All in a Day's Lunch
I witnessed something this past Monday that I've never seen before. I was eating lunch with a friend in Kentucky when the following events happened. I have copied and pasted my friend's account from his blog to save me the typing, but I will insert my own commentary in this nice purplish hue.
Would you like breadsticks with your show?
07-24-06 05:47pm CST
A little long, but good. So I went to eat at Fazoli's today for lunch with a friend who was driving through town. And that is where the fun begins. We almost went to Zaxby's but decided against it and my life is more interesting for it. We finished our meal and were just sitting there talking when I see a gentleman who looks slightly confused walking in the parking lot of the resturant next door. Then about 30 feet behind him is an officer saying something. Then 30 feet behind the officer was a couple of EMTs. Suddenly a cop car pulls up and a female officer gets out. The male officer following him catches up and they are making hand motions for the gentleman to calm down. He seemingly calms himself and the male officer approaches him to cuff him and get things figured out. That is where all calmness ends.
[This is also where I realize that my friend is staring at something over my shoulder and out the window. I turn around and become an eyewitness myself.]
The man promptly swung his fist at the officer missing by an inch or less it appeared to me. This is the beginning of the end for this gentleman. Immediately two tazers come out. The female officer is behind the gentleman and the male officer in front. The gentleman advances on the male officer who promptly shoots him with the tazer, electricutes him, and the man falls to the ground. I thought whew, at least that is over. No it isn't. The man gets up, grabs the tazer cords and pulls them out of his skin. (Correct me if i'm wrong, but those things hook into you, so he would also have to remove a chunk of skin to get that out himself.) He turns to the female officer and takes one step and wham, shocked again. Gets up and repeats the above process. Dude gets tazered 3 more times and pulls them all out of himself. Now he advances on Fazoli's.
[As he is advancing, we customers have a clear view of his face. It's obvious that he's a little out of it. We debate amongst ourselves whether or not we think he's on some kind of drug, mentally off, or both. He's yelling unintelligible things and not making eye contact with anyone, just moving straight for the Fazoli's side door.]
A customer jumps up and locks the door he is coming toward. I kid you not as soon as the door clicked over to lock, the guy pulled on the handle violently. One second later on the lock and the guy would have been in Fazoli's. The front doors were immediately locked which is where the guy went next. While pulling on the front doors trying to get in, the male officer removes his baton (which is one of those metal extending things they have now [aren't these called billy sticks or something like that?]) and pulls back and nails the guy full force it appeared to me in the leg, and the guy just turns around and stares at the cop like what are you doing? At this point if there was any doubt about the guy being on something, the doubt was removed.
[All of these steps are occurring right next to my car, which the man has chosen to circle, along with the van parked next to it, in the parking lot. I have all kinds of visions going through my head of the billy stick smashing through my windows, or the guy trying to break into my car, etc. Thankfully, none of that happens.]
This is all happening super fast, because a third officer has just pulled up. He was not in uniform so he had no protection on him as far as vest and what not. He starts to get out of his car and the guy approaches him so he slips back into his car and closes the door. Guy walks in a different direction. This cop gets out of his car and has a look of screw it this guy is going down. He pops his trunk and gets out a stick about an inch and half to two inches thick and about 4-5 feet long and holds it like a sword. Thankfully he never had to use it.
[At this point, all of us inside of Fazoli's have moved to the other side of the store to have the best view out the window. The yelling, beliggerent man is now being sprayed repeatedly with pepper spray, so much so that his entire face is tinted reddish orange. He refuses to get down, though.]
By now there are about 5 or 6 officers on the scene trying to get the guy. It is almost like they are waiting for someone. And they didn't have to wait long. A police car pulls up and a man I can only describe as a bulldozer gets out. And bulldoze he does. He was like a navy flash. He speared the guy like Bill Goldberg of wrestling and then all the officers jumped the guy. Then the officers got him on a stretcher and loaded him in the ambulance and to the hospital and then jail for him.
[But even then it wasn't simple. The guy was still kicking and thrashing around on the ground. I think one of the EMTs must have sedated him with something to finally be able to get him on the stretcher. Once on the stretcher, however, he was still trying to sit up, fighting the restraints, and yelling who knows what.]
I appreciate the men and women of law enforcement. Never go to lunch expecting casual conversation. You might see something amazing.
So all in all, it was not our typical lunch hour. Those of us in the restaurant were desperate to see as much of the action as we could. I even commented to my friend at one point that I wasn't sure I wanted to watch, but I couldn't NOT watch. The poor man who wound up in jail after a visit to the hospital demonstrated what can happen when the mind's chemical balance gets altered. I felt sorry for him to an extent. He obviously was bringing the pain upon himself by not following the authorities' directions, but I don't believe he was entirely in control of his own actions, either. The police officers showed remarkable patience in doing their job, only resorting to aggression when they were being threatened- job well done by each of them and high marks for their training programs.
Would you like breadsticks with your show?
07-24-06 05:47pm CST
A little long, but good. So I went to eat at Fazoli's today for lunch with a friend who was driving through town. And that is where the fun begins. We almost went to Zaxby's but decided against it and my life is more interesting for it. We finished our meal and were just sitting there talking when I see a gentleman who looks slightly confused walking in the parking lot of the resturant next door. Then about 30 feet behind him is an officer saying something. Then 30 feet behind the officer was a couple of EMTs. Suddenly a cop car pulls up and a female officer gets out. The male officer following him catches up and they are making hand motions for the gentleman to calm down. He seemingly calms himself and the male officer approaches him to cuff him and get things figured out. That is where all calmness ends.
[This is also where I realize that my friend is staring at something over my shoulder and out the window. I turn around and become an eyewitness myself.]
The man promptly swung his fist at the officer missing by an inch or less it appeared to me. This is the beginning of the end for this gentleman. Immediately two tazers come out. The female officer is behind the gentleman and the male officer in front. The gentleman advances on the male officer who promptly shoots him with the tazer, electricutes him, and the man falls to the ground. I thought whew, at least that is over. No it isn't. The man gets up, grabs the tazer cords and pulls them out of his skin. (Correct me if i'm wrong, but those things hook into you, so he would also have to remove a chunk of skin to get that out himself.) He turns to the female officer and takes one step and wham, shocked again. Gets up and repeats the above process. Dude gets tazered 3 more times and pulls them all out of himself. Now he advances on Fazoli's.
[As he is advancing, we customers have a clear view of his face. It's obvious that he's a little out of it. We debate amongst ourselves whether or not we think he's on some kind of drug, mentally off, or both. He's yelling unintelligible things and not making eye contact with anyone, just moving straight for the Fazoli's side door.]
A customer jumps up and locks the door he is coming toward. I kid you not as soon as the door clicked over to lock, the guy pulled on the handle violently. One second later on the lock and the guy would have been in Fazoli's. The front doors were immediately locked which is where the guy went next. While pulling on the front doors trying to get in, the male officer removes his baton (which is one of those metal extending things they have now [aren't these called billy sticks or something like that?]) and pulls back and nails the guy full force it appeared to me in the leg, and the guy just turns around and stares at the cop like what are you doing? At this point if there was any doubt about the guy being on something, the doubt was removed.
[All of these steps are occurring right next to my car, which the man has chosen to circle, along with the van parked next to it, in the parking lot. I have all kinds of visions going through my head of the billy stick smashing through my windows, or the guy trying to break into my car, etc. Thankfully, none of that happens.]
This is all happening super fast, because a third officer has just pulled up. He was not in uniform so he had no protection on him as far as vest and what not. He starts to get out of his car and the guy approaches him so he slips back into his car and closes the door. Guy walks in a different direction. This cop gets out of his car and has a look of screw it this guy is going down. He pops his trunk and gets out a stick about an inch and half to two inches thick and about 4-5 feet long and holds it like a sword. Thankfully he never had to use it.
[At this point, all of us inside of Fazoli's have moved to the other side of the store to have the best view out the window. The yelling, beliggerent man is now being sprayed repeatedly with pepper spray, so much so that his entire face is tinted reddish orange. He refuses to get down, though.]
By now there are about 5 or 6 officers on the scene trying to get the guy. It is almost like they are waiting for someone. And they didn't have to wait long. A police car pulls up and a man I can only describe as a bulldozer gets out. And bulldoze he does. He was like a navy flash. He speared the guy like Bill Goldberg of wrestling and then all the officers jumped the guy. Then the officers got him on a stretcher and loaded him in the ambulance and to the hospital and then jail for him.
[But even then it wasn't simple. The guy was still kicking and thrashing around on the ground. I think one of the EMTs must have sedated him with something to finally be able to get him on the stretcher. Once on the stretcher, however, he was still trying to sit up, fighting the restraints, and yelling who knows what.]
I appreciate the men and women of law enforcement. Never go to lunch expecting casual conversation. You might see something amazing.
So all in all, it was not our typical lunch hour. Those of us in the restaurant were desperate to see as much of the action as we could. I even commented to my friend at one point that I wasn't sure I wanted to watch, but I couldn't NOT watch. The poor man who wound up in jail after a visit to the hospital demonstrated what can happen when the mind's chemical balance gets altered. I felt sorry for him to an extent. He obviously was bringing the pain upon himself by not following the authorities' directions, but I don't believe he was entirely in control of his own actions, either. The police officers showed remarkable patience in doing their job, only resorting to aggression when they were being threatened- job well done by each of them and high marks for their training programs.
posted by The Trojan Woman | 4:32 PM
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