No, that isn’t me in the photo above…but continue to read on…
The following happened on Tuesday, January 20th, 1981. Why I distinctly remember when will be revealed as we move along. And I remember it most not for the reason some of you may already be thinking…
Long before I was renewed of heart, spirit, and mind and transformed by the power of the Spirit of God to work in me I lived in Southern California. I moved out to California around 1974, 1975. I’ve relayed some of my experiences in the past in other columns here, but the following has never been mentioned.
I had been living with a woman for a number of years, and she decided she wanted to get involved in some acting classes and see how that went. Hey, it’s Southern California. Almost everyone under the age of 40 deludes themselves out there they are going to somehow make it in “show biz!” I was working as a screenwriter, getting very close to being produced and breaking in, but that’s a whole other story.
One sunny Southern California day (among the 350 or so other sunny days there) this woman was to appear in a one-act play her class was putting on. Since this was beginner acting, beginner theater all the actors in the class were told to find their own costumes and to dress at their homes according to their roles, since there were no costumes or dressing rooms at the facility the class and play were to be performed.
The woman I was living with landed the role of a hooker. A prostitute.
She sourced all the necessary articles of attire to play the part. Dressed in our one-bedroom apartment in the foothills of the Hollywood Hills, looking the part very convincingly, and we got in her Opel Kadett and headed out towards the place this play was to be performed.
1971 Opel Kadett. She owned an identical green one. (Not her car. An image that was taken off the Internet)
She drove. Because the Volkswagen 411 I owned, that had been parked for almost 2 years without moving, on the road leading up to the Hollywood Hills had eventually been towed away. I bought it when I lived in Mission Beach, near San Diego, and it was old and very used when I bought it. Due to the car being near the Pacific Ocean’s sea air — wonderful for people, not quite so good for an automobiles electrical wiring — the entire wiring of my car was shot, along with the brakes. Repairs I inquired of would have cost at least three times the car’s value to fix. That’s why it was parked for almost 2 years, got towed, and I was a passenger in my girlfriend’s little green Opel Kadett.
Volkswagen 411. Yes, this little known and probably the best VW model ever built, aside from the Karmann Ghia at the time was an amazing car. If it had brakes and a working wiring harness system (Not the one I owned. This is an image taken off the Internet, but mine was like this, the same color, different wheels though).
There is a law in Southern California. It may be statewide, it most likely is still in place, but back then I know the law existed for sure. If a motorist is driving on any street, and a pedestrian steps off the curb and even set one foot on the street to cross the street, that motorist MUST STOP and yield to the pedestrian. No matter when. No matter where.
We were motoring along Sunset Boulevard, heading west, in the far right-hand lane of the very wide at the time 6 lane boulevard, and we were talking, having a good relaxed time as we went on our way.
As my girlfriend’s car approached a pedestrian, about 20 feet in front of her car — now bear in mind she was driving about 35 mph and the pedestrian is only about 20 feet from the front of her car — the pedestrian actually thought he could make it, and he began to put one of his feet on the surface of Sunset Boulevard. Realizing his error in judgment, he stepped back safely onto the sidewalk and waited for my girlfriend’s car to pass him.
I looked in the right-hand side rearview door mounted mirror and saw a black and white Los Angeles police car behind us.
I said to my girlfriend, “He’s going to stop us.”
She glanced quickly into her rearview mirror above the windshield, and said, “You really think so? That guy was right next to my car and no way I could have stopped and him cross safely.”
We traveled on about a quarter of a mile. At the next traffic signal, my girlfriend turned her car left onto La Cienega Boulevard.
We proceeded driving south along La Cienega about a quarter of a mile and the siren and lights came on from the police car that had also made the left-hand turn after us.
She asked, “You think that’s because of us?”
I replied, “Yes, you’d better pull over, and when stopped don’t make any moves to the glove box for your registration, or any moves without first telling them quietly and clearly what you’re doing and why.”
She pulled the little green Opel Kadett to the curb lane and stopped. I sat motionless and quiet. Not moving. Not saying a word.
My girlfriend’s little green Opel Kadett didn’t have air conditioning. So the windows were rolled down on the driver’s side door and on my passenger side door. Yes, it was January, but about 75 degrees outside.
A policeman came up to the driver’s side door and said, “Do you know why I stopped you?”
“No, I really don’t,” my girlfriend replied.
“You failed to yield when that pedestrian attempted to cross Sunset back there,” the policeman told her.
(A pedestrian could step off of any street, anywhere along the street — this law did not pertain to pedestrian crosswalks mind you!)
“I didn’t think he’d even try my car was so close to him at the time, it wouldn’t have been safe. I’d have never been able to stop safely if he had walked onto Sunset,” my girlfriend told the cop.
“You going somewhere special dressed as you are?” He asked.
“I’m in a play today, and we had to dress at home. It’s a beginning acting class and this is the first play I’m in,” she told him.
“I need to see your license and registration,” he then said.
My girlfriend told him her registration was in her glove box, and as she leaned over to reach to open it she looked at me in horror as I’d never seen on her face, and she said to me, “Don’t move, because you have a policeman with his gun drawn and the barrel of his gun about three inches from your head.”
I knew he was there. I saw his shadow over me. I felt his presence very close to me. I just didn’t think he’d already drawn his weapon and had it pointed at my head.
I finally spoke, saying to the policeman at the door, “You want to tell this guy to stand down and back off since I don’t have a weapon. I’m unarmed, just a passenger here, and this is about getting a ticket for not yielding when a person steps off the curb anywhere? It’s really necessary to have this guy have his gun loaded and pointing at my head only a few inches away”
And my girlfriend said, “You think he’s going to give me a ticket for this?”
I didn’t move my head, but with my eyes and facial expression let her know I thought it was a “yes, you’re going to get a ticket.”
Los Angeles police are not known for their being lenient considering all they deal with on a day in day out, every day and night basis.
Then the policeman at the driver’s door, said, “Okay, out of the car slowly, with your hands away from your body, and once outside the vehicle put your hands and arms high in the air.” This was directed at both of us, but mainly towards me.
I obliged, as did my girlfriend.
The older, lead cop came around to my side of the car. And while his partner kept his firearm drawn on me the older policeman pushed me down face forward onto the hood of my girlfriend’s car and proceeded to handcuff me, and kept me lying face down on the hood. Passersby driving slowed greatly, probably imagining the police had just apprehended a terrible criminal and all they had was a young white guy who had been a passenger in a car while his girlfriend, dressed like a prostitute, was driving to her first play to act in.
I’m a white guy from the Midwest, 27 years of age as this is happening.
I did not mouth off. Neither did my girlfriend.
I asked the older policeman, “Is this really necessary? And, “does he,” moving my head and eyes in the direction of the young cop with his weapon still pointing at me, “need to keep his gun pointed at me?”
Finally, the older cop told the young one to put his gun back in its holster, and told me, “He’s a rookie and we’re all a little jumpy out here never knowing who we’re stopping, if they are armed, if they just committed a crime, if they’re high on drugs and out of their minds and stronger than normal, we see nothing but bad things and need to be overly cautious to save our lives and the lives of others.”
This was in 1981. Over 39 years ago. And everything has only gotten worse — not better in our nation, with our people, with lawlessness, drug use, criminal activities and not knowing who is armed and who is not. What a person’s intent is. And the cops being always jumpy and fearing for their own safety as a result of the people they deal with day in and day out every day of the year.
I was kept in the handcuffs, placed in the backseat of the police car, tightly strapped in so it was impossible to move, and taken to the Hollywood Police Station, where I was put into a cell.
I had been arrested — because I had two outstanding traffic violations I had never paid. I was negligent and irresponsible and arrogant thinking it being big L.A. I could somehow slip through the system and not pay the tickets. Neither of which were egregious or heinous, but nevertheless were 2 traffic citations never paid, therefore a warrant was out for my arrest, and when my girlfriend’s car was stopped, and the police eventually got around to running a check on her, and on me, as they removed my wallet and searched it for ID to run a trace on me, they discovered the warrant for the outstanding traffic tickets.
I was in the Hollywood Police Station jail watching television while the American hostages were disembarking the jet which had returned them to American soil, after being held hostage in Iran for 444 days.
My girlfriend found a bail bondsman. Bailed me out. Missed her play. And that was how that day on Tuesday, January 20th, 1981, over 39 years ago went (not anywhere as bad as the hostages went through in Iran for 444 days)…oh, and a man by the name of Mr. Ronald Reagan also happened to make the news that day as he was sworn in as the President of the United States of America. A lot happened on that January day a little over 39 years ago…
We have good cops, we have bad cops. Just as we have some good, some good in EVERYTHING across the board. Good pastors, bad ones, good doctors and bad doctors, good nurses and bad ones, good teachers, bad ones, good firemen and bad ones, good this bad that. Everywhere. In everything. Always been this way. Always will be until the very end and Jesus returns. And contrary to the lies, the propaganda they aren’t all heroes! Can we finally begin to be objective? Realistic? Truthful? Honest and use the brains the Good Lord gave us to think critically and well!?
Was the cop in Minneapolis wrong in using too much force on George Floyd’s neck? Sure, we can say that now. Was that cop a bad cop? We don’t know. We honestly don’t know his record, the particulars, the whole story of the arrest. And the media is never going to tell it. There is no fair trial, innocent until proven guilty by a court of law and a jury much anymore in America where that is supposed to be one of our cherished foundations and principals.
We don’t know the facts, the particulars of that eventful stop the led to George Floyd ending up on the pavement with a policeman’s knee on his neck.
George Floyd was a known criminal. He had a long violent criminal history. This is a fact. On the record. To be known if anyone cares for facts and the record. George Floyd was not this saintly, wonderful, loving almost perfect man his family and the media portray him as being.
Sadly, almost to a person, relatives can never be objective or honest about how their relatives really are if those relative’s activities come into question in the public light. We see mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, as well as friends never being honest about those close to them. Known criminals, murderers, terrorists, even caught on video then the relatives and friends scream, bellow, rant, rave, yell, and swear that “______________ was a GOOD boy, was a GOOD man and never did anything wrong! He was a wonderful and loving boy, a wonderful and loving man!”
Right.
And his long criminal history, his record of violence, of belonging to a certain gang, or a certain terrorist organization had no bearing in his arrest? Law enforcement after him? Taking the actions they did? To protect themselves and the community at large?
There is no perspective whatsoever remaining in America.
No one cares to learn the facts, the truth of how many people in police custody end up being killed in a nation of over 380,000,000 people.
No one bothers or cares to learn or report or know a fuller, more balanced factual accounting of any of this, or of any of these type incidents. It’s just quickly jerk those knees up, run to the lies, run to the immediate false stories being presented, and bond to them like molten metal bonding to flesh.
Sorry to be the one to break this actual news to you folks, but it’s not always or all about racism. The standard easy to pull off the shelf and go to excuses don’t apply. Not in the absence of facts when it is facts that are needed, required, and must be applied.
To all things. In all things.
You want a fact right now that would stop all this by about 98% without the nonsense of spending taxpayer dollars that aren’t there on special training and all the ridiculous politically (in)correct New Age doctrine classes that will supposedly bring about the desired change?
A change of attitude, posture, actions taken, or not taken by anyone and all who are ever stopped by the police. No matter where. No matter their origin, age, ethnicity, background — you name it.
Adopt the right attitude.
Don’t immediately resist, fight, flee, and get all lippy and angry and contentious with the police.
Be calm. Remain calm. Tell the truth. Answer their questions.
And if you’re a criminal? If you have a warrant out for your arrest? Fighting, fleeing, being contentious, being belligerent, swearing at, spitting at, and resisting the truth, resisting the arrest is only going to make it worse on yourself. On those you know and supposedly love. On those in your community.
I realize that will sound ridiculous to the so-called educated, sophisticated modern-age person. To the brainwashed and indoctrinated in modern-day philosophies, humanism, and the leftist ideologies. Naive in fact. Pollyanna. But it is the truth.
It’s about the attitude adopted when stopped. It’s about not fleeing, not lying, not resisting and the posture and attitude taken. Not necessarily the color of your skin. It’s about what comes out of your mouth and the way it does. What’s in your eyes and heart. What might also be sitting next to you on the passenger seat, or on the floor, or in the backseat. What can be detected. What is known from running the computer background trace on you when stopped.
Yes, there are some really bad cops out there. Desiring nothing more than to inflict pain and their internal hate and vileness on someone they stop or apprehend. This is not rampant and the rule as the media, many politicians, almost all celebrities, and those rioting, looting, and protesting want people to believe.
It’s always been like this. It always will be. We have a lot of bad people in our nation. It’s actually human nature. Contrary to the lies people are NOT inherently good. People must work at and desire to work towards goodness. It does not come naturally. It really does not. We must be taught and shown how to be good truth be told! And no amount of training, no amount of taxpayer money thrown away on New Age doctrine politically (in)correct nonsense is going to change human nature.
But those who are stopped by the police? For whatever reason? Adopt the right attitude. The right posture. The right speech. The right way of thinking and being and all this dung could be reduced by over 90%. I am sure of it.
And this begins in the home. It begins with parents teaching their children well, truthfully and right. According to the Word of God. According to the laws of the land. According to morals and basic principals. According to the culture one is raised in. It begins in homes with a mother and a father. it begins in homes with a mother and father who guide, teach, and discipline their children in the ways of the Lord, in the Holy Scriptures. At the very least it begins in homes with a mother and father. And paying attention. Spending time together. Eating together. Growing wise together. To avoid as many trials, tribulations, troubles, and sufferings as one possibly can. It begins with a solid foundation in what is right and what is wrong and making Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, the true Christian faith, the Holy Bible the ANCHOR of the family life!
I’m now close to 68 years of life and been married for almost 33 years to my lovely, dear wonderful wife.
In those 33 years, I’ve been stopped by the police only about 4 times.
Three of those I have broken the law and by my posture, my speech, my forthrightness, my attitude, my telling the truth I drove away without a ticket, without a fine, even though I deserved one. One of those times I received a citation, and rightfully deserved it, for the speed I was traveling.
My wife marvels at this. And I’ve told her, and she has sat in the passenger seat and witnessed it, it’s all about posture, facial expression, what my eyes are saying, the tone of my voice, my being contrite and admitting I was wrong, and my overall honestly and attitude that the policeman that stops me lets me go on my way with a warning.
And, the fact for the past 39 years I haven’t had another warrant out for my arrest. That I am a law-abiding citizen.
Think any of the above might have something to do with the end results?
Do we honestly care about the truth? Honestly care about the facts? Really care about getting things right? Or are we satisfied with lies, deception, corruption, certain ideologies, and agendas demanding all the print and air time and entering into the ears, eyes, hearts, and minds of our people?
What sort of people are we really?
What sort of person are you really at your core? In the depths of your heart and mind?
And you’d better be ruthlessly honest there, for to lie to yourself is the most foolhardy thing a person can do!
And know this — God Almighty knows the true hearts, the true minds, the true ways of living, the every thought of every person on earth at all times.
And what matters most in all of this? Regarding every person? In every situation? It’s is that person a true Christian, a true disciple of Jesus, a faithful person of God, devoted to the Lord and His Word, thus living a life not partaking in violence, lawlessness, causing rebellion, without worrying about fleeing from police or being arrested — at least in America, still.
Or, a person of the world. In truth godless. Serving themselves while serving their masters of this world. Quick to anger, thinking themselves victims, convinced in error they are justified by any of their actions, without a moral compass or a strong foundation in moral, ethical, God-fearing faith-based core values and beliefs. They allow evil and darkness within them to reign over them. These are the children of disobedience, be they 13 or 83. No matter, although the 83-year-olds certainly ought to have come to know better by that time in their lives!
You just need to bear in mind, in your heart, how you think, what you believe, how you live. And, sadly, the overwhelming majority aren’t doing a good job of even doing that task! The proof is seen and heard all around us daily!
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