Crash Day

Fridays have become known as 'crash day' in my squad as the number of wrecks seems to multiply at the end of each week. Maybe it's happy hours or people rushing to leave town; Whatever the reason it's becoming a mess.

Take for instance the nice mother getting ready to pick up her three young boys from school. She decided she'd make the ride home interesting for them so she drank a liter of Vodka and downed a couple Vicadin pills. Imagine the boys' delight as the car jumped the sidewalk and ploughed through grassy lawns and then crossed over to the other side of the street and tore through a chain link fence of a front yard while the residents sat on a bench a few feet away. Mom then puked on herself and tried to drive away. The car was hung up on a small tree and some landscaping bricks and was unable to move. Luckily the boys were in the backseat (to leave room on the front passenger seat for her bottle of licquor) and were not hurt. To add to the ridiculousness of it all, her 85 year old grandmother showed up and started yelling at us to let her precious granddaughter go. She told us it was no big deal and we shouldn't treat her like a criminal. Last time I checked, three counts of aggravated DUI, reckless driving, criminal damage, and child endangerment were considered 'crimes' in this state. She's lucky she didn't kill or seriously injure anyone.

Later, I pulled over a driver that almost merged into my patrol car from the tw0-way turn lane. I passed him and then watched him in my rear-view mirror almost merge into the next two cars driving behind me. He was not a US citizen and did not have a driver license, insurance, or valid ID. I arrested him and brought him to the station to get fingerprints and a photo. I issued him tickets for no driver license, no ID, and no insurance and explained he was not allowed to drive in Arizona. He walked two miles back to where his car was parked, got in, merged into traffic without yielding and caused an accident. He then tried to drive away but one of the wheels was crushed. He tried to run away but was caught by one of my squadmates. He was arrested again and issued tickets for: no license, no ID, no insurance, leaving the scene of an accident, and failure to yield. His car was impounded and he was sent to jail.