Chappy’s Blog
It all started with a robbery in progress call in the south valley of Seattle. Earlier in the week, intelligence had come in that a gang originating out of California had been robbing large grocery stores at their opening hour. Grocery stores were vulnerable at opening hour because that is the time when the stores safe is opened and cash drawers are filled for the day. The robbers had been hitting stores all along the west coast for months. The gang was meticulous in their planning. They cased the stores well, determined the best escape routes, and moved quickly to the next city, and to a new target. This group was successful because it was obvious that they had a leader that was smart and organized. The Seattle Police intelligence unit had received information that this gang might be heading to the Seattle area, and issued an alert to all precincts. Working a plain car out of the Georgetown Precinct, my partner (Dick) and I headed out to start our shift in the south end of Seattle. We headed towards two main arterial streets in the south end of Seattle. Empire Way and South Rainier Avenue. Both streets had a high concentration of grocery stores, as well as many other types of retail stores . All were at risk of being robbed. Arriving at the top end of South Rainier Avenue, at approximately 7:10 AM, we started a southbound coverage of the grocery stores on the avenue. At 7:15 AM, radio dispatch announced a robbery in progress at X Grocer on Rainier Avenue. A description was given of two Black men in a blue sedan with California plates heading north on the avenue. We were a block away from the scene at that point. On this overcast day , the lives of two men were about to be spared.
We were about three blocks from the robbery scene, when spotted the getaway vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed, going N/B in the opposite direction. We swung around and gave chase. The two men in the suspect vehicle fit the description of the robbers. I was driving that day, my adrenalin was pumping, and I was determined not to let these suspects get away. I sped up behind the suspect vehicle and began a pursuit through heavy traffic, across the West Seattle Bridge, ending in back of a house on Harbor Ave. SW. With speeds exceeding 80-100 MPH, I managed to stay within a 10 car lengths of the suspect car. My partner was busing radioing in our location to dispatch as the chase ensued, and was writing down suspect traffic violations as they fled. This written chain of evidence is vital to prove that the suspects were attempting to avoid arrest, and in doing so were also placing innocent people at great risk. After approximately a ten mile chase, the suspect vehicle came to a sudden stop at the 2500 block of Harbor Ave. SW. The suspects baled out of the car and ran up a hill behind a row of older houses. Within seconds, we parked and gave chase on foot. Dick and I had a great partnership, words weren’t needed, he chased after the passenger, and I went after the driver. After about 300 yards, I began noticing bills of different denominations scattered on the ground, bills that were leaving me a trail to follow. The scattered bills eventually led me to an shed behind one of the houses. The suspect was hidden inside the old wooden shed, his adrenalin pumping, not wanting to be found. How far he wanted to take this was unknown to me. I knew what my responsibility was, it was to arrest him. I approached the shed. The day had gone from overcast to just plain dreary.
Within ten feet of the shed, I observed several more bills scattered about, but no sign of the suspect. Instinct told me that he was hidden inside the small structure, so I identified myself and ordered him to step out with his arms up. It took two or three commands to bring him out, and when he did, Gun drawn, I was within seven feet of the shed door. He stepped out of the shed, with a 4 inch 38 Caliber revolver pointed at me. I told him to drop the gun, that he was under arrest. I was looking at him in the eye, and when he didn’t comply with my command, something in his eyes told me that he was the gang’s alpha male, and that he was calculating the odds. At that moment I decided to play it out, and to try and convince him to give up. After what seemed an eternity, he realized that I was not going to back down, and that if I was forced to, I would use deadly force. He gave it up, dropped his weapon, and I arrested him. The suspect as it turned out was the gang leader, and later told me that he had contemplated shooting me, but held off because he was calculating his odds of making out alive. He figured out the impasse and decided to live for another day. My partner apprehended the other suspect further up the street. We gathered up the stolen cash, placed the suspects in the police car, processed the getaway vehicle, had it towed, and transported the suspects to city jail. The suspects were booked, and the (cash and suspect guns) were placed into evidence. We drove back to the Georgetown Precinct, wrote out our reports, and went home. (The entire incident had taken up most of our day)
I had a 22 mile commute home so I had plenty of time to play out the events of the day. I knew that I had a close call, but I was satisfied with the way it turned out. I read the guy (suspect) correctly which in itself was a blessing, but more importantly it reflected the training that the Seattle Police Department had provided me, and my own instincts borne of the experience that working the streets had given me. It was my job, that’s all ! Arriving home, I greeted my family, kissed my wife, ate dinner, and was glad to be with those that loved me. I didn’t mention my experience of that day, until much later on. My wife knew that I was very active on the job, and worried each day that I pulled out to go to work. She knew that I worked in a precinct that was full of narcotics crime, robberies, burglaries, gangs, and many domestic disturbances calls. She also knew that I loved the work, and wanted to excel at it. Her support was everything.
I sometimes wonder what ever happened to the man I arrested that day. Did he reform during his prison sentence, or did he ever think about that day, and not pulling the trigger? Would he have survived a gunfight, gotten away? Did he ever consider that we both survived because we were both pretty much the same. Did he ever realize that I didn’t want to shoot him, that maybe I considered that his life was valuable to me and to God? Did he consider my life to have value, and maybe that’s why he didn’t fire at me. I know one thing for certain, I would have fired on him, had I not read him the way I did.
Consider what I just wrote. The vast majority of police officers are not bloodthirsty blue suited heroes out to make a kill. They leave home everyday and perform a job that most won’t do. It is sometimes dangerous, and fear sets in, but their sense of duty keeps them running in when everybody else is running out. They are not worthless human beings. Those of you that speak ill of them have never really taken the time to understand them. They see the devil everyday. You know, the things that the couch whiners avoid by staying in the convenience of their opinions. The real world is a dirty place that these men and women experience everyday. Keep running them down; one day we will wake up to to a place so out of control, that only a form of Martial Law will work to control the lawlessness. That could be our future. No more Law & Order, and Freedom gone. Quit listening to the naysayers and couch whiners. None of us can go to Planet X yet, so why not take another look at the police, the ones walking the “Line”.