Monday, August 3, 2009

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.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

so scary!! Good thing he followed his intuition with the traffic stop! Seriously, they were going to shoot a cop with a cap gun?? Some people are ridiculous!

Slamdunk said...

Congrats to your officer--sounds like a great start.

Dori said...

Customers soiling themselves on his first night! Excellent! Did they claim it was their cousin's cap gun?

I think that's one of the biggest thing that most civilians do not "get"--they may think they're getting stopped for something petty like license plate light being out, but traffic stops have been when my husband has had his biggest busts.

Here's wishing you a better night's sleep tonight!

911 and the Randomness.. said...

I'm so happy for HF being solo! Sounds like he has some awesome 'spidey senses'! I promise he will stop calling each time he gets some action so you can get some sleep too.. Just remember that God is in control and say a prayer for him everynight. :)

Erin said...

Jees, that's quite an eventful first night.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good first night.

I think it's awesome that he wants to call you when something exciting happens.

Paula said...

My son says that the routine stops for no tail lights or head lights or etc are the ones that usually have something in the car to hide. Good luck to HF and good job

Anonymous said...

What a crazy first night! Congrats to HF.. and congrats to you for making it through the first night as well

Tara said...

cant believe he rings you in the night :) if D did that i would return the favour on my night shifts! it must be a long night riding alone tho. hopefully plenty of his shifts will be only that "exciting"!

Anonymous said...

Wow. There's someting about the self-control required that so impresses me.

And, thank you so much for your kind words at my blog.

Natalie said...

After FH's first pursuit he woke me up when he got home and wanted to tell me all about it. At 5 in the morning. I was also heavy with child and finally found a comfortable position. He was giddy for a day!

Sounds like HF started it off right!

Sister Copinherhair said...

Our guys are always solo but usually have back up right around the corner. I asked Mr. Indubitably one night how his shift went...

"Good...a couple of domestics and some people practicing Wicca in the park."

"Wicca?"

"Yeah, I just had to tell them that they can't light fires under the pavilion."

Freedom of Religion...

MrsMonicaLB said...

wow! and good job to your HF!

firefighter / paramedic said...

It just goes to prove that everyone wants to be a firefighter!

Seriously though, sounds like a great night.

mrs. fuzz said...

firefighter/paramedic-- OR it proves that he didn't NEED one! Zing!

firefighter / paramedic said...

nice one. Congrats on your blog awards and keep up the good work.