Crime Story # 2
In 1994, I started writing a lot about a wave of teen gangs that started to root in the worn-out, blue collar suburbs. In the grand scheme of big city crime, this was stupid kid stuff for the most part. The kids were bored. They learned how to flash gang signs and all of the sudden they consider themselves to be full-fledged Crip members. But there was a massive freak out in the 'burbs that year over gangs because of one incident. A 14-year-old kid mouthed off to another group of kids, exchanged gang lingo, and the kid got shot in the chest. The cops formed a gang unit after that and spent Friday and Saturday nights patrolling all kid hang outs for the next few years. They got to know all of the kids, documented what gang they'd pledged and stopped a lot of garbage before it got started. They sent a lot of kids off to jail. I got to know the gang cops pretty well. Since I didn't have anything else better to do, I'd ride with them on most Friday and Saturday nights to see what happened. Sometimes stuff did indeed happen.
One Friday night, they were looking for three 14-year olds who had gotten ahold of a .45 caliber pistol and used it to hold up a liquor store. Because the cops knew where all of the little criminals hung out, they went right to the most obvious locations. I went with them. One location was a beat-to-hell house that was the residence of some jobless burn out. He was home, and said he hadn't seen his little 14-year old buddy all week. The cops searched the house anyway. In the kitchen pantry, they found a pile of clothes. The kitchen pantry isn't a place most people stuff their clothes. So one of the cops kicked the pile (Actually, now that I remember, it wasn't a cop who did the kicking. It was the father of one of the hoods who asked if he could go along and help find his son. He was high pissed that his child had held up a liquor store and didn't doubt that the child had done it. The cops were in awe of this father. They'd never met one like him before.) And there was a muffled "ouch" that came from under the clothes. Kid number one was caught.
Next they went to another falling down house closer to the big city. This was the house on the block where the "cool parents" lived --- in other words, they let any hooligan from the neighborhood drink and act foolish at their house as long as the cool parents were allowed to participate. We rolled up and the front yard was full of young punks having a big Friday night. It was at least one in the morning. The kids weren't surprised to see the cops and neither were the cool parents, who were sitting in lawn chairs. The parents said, no, of course they hadn't seen the two teenage robbers. Then one one of the partying kids discretely nodded towards the detached garage behind the house. By this time, the gang cops had been joined in their search by a bunch of patrol cops and a police helicopter which had a search light going over the neighborhood. The gang cops entered the garage with their guns drawn. I went in behind them with a note pad. And one of theses robbers was supposed to still have the .45.
There was a bunch of junk in the garage --- broken chairs, smashed televisions, greasy car parts. But the floor of the garage was covered in this gross molded carpet. I looked down and saw something odd. I told Bill, one of the gang cops, that the carpet in front of me seemed to be moving. He grabbed the carpet, pulled it back, and there were the two remaining robbers.
One of these kids was an astounding 6 foot 1 inches tall and weighed a good 180 --- huge for a 14 year old. Bill grabbed him by the back of the neck and put hand cuffs on him with his arms behind the kids back. And something happened next that I'll never be sure about. Bill lifted the kid up. And then he shoved him back to the ground really really hard. Since the kid had his arms cuffed behind him there was no way to break the fall. Bill looked over at me to see if I'd reacted. I didn't say a word. It's quite possible that what I saw was police brutality directed towards a juvenile. The kid was pretty much helpless when this happened but he didn't seem to be hurt. Bill said later that the kid had put his elbow into his stomach and Bill just reacted. I really wasn't sure what I'd seen so I didn't write about it. But I knew going in that it was a very charged up incident. And I might have done the same thing if I were Bill. Lots of what happens when police deal with criminals happens in a grey zone --- there's really no right or wrong, they just follow instinct.
I was glad I didn't choose the police line of profession.
One Friday night, they were looking for three 14-year olds who had gotten ahold of a .45 caliber pistol and used it to hold up a liquor store. Because the cops knew where all of the little criminals hung out, they went right to the most obvious locations. I went with them. One location was a beat-to-hell house that was the residence of some jobless burn out. He was home, and said he hadn't seen his little 14-year old buddy all week. The cops searched the house anyway. In the kitchen pantry, they found a pile of clothes. The kitchen pantry isn't a place most people stuff their clothes. So one of the cops kicked the pile (Actually, now that I remember, it wasn't a cop who did the kicking. It was the father of one of the hoods who asked if he could go along and help find his son. He was high pissed that his child had held up a liquor store and didn't doubt that the child had done it. The cops were in awe of this father. They'd never met one like him before.) And there was a muffled "ouch" that came from under the clothes. Kid number one was caught.
Next they went to another falling down house closer to the big city. This was the house on the block where the "cool parents" lived --- in other words, they let any hooligan from the neighborhood drink and act foolish at their house as long as the cool parents were allowed to participate. We rolled up and the front yard was full of young punks having a big Friday night. It was at least one in the morning. The kids weren't surprised to see the cops and neither were the cool parents, who were sitting in lawn chairs. The parents said, no, of course they hadn't seen the two teenage robbers. Then one one of the partying kids discretely nodded towards the detached garage behind the house. By this time, the gang cops had been joined in their search by a bunch of patrol cops and a police helicopter which had a search light going over the neighborhood. The gang cops entered the garage with their guns drawn. I went in behind them with a note pad. And one of theses robbers was supposed to still have the .45.
There was a bunch of junk in the garage --- broken chairs, smashed televisions, greasy car parts. But the floor of the garage was covered in this gross molded carpet. I looked down and saw something odd. I told Bill, one of the gang cops, that the carpet in front of me seemed to be moving. He grabbed the carpet, pulled it back, and there were the two remaining robbers.
One of these kids was an astounding 6 foot 1 inches tall and weighed a good 180 --- huge for a 14 year old. Bill grabbed him by the back of the neck and put hand cuffs on him with his arms behind the kids back. And something happened next that I'll never be sure about. Bill lifted the kid up. And then he shoved him back to the ground really really hard. Since the kid had his arms cuffed behind him there was no way to break the fall. Bill looked over at me to see if I'd reacted. I didn't say a word. It's quite possible that what I saw was police brutality directed towards a juvenile. The kid was pretty much helpless when this happened but he didn't seem to be hurt. Bill said later that the kid had put his elbow into his stomach and Bill just reacted. I really wasn't sure what I'd seen so I didn't write about it. But I knew going in that it was a very charged up incident. And I might have done the same thing if I were Bill. Lots of what happens when police deal with criminals happens in a grey zone --- there's really no right or wrong, they just follow instinct.
I was glad I didn't choose the police line of profession.
posted by john clarke at 10:17 AM
7 Comments:
me too. i would have been scared to death walking up to the garage.
Ditto- on all comments here-
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