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Don't you DARE call me Racist!
3AM, I'm patrolling the parking lots, when I find a car parked in the closest handicap space to the door of our 24 hour store. No plate, no permit, I look on the dash, seats, etc. I write the ticket. Note that there were a half-dozen non-handicap spaces free all around.
The 'Gentleman' walks up and asks why I'm writing a ticket because he was just about to move. I had the ticket finished, and had been reaching to put it under the wiper. I told him: "well, you're parked in a handicap space" He said "Yeah, well I just got out of the Military." I was considering this because I had seen the Marines bumper sticker, and thought I might cut him a break even though he should know better. I didn't get the chance to reply because he then told me "Oh, I see, you're just ticketing me because I'm BLACK!"
I lost my temper; it's been a hard week. Probably not the best thing to do on a 6'2 linebacker-looking guy. I whipped around to face him and said "Oh for heaven's sake, I cannot BELIEVE you just tried to give that excuse! How could I possibly know who this car belonged to!? You know, I was going to take the ticket back in consideration for your service, but you get to keep it now. Besides, you should have known better." He kind of rocked back on his heels like he couldn't believe I'd called him on it and said "Hey, don't yell at me, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you." I said "Don't you DARE! You just accused me of being racist for doing my job, I'm sorry, but that is wrong!." He said "Well, nobody's here anyway that needed that spot." I told him "Just because it's the middle of the night doesn't mean the laws change; it's still illegal!" I put the ticket under the wiper. He made some other argument about how it was all racist and I told him "I take offense to that; why do you automatically assume I'm racist? Because I look white? Guess what, I'm not; I'm Native American, so how's that for profiling?" He said that he didn't care what I was, how was he supposed to know. I said "Exactly! Just the way I was supposed to know YOUR ethnicity by looking at your car!" and walked back to my patrol car. He marched over and grabbed it, yelling at me "You know, I'll be getting my lawyer on this and by tomorrow you won't HAVE a job. In fact, I'll make sure you don't ever have another job unless it's working in Siberia!" I told him that if he really had a problem I would call the police. He kept yelling things that I couldn't quite catch, but were definetely threatening, along with yelling the Marine Motto and jabbing his fists in the air. He went back into the store (never moved his car), but then came-out and kept looking around.
At that point I was shaking and angry. But now I was a little scared because I wondered who he might be with, how righteously angry he might actually be, and the fact that being military he probably had firearm experience and where I live gets a lot of shootings. I decided to call the Police to ask him to leave, and stayed in the furthest lit part of the lot; I didn't want to go near him again, but also wanted a report documenting the accusations. I saw the guy go in and out of the store a couple more times, like he was looking for me.
An Officer showed-up and talked with the guy and a woman he had come out with. The guy still looked pissed and was throwing his hands in the air. The woman looked...indifferent. Funny, he was the passenger, and she drove the car off. I told the Officer exactly what had happened and he told me that the woman had told him that she parked there because....
Her foot hurt.
Yeah. But she's still driving. And wearing thick-heeled high-heels.
I told the Officer that if the guy had explained first-off this, I might have let him move to another spot and told him to pull-up to the entrance after the woman finished shopping so she could get in the car. If he hadn't cried racism right away, I could have worked with him. Now I don't feel bad about giving him the ticket at all. I'm more worried about what he's going to tell people, and not being safe if they believe I'm racist. I sat in the patrol car and cried afterwards, because it hurt that I've always been as fair as possible, and gotten screwed every time, and this guy attacked my morals and professionalism because he didn't want to suck-up to the fact that he and the woman had gotten caught doing something wrong, and just used this serious charge to try and scare me into taking the ticket back. I think that's what angered him the most, that I gave him the ticket anyway. I wondered if I should have backed down, but there was no reason to let him get what he wanted, and he was the one at fault. I do wonder though; he grabbed the ticket, but if it was the woman's car, she'll be the one charged with it, and if he 'forgets' to give her the ticket hoping it will go away, she's going to be the one getting the 250$ citation, and I'll have to deal with them AGAIN in court!
PS. I considered that the bumper sticker could have just been convenient and that he was making-up his service to intimidate me (you know, to make SURE I knew he was better than a 'mall cop'), the same as he was making his accusations. His longish braided hairstyle and bearing did not strike me as military.
The 'Gentleman' walks up and asks why I'm writing a ticket because he was just about to move. I had the ticket finished, and had been reaching to put it under the wiper. I told him: "well, you're parked in a handicap space" He said "Yeah, well I just got out of the Military." I was considering this because I had seen the Marines bumper sticker, and thought I might cut him a break even though he should know better. I didn't get the chance to reply because he then told me "Oh, I see, you're just ticketing me because I'm BLACK!"
I lost my temper; it's been a hard week. Probably not the best thing to do on a 6'2 linebacker-looking guy. I whipped around to face him and said "Oh for heaven's sake, I cannot BELIEVE you just tried to give that excuse! How could I possibly know who this car belonged to!? You know, I was going to take the ticket back in consideration for your service, but you get to keep it now. Besides, you should have known better." He kind of rocked back on his heels like he couldn't believe I'd called him on it and said "Hey, don't yell at me, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you." I said "Don't you DARE! You just accused me of being racist for doing my job, I'm sorry, but that is wrong!." He said "Well, nobody's here anyway that needed that spot." I told him "Just because it's the middle of the night doesn't mean the laws change; it's still illegal!" I put the ticket under the wiper. He made some other argument about how it was all racist and I told him "I take offense to that; why do you automatically assume I'm racist? Because I look white? Guess what, I'm not; I'm Native American, so how's that for profiling?" He said that he didn't care what I was, how was he supposed to know. I said "Exactly! Just the way I was supposed to know YOUR ethnicity by looking at your car!" and walked back to my patrol car. He marched over and grabbed it, yelling at me "You know, I'll be getting my lawyer on this and by tomorrow you won't HAVE a job. In fact, I'll make sure you don't ever have another job unless it's working in Siberia!" I told him that if he really had a problem I would call the police. He kept yelling things that I couldn't quite catch, but were definetely threatening, along with yelling the Marine Motto and jabbing his fists in the air. He went back into the store (never moved his car), but then came-out and kept looking around.
At that point I was shaking and angry. But now I was a little scared because I wondered who he might be with, how righteously angry he might actually be, and the fact that being military he probably had firearm experience and where I live gets a lot of shootings. I decided to call the Police to ask him to leave, and stayed in the furthest lit part of the lot; I didn't want to go near him again, but also wanted a report documenting the accusations. I saw the guy go in and out of the store a couple more times, like he was looking for me.
An Officer showed-up and talked with the guy and a woman he had come out with. The guy still looked pissed and was throwing his hands in the air. The woman looked...indifferent. Funny, he was the passenger, and she drove the car off. I told the Officer exactly what had happened and he told me that the woman had told him that she parked there because....
Her foot hurt.
Yeah. But she's still driving. And wearing thick-heeled high-heels.
I told the Officer that if the guy had explained first-off this, I might have let him move to another spot and told him to pull-up to the entrance after the woman finished shopping so she could get in the car. If he hadn't cried racism right away, I could have worked with him. Now I don't feel bad about giving him the ticket at all. I'm more worried about what he's going to tell people, and not being safe if they believe I'm racist. I sat in the patrol car and cried afterwards, because it hurt that I've always been as fair as possible, and gotten screwed every time, and this guy attacked my morals and professionalism because he didn't want to suck-up to the fact that he and the woman had gotten caught doing something wrong, and just used this serious charge to try and scare me into taking the ticket back. I think that's what angered him the most, that I gave him the ticket anyway. I wondered if I should have backed down, but there was no reason to let him get what he wanted, and he was the one at fault. I do wonder though; he grabbed the ticket, but if it was the woman's car, she'll be the one charged with it, and if he 'forgets' to give her the ticket hoping it will go away, she's going to be the one getting the 250$ citation, and I'll have to deal with them AGAIN in court!
PS. I considered that the bumper sticker could have just been convenient and that he was making-up his service to intimidate me (you know, to make SURE I knew he was better than a 'mall cop'), the same as he was making his accusations. His longish braided hairstyle and bearing did not strike me as military.
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