Part III:  

The Importance of, "In the Beginning..." 

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  If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?  Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world?  ~1 Corinthians 6:1-2

     Charlie, Nick, and Alex once again aired things out and all eventually agreed that the beer should go.  Nick still didn't think it was that big of a deal but he didn't feel it was worth upsetting things between them.  I mean it wasn't like there was a greater good that would come of it, at least not in this instance.  He saw their point there.  Although, he still didn't quite see eye-to-eye with them on it all and still wished Charlie would lighten up about these things.

     They made their way back to find Reuben and Jim having a jolly time.  Reuben was bent over with tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks while Jim was sitting atop the cooler, his shoulders rising and falling from his own laughter.  Alex noted how quickly Jim rose when he saw them coming.  He then gave Reuben a nudge to alert him of their approach.

     "Hey Alex," Reuben called out through his laughter.  "You remember that time I almost got arrested with that lady and the purse?"

     "You mean at the mall?" 

     "Yea, yea, that's right.  She had some game going.  Even I was impressed and I ended up being one of her victims.  Although, I wondered if the others would have given me more credit had I been white instead of hispanic."

     At Charlie and Nick's look of bewilderment Alex said, "We were at the mall checking out some scooters for his son.  I ran off to the restroom and while I was gone he saw this woman snatch another's purse.  Apparently the victim had laid it down and didn't even notice that someone had taken it, but Reuben saw it and ran after the purse snatcher.  So he catches her and gets in a struggle with her over the purse when she starts screaming, "Help! help! He's trying to steal my purse!  This man is trying to steal my purse!" 

     Well, I had just come out of the restroom when I heard the commotion so looking to help I went to check things out, and there was Reuben with several men holding him down.  They had heard her scream bloody murder, jumped him, then threw him to the ground and were detaining him until the mall cop arrived.  Meanwhile the purse snatcher had run off again with the purse."

     Charlie and Nick's eyes widened at that.

     "You're kidding?" Charlie asked, captivated by the story.

     Alex shook his head no. 

     Nick then said, "Geeze Reuben, you attract trouble like bees to honey, but that was pretty clever on her part...I could see where others would get the wrong impression. What happened after that?"

     Reuben then says, "You should have been there, it was so funny.  So now Alex is there yelling, 'What in the name of God is going on?!  Get off of him!' as he's making his way through the crowd.  They were about to turn on him next when Barnie Fife comes strolling in looking like we had just disturbed him from his Dunkin Donut break...you remember that cop Alex?"

     "Ohhh do I, Barnie Fife is going light on the guy.  He didn't even ask any questions, just assumed the worst like everybody else."

     "Yea," Reuben interjected, "I mean here I am trying to tell them that she was the purse snatcher and she was getting away with some lady's purse and all he could say was, 'Shut up!  Shut up!  Shut up!'  Alex nearly blew a gasket.  I never seen him so mad.  He then yelled back at the guy, 'If you don't call your Sargeant right now I will!'  Then Barnie slapped some handcuffs on him too."

     They were all enjoying a hearty laugh now, Charlie then asked, "So, how did it end?"

     Alex finished the story, "To make a long story short, his Sarge did show up.  Thank God he had more sense and we were able to clear the air.  It also helped that shortly afterwards the owner of the purse realized it had been snatched from under her nose.  She then heard that a purse snatcher had been captured and came running.  Some of the items in the purse had dropped out when Reuben had struggled with the perp for it.  She was able to identify them as hers and that collaborated his story, especially since it was now apparent that the purse he was trying to get from the perp was the one that had been stolen.  Unfortunately, by the time the truth came out the purse snatcher had plenty of time to get away with it and was now nowhere to be found."  

     "Some story," Charlie commented shaking his head.  "Just goes to show that not everything is as it appears to be."

     "Ain't that the truth," Jim threw in.

     "I had to give her credit though," Reuben said with a note of admiration, "As I said, she had some game going.  That was a smart bluff and others bought it without even giving it a second thought...but Alex believed me."

     "Yea, but that's because I knew you.  I've also had plenty of experience with this sort of thing.  She was obviously a pro, or what we called in the field a career criminal.  I remember when I first began working as a cop.  While still green I had responded to a similar call.  There was a shoplifting incident.  I was told the manager and a few of his employees had apprehended the suspect so I really just needed to see if there was enough evidence to bring the suspect in and complete the paperwork. 

     So I get there and she had been handcuffed by their security guard but she's mouthing off to them like there's no tomorrow, and it wasn't like what Reuben was doing, he was just trying to explain what had happened, but this lady was screaming and spewing just about every profanity you could think of.  I had already given her a warning about obstructing a criminal investigation but I could see she had no intention of listening and she was probably high on crack.  She had that look about her...really thin, eyes sunken, like the life was being sucked out of her.  So, I decided to take her out of the shop and place her in the patrol car, but as I was telling her to get in the car she wouldn't listen, just kept mouthing off her profanities at me.  I then decided to help her in when she head butts me, then kicks me in the groin and starts to run."

     "Ouch!" the guys yelled while making pain-ridden faces.

     "Did she get away?"  Jim asked, eager to hear what happened next.

     "Nooo, I quickly recovered, ran after her and caught up with her.  Well, I was handling her with kid gloves before but I knew this broad had no intention of coming in and would just take advantage of that.  So I treated her like I would treat a man, God knows she had the strength of one.  I didn't strike her but I used enough force on her to do the job.  After getting her under control and putting a lock on her she's still trying to resist, so I twisted the cuffs enough to apply some pain.  She then starts to scream, "Ouch!!!  I'm pregnant! I'm pregnant!"  Now everyone within earshot is surrounding us yelling about police brutality and the injustice of it all.  It didn't help that the incident happened while the Rodney King situation was still fresh in people's memories so you could imagine how that looked coming in from the tail end of things.  Not one of these people were aware of the disruption she had been causing inside, and how she had violently turned on me.  All they saw was the tail end of it and from that view it appeared that I was using more force than necessary, and on a pregnant woman at that.  Now did I not only have to contend her, but a crowd of people were gathering and I could see it in their faces that they were quickly turning against me.  So I moved quickly, got her in my patrol car and headed out.  Some of the other guys then arrived on scene to deal with the crowd and ensure a riot didn't break out."

     "So she wasn't pregnant?" Nick asked wide-eyed.

     "Nooo...and may I remind you I was new on the force.  We had some training in this area, even some hands-on training and it helped, but there's nothing quite like the real thing.  When I first heard her yelling about being pregnant my initial reaction was one of alarm, but I figured it was a bluff, although I realized that even if that was the case what I was doing was no threat to a baby.  Any danger would have been due to what came of her own actions.  That first year on the force was an education.  It really helped open my eyes to judgements based on limited knowledge and perceptions, not only for officers, but for suspected criminals too, and it has also been invaluable in life in general." 

     "Wow," Charlie said seeing the truth in it.  "That is an education.  Talk about on-the-job training."

     "No kidding," Alex replied through a chuckle.

     "Hey, what did you guys do with the bird?"  Nick then asked with a change of subject, "I'm getting hungry."

     Reuben bent down and opened the cooler, "Oh, we got rid of the beer and threw him in the cooler," then holding the turkey up in the air he said, "You boys ready for dinner?"

     "Am I ever," Charlie replied.  They then loading up Reuben's SUV to head back to their cabin. 

     When the guys weren't looking Alex leaned in and whispered in Reuben's ear, "When I said to get rid of it I didn't mean for you to drink it."

     Reuben's head quickly turned towards Alex in surprise.  After a moment he said, "Dan was right, you are good.  Do I have beer breath because I only had two?  Back in the day I used to carry mints.  I hope the kids left some gum in the truck.  God forbid we run into another Barnie Fife."

     "But this time mi amigo, you would be in the wrong."  Alex then held out his hand.  "Keys, I'm driving."

    "Sure thing pops," Reuben replied with a silly grin on his face as he handed the keys to Alex.

 To be continued...