I was orginally going to write about this new DVD I picked up that stars Anthony LaPaglia and how excited I was to add it to my collection. But then something even more interesting happened.
Before I begin, let me say that, no I wasn’t doing anything illegal. I was simply in the right place at the wrong time.
Here's the whole story.
My mom called last night at about 5 pm. She works at a restaurant and she needed the eggs and potatoes my Ummie had done earlier that day for potato salad. Okay, no big deal. I drive down to my Ummie's bakery/office to get the stuff. I know that no one is there and that the door is locked but for some reason my brain doesn't get the message and I try to open the door without unlocking it first. The security alarm is sensitive enough to notice even little changes. I was a little worried that I might have set off the alarm but you usually have a 10 second window to get from the door to the control panel, type in the code and turn off the alarm. I get in and turn off the alarm. As I said earlier, my brain wasn't functioning properly so at the time I didn't notice that the beeping was different than normal and that the display screen had some message on it.
Anyway, I got in and turned off the alarm. I called my Ummie to find out where she had stored the eggs and potatoes. At this time she informed me that the alarm had gone off and the police should be there any minute. I told her that I might have been the one to set the alarm off but that I hadn't noticed anything funny. She said just to stay there and that she was coming down. Again, no big deal. I knew that it would take awhile for her to get there and for the police to show up. Out here, we don't have that many police and it's a rural area, so sometimes the police won't even show up until the next day. I went ahead and sat down at my Ummie's computer and checked my email and visited some other sites. By now it's probably 5:18 pm.
This where it gets interesting.
Where I'm sitting at the computer I can't see the drive way and you don't hear what's happening out front but you can hear when somebody pulls up in the back. I was waiting for my Ummie and Pop (what most people would call their grandpa) when I thought I heard somebody pull in. So I walked out back to see who it was. I had left my car door open and my keys in the lock because I thought that I'd only be there for a few minutes. In and out. That's it. I get outside and nobody's there. I close my car door and turn to take my keys out of the lock when who comes around the corner of the building? A police officer.
I start to semi-panic for a few reasons. The first thing I noticed was the tone of voice. The police officer asked me if I should be there. If you've seen COPS, you know what voice I'm talking about. It’s the one where they tell you to get down on the ground with your hands over head. The second thing I notice is that he had is weapon drawn about half-way out of the holster. This is the part that really got the adrenaline pumping because I understand the thought process of a police officer at this crucial moment.
See, I’ve taken a course called Concealed Weapons Permit Safety. This is where you learn all the rules of how to operate a gun safely and all the laws involving guns. These classes are usually taught by current or retired police officers. The class I took was taught by a current police officer who was a former member of SWAT. In this class I learned what “critical distance” means. It’s the distance that you are justified to shot someone if they do not respond to verbal commands and they come at you. This distance is 7 feet. Why 7 feet? If you have your gun drawn and pointed at someone, that’s the distance they can cover at the same time that you pull the trigger. If they are closer, that person will have enough time before you can pull the trigger to stab you or otherwise injury you.
I was closer than 7 feet when the police officer rounded the corner. As you can see I was justified in my semi-panic. When he asked me the questions, I stumbled all over myself. I’ve never had a problem around police officers but it is totally different when they have their weapon half-drawn and are trying to figure out what’s going on.
The police officer only had a few seconds to ask me questions because here comes my Ummie flying around the corner in her van. I was so relieved. I just pointed at my Ummie and said that’s my grandma and yes, I’m supposed to be here. The police officer then put his weapon back in the holster. He asked my Ummie if everything was under control because he had 6 other calls to respond to. She said yes and he left.
That was the end of my ordeal. I don’t think I’ll ever commit a crime when I know that I might be starring down the barrel of police officer’s gun.
(Ummie translates into grandma. Read all about in my previous post.)
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