Citizens Ride Along Journal 5-16-08

On the night of May, 16^th 2008 I rode with Deputy L. Graham of the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Department.  He works the “mean & crazy” streets of Boiling Springs, Chesnee, and Mayo, South Carolina.  The night started out slow as usual seeing it was only around 7:30 PM when he picked me up from the Sheriffs Office. The “fun” doesn’t usually start til around 8 or 9 PM. 

The first call we went on was a suspicious vehicle sitting outside of a house in the cul de sac of a local subdivision. Well we pulled up on scene and sure enough they were still there sitting in there car just talking.  So Deputy Graham got out of the car and questioned the two subjects.  After he got through checking their drivers license for priors and checked them for warrants, he told them they needed to leave the area because it was making the neighborhood residents uncomfortable.  Come to find out, neither one of the subjects was from the area, so why they picked that particular subdivision to sit there and “talk” was beyond me. 

After we cleared up from that call, we rode back down Hwy 9 towards the City of Spartanburg. On the way down the road, we got a call stating that an intoxicated subject was in one of the local restaurants causing a disturbance and refusing to leave.  When we arrived at the location, the suspect was out walking in the parking lot clearly highly intoxicated.  After a few minutes of being on the scene, two more Spartanburg County Officer’s arrived to back us up.  Since it was a disturbance involving an intoxicated subject, two officers usually respond.  After a little bit of talking to, the suspect agreed to leave.  He was told before he left he was given a verbal trespass notice that if he returned to that property then he would be arrested and taken to jail.  So the suspect left and all units left to go back to their patrol areas.  Well by this time it was 8:30 PM, so we decided to run by one of the local convience stores and go in for a quick drink. Then we are off again on patrol. 

          We were driving down Hwy 9 and all of a sudden two sports cars came flying up the road past us in the opposite direction.  We did a quick U-turn in the middle of the road and turned on the lights. We caught up to one of the cars but the other one sped off.  So we pulled in behind him and got out of the car and went up to talk to the subjects in the car.  It turned out that he was driving down the road and stopped at a red light, and the other car had challenged him to a race.  So off they went and that’s when they passed us going the better part of 60 mph in a 40 mph zone.  We got back to the patrol car and ran his car tag and his DL information and checked him for any warrants.  Once we found out he was clear, it was time to decide how mean we wanted to be and how big of a ticket he would get.  We decided on a ticket for traveling 10 mph or more over the speed limit which includes a $125 fine and 2 points taken off your license.  So we decided to give him a little break since this was a first offense, and he was only 16. We knocked down the fine to $76 and dropped the points.  It scared the kid pretty bad, so hopefully he learned his lesson and will not be back out there racing on Hwy 9.

After clearing up from that traffic stop, we decided it was about time to ride back down the business we were out at earlier to check the area for the subject we had trespassed earlier that night.  Sure enough we pulled into the parking lot, and one of the employees from the business points to the back of the building.  We rode to the rear of the building and got out of the car. All of a sudden, there he appeared out of nowhere.  Officer Graham instructed the suspect to put his hands on the back of the car.  We walked up behind him to take him into custody, and he pulled away and started using profanity.  We backed off and called for another unit for our protection and for his. The same officer that was out with us earlier was the first to arrive on scene.  They grabbed one side, I grabbed the other, we slammed him into the trunk, and we took him into custody.  We transported the suspect to the County Jail and booked him in.  He was not very cooperative since he was so drunk.  After about 30 minutes, we finally got him booked. It was time to hit the streets again to see what we could find!

          While we were riding around seeing what else we could get into, one of the other units called out with a burning vehicle and needed help directing traffic.  Once we arrived on scene, the fire was already put out, but traffic was backed up because people were too busy looking at it.  We sat there with the lights on for about 45 minutes and let them get the car out of the road.  We went back in service and headed up to where there was a chase going on.  We finally caught up to the pursuit, but now the suspects were going southbound in the northbound lane of I-85.  The pursuit got too dangerous, so we called out of the pursuit and went back in service for calls.

We decided to go check some of the local parks for trespassers, and sure enough we blacked out the lights and pulled down in the park. There they were, a car with three subjects just sitting there “talking.”   We shined the spot light on them, got out, and started talking to them.  We got their identification and ran their names through the system for warrants.  All three subjects were clear so we waited until they left, then we decided pull out and go back to the Sheriffs Office. 

Most nights I usually ride all night long, but this time Officer Graham had to leave the next morning for Columbia, so he got off at 1 AM.  This was a very productive night and one of the most involved nights that I had ever had riding.  I am really looking forward to maybe one day becoming a police officer.  Please join me soon for my next edition of Citizens Ride Along Journal 5-30-08

Favorite Band or Musician: Kutless
Favorite TV show: NCIS
Favorite movie: Transformers
Favorite book: The Oath
Favorite sports team: Carolina Panthers
Favorite food: Mushroom Pizza

One of my Heroes is Reggie White. Mr. White passed away 4 years ago from a heart attack. He was a Hall of Fame football player and an awesome man of God. My dream was to always be the best in anything I do and always give God the credit because without him you couldn't do anything. That is the way Reggie lived his life. R.I.P. Reggie White 1961-2004.