HF's first night solo

I had a difficult time sleeping on Saturday night. I don't know if it's because I was feeling a little anxious about HF being alone and safe, or if it was the fact that he kept calling me whenever he had any action!

HF learned that there is nothing "routine" about a traffic stop. He pulled over a car for having a head light out. Right before he got out of the car he described having a strong feeling that, even though it was the middle of the night and nobody was on the road, he should approach the car on the passenger side. So HF walked around his car and onto the the passenger side. He saw two guys in the front. They rolled down the passenger window and were very friendly. HF asked for the registration and the driver asked his buddy in the passenger seat to check the glove box for him. HF had his flashlight out in his "off" hand shining it on the glove box. The passenger opened the glove box and put his hand on what looked like a revolver.

HF "stopped" ("Police! Drop the weapon!") him and asked the occupants if that was a gun they were preparing to pull out of the glove box. The occupants, both young college students, instantly put their hands on the roof of the car, soiled themselves and exclaimed, "please don't shoot me!" HF resolved the situation and learned that the gun in question was a black plastic cap gun.

HF told me that because of his position on the passenger side, he was able to better ID the "gun," and was at an angle where, had it been real, the shooter would have had a harder time reaching around the seat with his right hand, giving HF more time to do what he needed to do. He also wondered if the evening might have had a tragic ending had he not been on the passenger side and reacted too quickly.

Good job HF not killing two innocent, but kind of dumb guys on your first night solo. Who keeps even their cap guns in their glove box?!

Also the same night, HF called me and said, "I just put out a car fire!" He was driving by and saw a car with all its doors open, trunk open, and hood open. There was smoke pouring out of the frame, of all places, on the driver side. The occupants told HF that they were just playing their music loudly when the car started smoking. HF got everyone away from the car and had disptach send the fire department. Suddenly, flames appeared up out of the engine area and on the dashboard. HF grabbed the fire extinguisher from his trunk and sprayed the flames out. Shortly after the flames went out the fire department arrived. They told HF and the driver that the fire was an electrical fire and that HF had put it out. After the fire department left, the driver said the following,

"Uh, officer? I had my Ipod plugged into the car and was playing it really really loud tonight. Is that why my car caught on fire?"

HF told me that he was tempted to tell him yes and encourage him to keep the music down but he didn't.

The rest of the night was pretty slow for a Saturday night.