Thread by @BeanTownCop

Well. Boys and girls. Buckle your seatbelts.

Uncle Beans got a #StoryTime for you.

I came in to work today feeling good. I had two much needed days off from work where I did absolutely nothing, ate good, and rested. My body was rested, my mind recalibrated, and my spirit high. I was ready for whatever this shift had in store for me.

Or so I thought.

So I hit the road and I’m out proactively patrolling. I hit the local spots that we usually find kids hanging out and causing trouble, but they’re all empty. Perfect. I get a few minor calls that I settle without incident. Im feeling good.

I should know by now that this is bad.

Whenever I’m overly confident about how good a shift is going, that’s when life and karma get together with tequila and go “Lmao check this out.”

So I’m posted up in a highly visible spot reading the logs from my days off, catching up on arrests, bulletins, and other notes of importance when I hear a vehicle coming at Mach 45. Legit, it’s like a rocket ship was taking off.

As I poke my head up, I see the car coming at me. I didn’t have my radar set up because frankly I wasn’t planning on stopping any cars but if I had to guess, the car was going about 65 in a 30 zone. It’s going so fast then when it passed me, I almost got whiplash.

Now, let me fill you guys that aren’t cops in on a little secret. Don’t tell the cops I told you this:

Ever since the Rona hit, I haven’t stopped a single car. Nope. Unless you just ran over a child, no traffic offense is worth me catching the ole Rona.

Literally, I just checked my ticket book. My last ticket issued was back in March. So that goes to show you how bad this perwob was driving for me to want to pull out (ayyyy) after her.

Now, my baby is fast. I’ve pushed her to her limits many times. She’s very capable. I can’t remember a time where I ever had any doubts of whether or not I can catch someone. Hasn’t happened.

But this person? Bruh. They were GONE as soon as I pulled out. I’m talking Houdini.

I thought about putting the description out to the other cars but I didn’t even get a good chance to even get a description to begin with. It all happened so quick. So I start heading in the direction I felt it would go.

Now, I’m going quick. How quick, Bean? I’m not telling you, IA. Nice try. But quick enough to where I was glad no one else was on the road. I’m thinking to myself, “where are you... you’re not getting away from me.”

After a few minutes of heading in a direction, I saw a car stopped at a red light. It looked like the car but i wasn’t sure. So I slow down and keep my distance. Sure enough, the second it turns green, THEY TAKE OFF LIKE A SIDE PIECE BEING CAUGHT BY SOMEONES WIFE.

I say to myself “I got you now.”

So I follow. I’m using my skills, bobbing and weaving, turning and signaling, braking and accelerating. I’m like Jason Statham in The Transporter.

After a few minutes of following to see whether or not this person would see a cop in their rear view and slow down (they didn’t), I finally decided to light up the car. I flick the switch and my cruiser comes to life. My first car stop in months. I felt ALIVE.

The car comes to a stop immediately. I run the plate. It comes back to a female. No criminal history, no warrants, not even a single ticket. Strange. I get out cautiously, and approach from the drivers side. I post up on the B pillar (in between the front and back seat), & wait.

Sure enough, it looks like the driver is the female in the picture that owns the car. I can see nurses credentials hanging off her hips.

Side note: nurses, I love y’all. You’re the real MVP. You guys do gods work.

But y’all need to slow down. ALL OF YOU. Thanks.

She had no idea I was there. With the combination of my cruiser placement, light utilization, and angling, I was undetectable. Like a freaking ninja. As planned 😏

I scan the car, make sure I see nothing of concern and then finally make contact.

I knock on the window and i give her a mini heart attack. If you’re reading this, ma’am, I’m sorry again.

She rolls down the window and begins to profusely apologize.

“ImSoSorryIKnowIWasGoingSoFastButThereWereNoCarsOnTheRoadAndIWasJustTryingToGetHomeAnd-“

Bruh, this woman goes off on a 4 minute long verbal diarrhea of why she was speeding and how sorry she was and blah blah blah. I just let her talk because I was listening and hoping to make sense of the bigger picture.

So after shes done, I tell her to breath.

I go “listen. I get it. No ones on the road, but that’s NO excuse to be going as fast as you were. I don’t even know how fast you were going but it had to have been highway speed.” She nods her head and agrees. I tell her I’m gonna go back and run her into and I’ll be right back.

So I strut my stuff back to my cruiser and run her again just to be sure the person that the computer tells me owns the car is actually her. It is. So Now I need to decide what to do. Do I:

1.) hammer her with a full fine?
2.) fine her but bare minimum?
3.) warning?
4.) verbal?

After pondering the fate of this woman, my inner humanity and the experienced officer in my took over. I realized that no one, not even the dumbest idiot, is going to be going that fast without a reason. Somethings going on. Something happened.

And let me tell you. I was right.

I hold off on writing the ticket. I’m sure she was expecting me to take some time but since I ran her already before initially coming up, I was able to quickly hop out and come back. This time, i decided to come up the drivers side. I wasn’t ready for what I saw.

As I come up, I see her resting her forehead on the steering wheel, crying into her arms. Her heads tilted to the right, presumably to check if Im coming back. Now, i get the water works every now and then. They think it’ll help them get out of a ticket.

Spoiler alert: it doesnt

People give me all sorts of excuses. They have to poop. Their baby is having a medical emergency. Elvis is visiting. They get creative sometimes. But I’ve learned how to tell the fake tears from the real.

These were real tears.

So I come back up and knock on the window. Heart attack number two for her. She apologizes and starts cleaning herself up.

At this point, I don’t even give a shit about the speeding. Somethings wrong with this woman. Something bad.

I go “maam, what’s wrong?”

“Oh nothing. I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed. I’m sorry again for speeding. Totally my fault.”

You can tell Shes trying to be brave and get her composure but miserably failing.

I look her in the eyes and go, “(name), what’s wrong?”

She looks at me, smiles, and lets the tears loose. Lots of tears. Lots and lots of tears.

She goes on to tell me that shes a nurse at a hospital for people with mental health disorders. Earlier today, someone hanged them selves. It was a patient she was working closely with & thought she was making progress with. Later on, when she was doing her checks, she found her.

She told me that she wasn’t even able to process that before she had to continue doing her responsibilities. She finished the rest of her shift with only the thought of getting out of that place and going home on her mind. My heart broke for her because i know that feeling.

We were right down the street from her home, but i asked her if she would like to talk. She politely declined and said that she just wanted to get home. I told her I understood, because I did, and I think she knows I did. I handed her my business card and let her go.

So here I am, sitting in an empty parking lot. Thinking about her. Thinking about the people that do public service jobs. The thankless professions out there that see these terrors and horrors. I’m sad for her. I’m mad for her too. What a terrible thing to go through, and then

To have to finish the rest of your shift cleaning people’s feces and take abuse from people who have no idea what this nurse just went through.

It’s so easy for people the be selfish and ignorant of what angels like nurses have to go through and put up with, all with a smile on their faces. Cops understand. Firefighters understand. EMT’s understand. Dispatchers too.But a lot of you never will.

And it’s not your fault.

We know we signed up for this profession. We know the dangers. We know the consequences. We know sometimes our tempers are short, and it’s not fair to you. You don’t deserve to be on the receiving end. But try and empathize. There might be a reason behind it.

I know, we’re supposed to be professionals. We’re supposed to hold it together. We’re supposed to take it and pretend like everything’s ok. I know.

But sometimes we can’t. Sometimes we’re just humans.

Forgive us.