Ride-along 1

Running Head: WESTCARROLTONCITY POICE RIDE-ALONG

Police Ride-along

Matt Wilson

WrightStateUniversity

ED - 649

Dr. Ron Helms

West Carrollton City Police Ride-Along

Donuts and coffee? Not on this night to say the least. I arrived at West Carrollton Police Department on Saturday, March 3 at approximately 11:00 p.m. Officer Scott Lawson had told me weeks prior, “If you want to see some action, come along on a Saturday night.” As it would turn out, Officer Lawson wasn’t joking. The action would be intense from the moment we fastened our seatbelts ‘till after 4:00a.m. (the duration of my ride).

I had assumed that we would make a few traffic stops and perhaps snatch a drunk driver. Well, my assumptions were off by a long-shot. We set out to patrol the area of Alex-Bell in West Carrollton and before we got out of the Police Department parking lot, we were dispatched to our first disturbance. There was apparently a disturbance at BW3’s so we were off! Our arrival was minutes after the Sergeants, who, with his partner, had already quailed the disturbance. Disappointed as I was, the burden was lifted when I looked upon the Big Screen at BW3’s and saw Mark Franklin, of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, wailing on his opponent. Officer Lawson, Sergeant and I stuck around to see the outcome of the championship fight.

The snow had now provided a fresh white blanket about one inch thick covering the road. Officer Lawson reassured me that the partiers would not be swayed by such. The moment we pulled out of BW3’s, we were dispatched to Indian River apartments just next door to BW3’s and the surrounding bars. My heart began to race once again! We raced to the apartments, roads slippery as they were, and found a woman reporting rape. Officer Lawson advised me to stay in the car as he would go in and gather a full report from the supposed victim. I was bummed to have to miss the action, but Officer Lawson did turn on his body mic so that I could hear every word that was spoken. This is how the night would go. At all of our stops, I was instructed to remain in the car unless told otherwise. I listened to Officer Lawson gather information from the witness for the next 20 minutes. I gathered that she was 55 years old, and was not raped (no penetration) but rather, was touched inappropriately. Gross Sexual Imposition (GSI) was the term used to describe the assault by the officers. The accused (36 year old white mail) had apparently stuck his hands down the pants of the woman and made skin-to-skin contact. The victim knew the address of the accused, hence, after gathering all the details of the crime, we were off again! The man lived about a block away in the same apartment complex. Things were beginning to get exciting! Officer Lawson called for help and almost immediately he had two other officers there in support. One would go with him into the apartment complex to attempt to detain the suspect, while the other walked to the rear of the apartment in effort to prevent a possible run-away. Though I remained in the car, with the body mic, I heard everything. The officers were let into the apartment by the suspects roommates. They were apparently oblivious to what had just happened. The suspect was lying on his bed watching a TV evangelist of all things… I hope he found Jesus!!! Either way, he did not respond to the demand of Officer Lawson to put his hands behind his back. Rather, he ignored him and try to walk away. Officer Lawson then attempted to detain him. The suspect resisted and as a result, was tased twice! After experiencing the grueling shock of the tasers, there was an immediate shift in his attitude. He was suddenly submissive and apologetic. They brought him out, loaded him in our car and we were off to Montgomery County Jail. The suspect was totally innocent and knew nothing as to what he was being detained for…. He had this outlook in common with all of those would arrest tonight.

The time was now around 1:00, we delivered the prisoner to the county jail and then reported to the dispatcher that we were back in service. It wasn’t but a few minutes that we were called to The Place. Officer Lawson had explained before the night had started that there would be trouble from this local dance club. He said that it was Gay and Lesbian night and they always provided for some entertainment. Sure enough, his prediction would be true. We were dispatched to The Place in response to a stabbing. The victim and suspect were both females! The victim had been stabbed twice under her arm and was bleeding pretty good. She was lucky that the suspect only had a pocket knife with a 2.5 inch blade. Though I did not get out of the cruiser, all the action was in sight. Sergeant had already detained the suspect and was now gathering information from the victim. The characters that were walking in and out of the club were quite interesting to say the least!

After assisting with the arrest at The Place, we headed back up to the South side of town and patrolled Cheeks, BW3’s, Sports Bar and a couple other hot spots. Around 2:30 there began a mass exodus as the bars were coming to a close. We were parked at The Yellow Rose monitoring the crowd when suddenly there was an eruption! We exploded on the scene to two groups dispersing in different directions. One group was shouting “he’s got a knife, he’s got a knife!” Officer Lawson stormed over to the other group who were attempting to load up in their Durango. He had his gun pulled ordering them to get out of the vehicle with their hands up. It wasn’t but a few moments before he had his back-up surrounding the Durango all with their guns pulled! In spite of a cut on the hand of one of those who had explained the situation, we could find no knife. Officer Lawson was determined to take the suspected bearer of the knife to jail, but his superior advised to not do so. Well, it was now after 3:00am and I was sure the excitement would stop. To my surprise, it was only just beginning! We then were dispatched, again, to The Place. We sped out of the Yellow Rose parking lot, down Alex Bell reaching speeds as high as 95mph. I wouldn’t have been so nervous had the roads not been covered in snow and had we not nearly crashed into a car an hour before. After arriving at The Place, it didn’t seem as though much was going on. The club was obviously closing as the crowds were leaving. Officer Lawson parked the cruiser and joined his counterparts as they huddled together. It wasn’t long before the first of several fights broke out. The officers were off! Before I knew it, there was a 23 year old female on the hood of our cruiser cursing, crying and fighting all at the same time. She wasn’t very cooperative as she apparently preferred the rough treatment. After she was placed in the cruiser, Officer Lawson was running to help his fellow officers in another dispute. As I was enduring the disgusting, vulgar shouts of the young lady in the backseat, the dispatcher came across the scanner requesting officers to report to a report of a fight on I 75. The West Carrollton Police had their hands full here at The Place. The Sergeant responded requesting Dayton Police to report to the scene. If that wasn’t enough, The Place produced another outbreak at the Speedway across from the old Woody’s grocery store! Officer Lawson returned to the cruiser and felt it ok to leave his fellow officers to deal with the remaining issues at The Place. This second journey to the jail downtown would prove to be much more grueling than the previous. The young lady in the backseat continued to curse, damn us to hell and even wish our children dead! She spit continuously all over the plexy-glass that divided the back seats from the front. Our arrival down town could not come soon enough. Once arriving, lady officers came to retrieve the uncooperative detainee. We assisted in ushering her into the search room where I then met two other detainees that were brought in by Dayton Police, one of which was arrested for possession of crack cocaine. Where was this crack cocaine on his person you ask? All 5 grams shoved up his hindquarters! I don’t know who fished it out, but I was a bit relieved that such was not a part of our evening.

Donuts and coffee? No, not even close. We didn’t even have time to stop for a restroom break! In no way was I prepared for the night that I had just experienced. No time for the monitoring of traffic for petty things such as spent lights, suspended license and things of the sort. This was real stuff! Real heroes were the men than I spent this night with. Heroes saving lives; even still, I left with a somewhat disgusted feeling in my stomach. Every dispute had a common denominator: Alcohol. It amazes me how undisciplined and irresponsible individuals display themselves. Thank God for bold men with substance and resolve who maintain order in our sometimes twisted society.