At Least You’re Not Going to Jail Tonight

Then the cop said, “Now, you guys could just start over. At least you’re not going to jail tonight.”

That night those cops saved my life.  They had me dead to rights.  All they had to do was put the handcuffs on and take me down to the precinct.  Instead, I was able to walk away.  I say they saved my life because if I had gone to jail that night, my life would have been ruined.

Everybody knows what follows when you go to jail.  It's hard to get a job, hard to get an apartment, and you forever walk around with the stigma of being an ex con.  They showed me an act of kindness, or was it?

I realized one thing about cops which is that they are regular working stiffs like everybody else.  They want to do their nine to five and go home. They hate paperwork and most hate the job.  If they took me to jail that night there would have been a lot of paperwork.  Also, thinking back, how kind was it when they first stopped me, stuck the gun to my head and threatened to blow my brains out against the wall? 

I guess you have to take the bad with the good.  They did let me go.

Did a police officer ever let you go when he had you dead to rights?


Read more: Ghetto Bastard: A Memoir (Volume 1) and Ghetto Bastard 2 (Volume 2)

ghettobastard.com