Since becoming a member of the Retired Houston Police Officer’s group on Facebook various incidents from the past have been surfacing in my memory. There was one time when I was sitting in court, having been subpoenaed on a DWI case that I’d made several months earlier.
While listening to the proceedings where the prosecutor
and the defendant’s lawyer were up front working out some kind of plea
agreement, the judge halted them while holding the arrest blotter form in his hand. He appeared to be miffed as he pointed and had me approach the bench.
“Officer Stern, do you think this is funny?” I honestly had no idea what he was talking
about until he had the prosecutor hand me the arrest blotter form, pointing to where
Alias had been filled in with “F*&^ You”.
I did smile while reading the information; but quickly reassembled my
thoughts and explained to the judge why I’d entered that information.
“Your Honor, when I arrested the suspect and asked him
his name that is what he told me. I
entered his name as an alias just as he gave it to me, Sir”.
There was a slight rumble of muffled laughing from
those present in the courtroom as the judge considered my response. The judge thanked me for the additional information
as he turned to the prosecutor and defense attorney to continue with this
incident’s conclusion.
“This court will not accept the plea agreement as
proposed. Police officers will be
treated with dignity and respect; go back and try to find a more appropriate arrangement”
The judge smiled as he thanked me for my appearance
and nodded as I left the courtroom. Sometimes
you win, sometimes you just get lucky.
No comments:
Post a Comment