say goodbye to the group, go back to my apartment and go to bed.

A while later, we semi-wake up because we hear the stereo in the living room. We grumble a little, but go back to sleep.

Middle of the night, it's quiet, and I get up to use the bathroom. As I come out, I look in the darkened living room, and I hear one of the girls crying and the other one talking to her. I asked if they were OK, the other girl says they're fine, and I go back to bed.

Next day was all quiet and the girls had left by the time my girl and I woke up. Day after that, two cops come to the door and come in and talk to my roommate and his girlfriend, who ends up finding out that her man had two female visitors that weekend and was not too pleased about it. Cops ask me if I knew anything, I tell them the tiny bit I know and they dismiss me

Roommate wouldn't discuss what happened afterward, but his now ex-girl told me later that the one girl, who had been crying, had gone to the police and said she had been sexually assaulted by a couple of my rooomate's friends. The cops said that she didn't have a very convincing story and said they thought she had consented to it and was feeling guilty afterward, and didn't press charges.

I ended up moving out after that semester. My roommate, who had seemed normal in the beginning, had become really unfriendly and we stopped getting along.

 

Busted buying beer as a senior in high school. And yes, I sang like a motherfucker and ruined a spot where kids could buy underage. I wasn't fucking up my college acceptance. That's the closest I've come.

 

Only in development.

 

No arrests.

I moved about eight years ago to a rural community.

Prior to moving here, I had never been pulled over.

I've been pulled over seven times since I've moved here. Zero tickets. Just bullshit stuff: License plate light being out, a random pull over on Main Street at 3 a.m. when I was driving home from the newspaper, etc.

In related news, this community where I live could probably get rid of a few police officers and be just fine.

 

Got arrested for drinking when I was 20. No matter that it wasn't an arrestable offense in Michigan and still isn't, the cop was a dick. Don't get me wrong, I drank underage a lot in college and deserved the MIP many times, but not that night. I blew a .09 so if I had actually been 21, I would have been able to legally drive. But for some reason the cop was excited to arrest me as I was apparently being a menace to society while talking on the phone.

It was just bad timing. I was on the phone in a backyard when the cops came. They saw me leaning up against a tree and thought I was trying to hide from them. I was sitting under the tree to stay dry from the rain. $200 and an alcohol abuse class later, the crime was expunged. But I still had to spend the night in jail.

Almost had to go back after I ran into a situation a few weeks later while on probation. I was out near a friend's cabin in northern Michigan and it was my day to call in to the police station. Sure enough I had to go in and take a breathe test to confirm I was not drinking (terms of my probation). I hadn't been drinking but I also had no idea where I was. Got lost on the way to the county Sherrif's and ran out of gas. Ended up at a gas station that had a broken pump. Pump kept going and wouldn't stop and so I owed more than I wanted to for gas. Ran out of money because my employer had neglected to direct deposit my check (perfect storm). Ended up with like a dollar left so I bought a giant pickle.

Went to the Sherrif's after and explained that I was out of cash and couldn't pay the $5 for the PBT. (Embarrassing). They didn't care. Called probation officer and he gave me a pass. And that's the story about how I almost went back to jail for some extra gas and a pickle.