1
00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,240
Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.

2
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,720
Speaker 1: From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

3
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,040
Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

4
00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,479
Speaker 1: my stories and the country skills that will help you

5
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,360
Speaker 1: beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as

6
00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:25,880
Speaker 1: part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best

7
00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:30,000
Speaker 1: outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

8
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,080
Speaker 1: pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I

9
00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:39,760
Speaker 1: think I got a thing or two the teaching thirty

10
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:44,839
Speaker 1: two years and seven months. Thirty two years and seven

11
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,599
Speaker 1: months is how long I've been in law enforcement. At

12
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,519
Speaker 1: the end of this month, I'm going to retire. It's

13
00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,200
Speaker 1: been quite a rewarding and costly journey, and as I

14
00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,960
Speaker 1: reached the end of my career behind the badge, I'm

15
00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,600
Speaker 1: going to share a little bit about what that's meant.

16
00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,320
Speaker 1: So this one's gonna be a little different than my

17
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:07,200
Speaker 1: regular episodes. It's such a significant milestone in my life

18
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,840
Speaker 1: and one that I felt I should address, even if briefly,

19
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,559
Speaker 1: just a lessen or two that I learned along the way.

20
00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:21,640
Speaker 1: But first, I'm going to tell you a story. I

21
00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,600
Speaker 1: feel it necessary to give a warning on this episode

22
00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,319
Speaker 1: This first story may be a little intense for the

23
00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,039
Speaker 1: young folks that normally listen, so mom and dad, y'all

24
00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,760
Speaker 1: check it out first before the little ones do. It's

25
00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:37,880
Speaker 1: very important to me and I take a lot of

26
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,880
Speaker 1: pride in hearing from y'all that listen with your kids,

27
00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,640
Speaker 1: so I would never do anything that might upset them

28
00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:56,880
Speaker 1: or you. With that said, here we go back in

29
00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,720
Speaker 1: the mid nineties. I was working uniform patrol late one

30
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,880
Speaker 1: week and got a call from the dispatcher that a

31
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,080
Speaker 1: lady was being held against her will inside a gated compound.

32
00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,800
Speaker 1: Now this was a rural area and there were only

33
00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,320
Speaker 1: three of us on duty that night, and I was

34
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,160
Speaker 1: the supervisor. I called the other deputies from their assigned

35
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,040
Speaker 1: patrol areas and we met in the small community in

36
00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,200
Speaker 1: the south part of the county where the nine to

37
00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,560
Speaker 1: one to one address was listed. Dispatcher was on the

38
00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,240
Speaker 1: phone with a caller and she said she was hiding

39
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,720
Speaker 1: behind the living room couch while her kidnapper was in

40
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,760
Speaker 1: the other end of the home. She said he was

41
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,120
Speaker 1: armed with a shotgun. He said that he was going

42
00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,800
Speaker 1: to kill anyone that came inside, and he was going

43
00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,440
Speaker 1: to kill her if she tried to call for help.

44
00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,960
Speaker 1: These are the kind of situations you trained for. You

45
00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,560
Speaker 1: don't ever want them to happen, but when they do,

46
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,040
Speaker 1: and you're the guy that's responsible for making the immediate

47
00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:59,040
Speaker 1: decisions that are going to affect everyone involved forever, he

48
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,440
Speaker 1: can get a little teen. Now, we've got someone calling

49
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,760
Speaker 1: for help that's scared. We've got someone who's saying that

50
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,640
Speaker 1: they're going to hurt us and her if we come

51
00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,680
Speaker 1: in and help her, or if he catches her calling

52
00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,600
Speaker 1: nine one one. So what do you do. You have

53
00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,360
Speaker 1: to make the decision right then and there, and that

54
00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,120
Speaker 1: decision you have to make in the blink of an

55
00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:29,920
Speaker 1: eye will be judged forever at everyone else's convenience. If

56
00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:31,880
Speaker 1: you're the guy with the badge that took the oath,

57
00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:37,360
Speaker 1: you don't have that luxury. Also, I had the responsibility

58
00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,000
Speaker 1: of ordering the two other officers to follow me in

59
00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 1: that house, and if they got hurt, that was going

60
00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: to all be on me. Now, in the time it's

61
00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:49,280
Speaker 1: taken me to go this far in the story, I

62
00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,600
Speaker 1: briefed those officers on what was going on and that

63
00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,320
Speaker 1: we were going in to get this lady out, and

64
00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,960
Speaker 1: they never hesitated. We parked just down the street from

65
00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,800
Speaker 1: the reported eye dress, and we could see that the

66
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,480
Speaker 1: residents had an eight foot chain link fence around it

67
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,280
Speaker 1: with three strands of barbed wire on the top. There

68
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,200
Speaker 1: was a double gate that was locked with a big

69
00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,240
Speaker 1: chain and a padlock that would have had been cut

70
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,960
Speaker 1: off with a torch. Even if we could have used

71
00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,080
Speaker 1: a set of boat cutters, the night light had that

72
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,600
Speaker 1: part of the yard illuminated, and we would have been

73
00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,559
Speaker 1: in easy range of the front door with no cover

74
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,680
Speaker 1: or protection. We also didn't have any boat cutters in

75
00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,200
Speaker 1: our patrol cars and didn't have time to go get any.

76
00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:39,200
Speaker 1: We had to go right now for her safety. I

77
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,240
Speaker 1: told the dispatcher to tell the lady that we were

78
00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 1: coming in and to stay hidden. The dispatcher said that

79
00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:51,480
Speaker 1: the lady told her that she'd unlocked the back door. Well.

80
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,039
Speaker 1: I told her we were going radio silent, and we

81
00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,720
Speaker 1: turned off all our radios so the bad guy couldn't

82
00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,800
Speaker 1: hear them, and two of us walked beside one of

83
00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,560
Speaker 1: the troll cars as the officer pulled up to the

84
00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,200
Speaker 1: edge of the yard furtherest away from the house, right

85
00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,239
Speaker 1: beside the fence, which it was about twenty five yards.

86
00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:12,960
Speaker 1: We took a blanket out of the trunk of the

87
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,480
Speaker 1: car and laid it across the barbed wire, and one

88
00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,000
Speaker 1: by one we crawled on top of the patrol car

89
00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,800
Speaker 1: on top of the bar lights, climbed the fence, over

90
00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,080
Speaker 1: the barb wire, and dropped into the yard. I went

91
00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:27,919
Speaker 1: first while they covered the house. I let go of

92
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,640
Speaker 1: the wire, and before my feet hit the ground inside,

93
00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,880
Speaker 1: I realized I'd forgotten to ask if they had a dog.

94
00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:39,279
Speaker 1: Now this was about to get really loud if they did.

95
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:41,840
Speaker 1: But the only sound I heard was the other two

96
00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,480
Speaker 1: sets of boots hitting the ground behind me, almost at

97
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,200
Speaker 1: the same time. As I held cover on the window

98
00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,240
Speaker 1: at the end of the house. The lady said the

99
00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:54,520
Speaker 1: kidnapper was in no dog. That was a plus, but

100
00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,279
Speaker 1: we still had a hostage situation to deal with. The

101
00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,600
Speaker 1: house laid north and south, and she said she'd unlock

102
00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,040
Speaker 1: the back door, which was on the west side of

103
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,000
Speaker 1: the house, opposite from where we were. From what she

104
00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,599
Speaker 1: told the dispatcher, the man armed with a shotgun was

105
00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,720
Speaker 1: in the south end of the house, so the back

106
00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:17,800
Speaker 1: door was on the back third of the house, and

107
00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,280
Speaker 1: if we'd breached that door, we could have been walking

108
00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,960
Speaker 1: right into his lap. As bad as I hate to

109
00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,520
Speaker 1: say it, if you want to hurt a police officer,

110
00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:29,359
Speaker 1: you don't even have to leave your house. All you

111
00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,720
Speaker 1: have to do is call them. They'll drive right up

112
00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,000
Speaker 1: in your yard. Things like that have happened before. And

113
00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,719
Speaker 1: all of these things, along with what was reported, was

114
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,599
Speaker 1: going through my mind. Was this an elaborately playing damn

115
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:49,560
Speaker 1: bush or a legitimate hostage situation? I didn't know, but

116
00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:51,880
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I wasn't going through the back door.

117
00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,240
Speaker 1: None of us knew either one of the people involved

118
00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,279
Speaker 1: in this call, so we were dealing only with the

119
00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,680
Speaker 1: nine one one operators out version of what was happening.

120
00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,160
Speaker 1: I could do a whole year of podcasts about dispatchers.

121
00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,240
Speaker 1: They've kept me alive more than once, and this dispatcher,

122
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:15,280
Speaker 1: she was one of the best. We slipped up to

123
00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,960
Speaker 1: the porch and eased up the steps, everyone covering a

124
00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,600
Speaker 1: different window that could have seen us in the glow

125
00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,960
Speaker 1: of the nightlight. I told the other two officers that

126
00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,040
Speaker 1: I would take point, and when we made entry, we

127
00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,960
Speaker 1: weren't stopping until we secured everyone in the house, regardless

128
00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,640
Speaker 1: of what that entailed. I placed my hand on the

129
00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:42,840
Speaker 1: doorknob and slowly turned it, and surprisingly it opened. As

130
00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:45,040
Speaker 1: I slowly opened the door, I could see the top

131
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,800
Speaker 1: of a woman's blond hair in a bun behind the couch,

132
00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:51,400
Speaker 1: and I could hear her whispering on the phone to

133
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:56,120
Speaker 1: our dispatcher. The room was lit by dim light over

134
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,520
Speaker 1: the stove in the kitchen, and for whatever reason, that

135
00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:00,960
Speaker 1: lady poked her head up, and when she did, she

136
00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,440
Speaker 1: saw me standing in the door, pointing my pistol down

137
00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:09,440
Speaker 1: the hallway toward where she'd said her kidnapper was. She

138
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:11,960
Speaker 1: dropped a phone and ran straight for me, with her

139
00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,240
Speaker 1: arms outstretched to hug me. And I grabbed her with

140
00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,320
Speaker 1: one hand and passed her back to the officer behind me,

141
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,480
Speaker 1: who did the same. And the third officer grabbed her

142
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,520
Speaker 1: and ran her across the yard and took cover with

143
00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:28,000
Speaker 1: her at the other end of the house. Hostage safe

144
00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 1: check that box. Now we got to go get the

145
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,360
Speaker 1: bad guy. The officer behind me that handed her off

146
00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,960
Speaker 1: to the last officer asked her, as she was going by,

147
00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,280
Speaker 1: where the suspect was. She said, in the back, and

148
00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,000
Speaker 1: pointed in the direction where we'd expected him to be.

149
00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:49,960
Speaker 1: He also confirmed from her that there was only one

150
00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:54,000
Speaker 1: weapon in the house. He walked up behind me and whispered,

151
00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,640
Speaker 1: only one weapon. He squeezed my shoulder to let me

152
00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,200
Speaker 1: know he was with me, and we went in the house.

153
00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,680
Speaker 1: We moved through the small living room and I stopped

154
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:09,640
Speaker 1: at the edge of the kitchen where the hall began,

155
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,160
Speaker 1: taking cover against the wall. While looking down the short

156
00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,360
Speaker 1: hallway into the darkness that was the bedroom and where

157
00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,320
Speaker 1: the suspect was supposed to be, I could see the

158
00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,680
Speaker 1: barrel of a shotgun lying on the floor at the

159
00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,240
Speaker 1: foot of the bed, and a man's bare right foot

160
00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,440
Speaker 1: on top of the bed, as if he was laying

161
00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,920
Speaker 1: on his back. The light that came into the room

162
00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,360
Speaker 1: from the kitchen was cut off beyond that, and I

163
00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,440
Speaker 1: whispered to my partner to turn his flashlight on and

164
00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,720
Speaker 1: secure the weapon when we entered the room, and I

165
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,319
Speaker 1: deal with the suspect from that moment. When we squeezed

166
00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,240
Speaker 1: my shoulder and we entered that room, it was slow motion.

167
00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,160
Speaker 1: I crossed the threshold and was holding cover on the

168
00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,679
Speaker 1: bed in the darkness. Time stood still, and it seemed

169
00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,960
Speaker 1: like it took forever for him to turn on that flashlight.

170
00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,959
Speaker 1: In reality, I hadn't stopped moving when my partner was

171
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,199
Speaker 1: standing on that shotgun and blinding the man that was

172
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,960
Speaker 1: sleeping in the bed with his flashlight. That man bolted

173
00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:14,959
Speaker 1: upright in the bed and his arms went straight out

174
00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,400
Speaker 1: in front of him. His hands were empty, but it

175
00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:20,800
Speaker 1: was like he was reaching for something. I quickly hosted

176
00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,839
Speaker 1: my weapon and using his momentum my monkey, flipped him

177
00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:25,680
Speaker 1: out of that bed and onto the floor, with me

178
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,440
Speaker 1: right on top of him. When I did that, I

179
00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:33,520
Speaker 1: was immediately tangled up in a mass of wires and tubes,

180
00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,520
Speaker 1: and a man was screaming, what's going on, What's going on?

181
00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:42,160
Speaker 1: Where's my wife? Is she okay? I handcuffed him and

182
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,400
Speaker 1: I untangled myself from all the wires. I turned my

183
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,840
Speaker 1: radio on reported that the hostage and suspect were secure

184
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,560
Speaker 1: and all the officers were okay. I started reading The

185
00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:55,960
Speaker 1: Man who Writes, and after I finished, he kept asking me,

186
00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:00,000
Speaker 1: is my wife okay? What's going on? And I told

187
00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:03,120
Speaker 1: to me he was under arrest for kidnapping. He asked

188
00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,760
Speaker 1: who he kidnapped. I told him the blond lady that

189
00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,560
Speaker 1: was in the house. He said, that's my wife. Is

190
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:14,839
Speaker 1: she okay? I said she's fine, But it doesn't matter

191
00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,000
Speaker 1: who she is. When you hold someone forcibly against their will,

192
00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,600
Speaker 1: that's kidnapping. And I asked him what all these wires

193
00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,120
Speaker 1: and hoses were for they were hooked up to him.

194
00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:33,000
Speaker 1: He said, I'm taking dialysis dialysis. Well, this is weird.

195
00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,120
Speaker 1: I said, what about this shotgun. He said that it

196
00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,880
Speaker 1: was supposed to be locked in a closet and that

197
00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,840
Speaker 1: he didn't get it out. It was his father's and

198
00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,440
Speaker 1: there weren't even any shells on that property for it.

199
00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:50,840
Speaker 1: My partner checked it and it was unloaded. He was

200
00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,840
Speaker 1: starting to make sense, but this whole situation was far

201
00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:59,560
Speaker 1: from making sense. I set him up on the bed

202
00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,600
Speaker 1: and he said, my wife is off her medication. All

203
00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:05,840
Speaker 1: you have to do is talk to her and you'll see.

204
00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,959
Speaker 1: Just go talk to her. I told him, buddy, we've

205
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,440
Speaker 1: been talking to her for almost an hour on nine

206
00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,600
Speaker 1: one one. She's the reason we're here. He was calm

207
00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,959
Speaker 1: and collected. He said, just go talk to her and

208
00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:26,920
Speaker 1: ask her who her parents are. So that's what I did.

209
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,320
Speaker 1: I had the other officer bring her inside to the

210
00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,240
Speaker 1: other end of the house, and I told her we

211
00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,440
Speaker 1: needed to get some information for the report. So I

212
00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,840
Speaker 1: asked her her name, and she told me. I asked

213
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:41,960
Speaker 1: her her day to birth and her address, and without

214
00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,800
Speaker 1: missing a beat, she said it. I didn't expect her

215
00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,280
Speaker 1: to look at me sideways when I asked her this question,

216
00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,200
Speaker 1: but I did it anyway. What are your parents' names

217
00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,439
Speaker 1: and their address? Well? She told me that they were

218
00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,040
Speaker 1: both deceased, and she looked sad when she said it.

219
00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:02,839
Speaker 1: I didn't know where this was going, but I said, well,

220
00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:05,760
Speaker 1: tell me their names and where they used to live.

221
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:12,320
Speaker 1: She looked up at me and with the most sincerest expression,

222
00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:18,760
Speaker 1: she said, my dad's name is Elvis, and I said Presley.

223
00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:23,240
Speaker 1: She said, yes, sir, and my mother was Grace Kelly.

224
00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:28,160
Speaker 1: She was killed in a car wreck. Now some may

225
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,360
Speaker 1: find some humor in this, but it's really not funny.

226
00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:36,160
Speaker 1: According to her husband, this lady had done irreparable damage

227
00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,320
Speaker 1: to her brain while abusing drugs, but it finally beat

228
00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,040
Speaker 1: the addiction, but the effects had lasted forever and would

229
00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:48,240
Speaker 1: last forever, apparently, and he was struggling to keep her

230
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,800
Speaker 1: on her medications at times and also take care of himself.

231
00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,000
Speaker 1: That big chain link fence around their house was to

232
00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,000
Speaker 1: keep her from wandering off and being in the shape

233
00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 1: he was in. It was the only way he could

234
00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,880
Speaker 1: keep her safe. He had an emergency contact for a

235
00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,640
Speaker 1: clinic that she was a patient of, and we contacted

236
00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,520
Speaker 1: them and provided her transportation to that facility that night.

237
00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:18,520
Speaker 1: There were a lot of things that could have gone

238
00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:22,320
Speaker 1: wrong that night, and I thought about them a million times.

239
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,800
Speaker 1: What if we'd arrested him, took him to jail, ignored

240
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,320
Speaker 1: him about what he was saying that his wife had

241
00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,840
Speaker 1: mentally issues. What if we left her there alone, thinking

242
00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:37,000
Speaker 1: we'd saved her, only to have her harm herself because

243
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:41,120
Speaker 1: her husband wasn't there to help her. Or what if

244
00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,080
Speaker 1: she'd laid that shotgun across his lap instead of in

245
00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,880
Speaker 1: the floor. When that she finally admitted to and he

246
00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,760
Speaker 1: sat up with that when I entered the room, What

247
00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:55,040
Speaker 1: if this happened? Or what if that happened? But I

248
00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:58,240
Speaker 1: told her the lesson away from there that night, the

249
00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:02,480
Speaker 1: lesson that you can't take everything at face value, and

250
00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,680
Speaker 1: giving people the benefit of the doubt can lead you

251
00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:11,200
Speaker 1: to what's really going on. Sometimes I wish I could

252
00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,000
Speaker 1: tell you how that story ended, but I don't know.

253
00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,600
Speaker 1: That was the last time I saw either one of them.

254
00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,840
Speaker 1: And in this job, you run across people in situations

255
00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:27,560
Speaker 1: that are fleeting. Most are sad, and when the report

256
00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,440
Speaker 1: is done, you may never see that person again ever,

257
00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:37,120
Speaker 1: but you always wonder. I do anyway, and that's just

258
00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:49,800
Speaker 1: how that happened. I got into this job to help people,

259
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,560
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. That was my goal. So a couple

260
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,000
Speaker 1: of weeks into the police academy, when an instructor posed

261
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,800
Speaker 1: a question to the hundred or so cadets in the class,

262
00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:04,200
Speaker 1: why did you choose this profession? He followed it up

263
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,720
Speaker 1: with before any of you say because you want to

264
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:12,760
Speaker 1: help people, you need to save it, because that's a lie.

265
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,520
Speaker 1: You want to do it for the power and the authority,

266
00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,680
Speaker 1: He said, you get called to preach, you don't get

267
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,640
Speaker 1: called to enforce the law. I just looked at him

268
00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:28,240
Speaker 1: and thought, this guy's an idiot. I was telling Clay

269
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,560
Speaker 1: Newcombe about that the other day. He said, maybe he

270
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:34,760
Speaker 1: was making you evaluate the real reason that you were there. Well,

271
00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,960
Speaker 1: maybe he was, but I still think he was an idiot.

272
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,720
Speaker 1: I absolutely wanted to help folks. It's all I ever

273
00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:45,960
Speaker 1: wanted to do. And it had nothing to do with

274
00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:50,080
Speaker 1: kicking in a door, or driving a car fast or

275
00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,240
Speaker 1: putting someone in jail, and there were people in this

276
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,920
Speaker 1: world that needed help and protection and I was going

277
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,240
Speaker 1: to do both. Now, don't get me wrong, I did

278
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,040
Speaker 1: all that stuff. It was fun driving cars fast, it

279
00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,960
Speaker 1: was fun putting bad guys in jail, and it was

280
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,040
Speaker 1: fun kicking in doors, except for one time that comes

281
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:16,560
Speaker 1: to mind. I was selected to be the breacher on

282
00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:19,399
Speaker 1: a drug house warning we were running, and it was

283
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,320
Speaker 1: my first search one. I was a little pumped into briefing.

284
00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:27,359
Speaker 1: The order was reeves breeches the door and everyone enters

285
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,639
Speaker 1: the house, detains anyone inside, and we searched for drugs

286
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:34,879
Speaker 1: in a contraband Brent, I want to take the ram. No,

287
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,560
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm finna go through that door, like y'r

288
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,560
Speaker 1: Simony Sam. By the time y'all get in there, I'll

289
00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,679
Speaker 1: be sitting on the couch watching TV with the dope dealers.

290
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,240
Speaker 1: Well they all laughed. We loaded up and drove to

291
00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,199
Speaker 1: the address, piled out of the cars like I stepped

292
00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:52,800
Speaker 1: on fire in bed, and stacked up at the door.

293
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,800
Speaker 1: I got to nod to breach it. I looked at

294
00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:57,200
Speaker 1: the door and I could see it was a metal

295
00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,920
Speaker 1: so instead of kicking it in, I backed up about

296
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,840
Speaker 1: five steps and hit it with my shoulder, going as

297
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,800
Speaker 1: hard and fast as I could go. To my surprise

298
00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,200
Speaker 1: and to those around me, I went through that door

299
00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:15,080
Speaker 1: like it wasn't there. For a split second, that seemed

300
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,080
Speaker 1: like an eternity. I was the only guy in that

301
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:21,240
Speaker 1: house full of drug addicts and dope dealers that wasn't

302
00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:25,320
Speaker 1: one of either. I shouted, search Warrn. I took a

303
00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:29,119
Speaker 1: running step toward a table where several bags of narcotics

304
00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:32,040
Speaker 1: were piled up and the people were sitting around it,

305
00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:34,720
Speaker 1: and I tripped over a ten speed bicycle that was

306
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:39,600
Speaker 1: laying in the floor that I didn't see. I was

307
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,080
Speaker 1: watching them watch me as I nose dived into that bicycle.

308
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,440
Speaker 1: It was like a scene out of a comedy. Time

309
00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:49,600
Speaker 1: was frozen, and they were looking at this clown that

310
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,760
Speaker 1: had just knocked the door off their hinges, hollering search

311
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,879
Speaker 1: Warrn that was now getting his butt kicked by a bicycle.

312
00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,800
Speaker 1: They didn't move, they were just staring at me. Now,

313
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:02,960
Speaker 1: the rest of the troops came in and secured the

314
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,160
Speaker 1: house and the folks in it, and helped me get

315
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,480
Speaker 1: out of that ten speed booby trap. Someone to sit

316
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:16,440
Speaker 1: in the kitchen I took the ram on the next one.

317
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,920
Speaker 1: There's so many stories that I could tell. Unfortunately a

318
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,840
Speaker 1: lot of them are sad. But for the better part

319
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,080
Speaker 1: of my life, my job was seeing even the best

320
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:35,480
Speaker 1: people on their worst day, and it's been a pretty

321
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,159
Speaker 1: heavy burden at times. Memories of things I wish I

322
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:42,280
Speaker 1: could forget and not knowing how things turned out for

323
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:46,719
Speaker 1: people that still haunt me to a degree even today,

324
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:51,760
Speaker 1: especially the children. I've seen so many little folks that

325
00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,320
Speaker 1: didn't deserve the hands that they were dealt, and it

326
00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,199
Speaker 1: was for them that I dedicated my life's work. It

327
00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:01,640
Speaker 1: was ingrained in me and early age that you take

328
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,080
Speaker 1: care of the folks that can't take care of themselves

329
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 1: and children before anything else. At the height of the

330
00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:13,400
Speaker 1: methamphetamine epidemic, it wasn't uncommon for us to arrest parents

331
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,679
Speaker 1: with malnursed children that had no stable family members to

332
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:21,080
Speaker 1: look after them, so they became wards of the state

333
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,600
Speaker 1: and temporary homes where vetted volunteer families took these children

334
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,520
Speaker 1: in and cared for them until their parents could get

335
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:33,800
Speaker 1: squared away, which rarely happened. There were a few, but

336
00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:39,119
Speaker 1: we had a lot of return clients. After Social Services

337
00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,440
Speaker 1: were called. We never knew what happened to the children.

338
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,320
Speaker 1: It was for their protection, and while I understood the

339
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:49,040
Speaker 1: need for secrecy, it was still hard not knowing how

340
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,960
Speaker 1: they ended up. I don't know how many I dealt with,

341
00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:56,119
Speaker 1: but at one time I was told I held the

342
00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 1: record for removing the most children from meth labs and

343
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,920
Speaker 1: drug homes in the state. I did the parents eventually

344
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,840
Speaker 1: get them back. You just never know. I'd ask the

345
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,480
Speaker 1: caseworkers and they couldn't tell me, so I just wondered.

346
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,800
Speaker 1: One of the last cases I worked that involved removing

347
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,399
Speaker 1: a child from a drug house would keep me up

348
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,280
Speaker 1: at night for years. I remembered how scared she looked

349
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,479
Speaker 1: and how quiet she was while I tried to comfort her,

350
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,360
Speaker 1: waiting on the social worker to come get her. She

351
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,160
Speaker 1: looked at me for help, and I wanted to take

352
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,639
Speaker 1: her home forever. So she sat in my lap at

353
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,160
Speaker 1: the Sheriff's office while we waited for the social worker

354
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,720
Speaker 1: to get there. A couple hours went by. I entertained

355
00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,480
Speaker 1: her as best I could, telling her stories and drawing pictures,

356
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,639
Speaker 1: and finally the caseworker came and picked her up, and

357
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 1: I never saw her again. I'd call the social worker

358
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,240
Speaker 1: and asked her, you know, how she was doing, and

359
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,720
Speaker 1: all she would say was she's doing fine. And that's

360
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,399
Speaker 1: how it went. For years. I relied on what she'd

361
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:09,760
Speaker 1: told me, She's doing fine. I thought about her often,

362
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 1: and anything and everything would make me think about her.

363
00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,679
Speaker 1: I realized that I'd really never know her fate. I

364
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,200
Speaker 1: didn't live anywhere near where that happened anymore, and didn't

365
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: work remotely in law in a law enforcement job that

366
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,400
Speaker 1: would allow me access to even ask anyone about her.

367
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,040
Speaker 1: And then one day, far away from the city where

368
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,720
Speaker 1: it happened, my wife Alexis, met a lady and a

369
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 1: young girl in a most obscure way, and they started talking.

370
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: Alexis was supposed to have left work for the day,

371
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 1: but she and this lady and young girl having such

372
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:51,119
Speaker 1: a good visit that she stayed late. She even called me,

373
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,040
Speaker 1: said she'd be a little late leaving working getting home

374
00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:58,640
Speaker 1: because she was helping some folks with some information. Now,

375
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,720
Speaker 1: one thing led to another, and they started talking about

376
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: where they were from. I told Alexis about this little

377
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,440
Speaker 1: girl many times and how I wish that I could

378
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:13,320
Speaker 1: see her and how she was doing. In about five minutes,

379
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,680
Speaker 1: into their conversation of talking about where they were from

380
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 1: and what they'd been doing and how they became a family.

381
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 1: Alexis told me she knew she was looking at the

382
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,120
Speaker 1: little girl I had been telling her about all this time.

383
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,439
Speaker 1: We connected on social media and for the last eleven years,

384
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 1: I've gotten to watch her grow up. I've worked a

385
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 1: lot of cases, some of them covered in the national media,

386
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:44,200
Speaker 1: some records setting, drugs, seizures and arrests, apprehended some high

387
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,399
Speaker 1: profile criminals. But that little girl is the pinnacle of

388
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:52,639
Speaker 1: my career. There's never been a doubt in my mind

389
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,480
Speaker 1: that all I had to go through all those years

390
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 1: was only preparing me for the day that I got

391
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 1: to take her out of where she was and help

392
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 1: her get to where she is, and she's in a

393
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: good place. I think about thirty two years and seven

394
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,119
Speaker 1: months and what that means, and it brings to mind

395
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,560
Speaker 1: an old Jimmy Buffett's song that has a line in

396
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:23,160
Speaker 1: it that says, some of its magic, some of its tragic.

397
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,439
Speaker 1: But I had a good life all the way and

398
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:36,760
Speaker 1: I did. I told you this one was gonna be

399
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 1: a little different. I hope it gives you a little

400
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 1: insight the cat and overalls. It's telling you all these

401
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,879
Speaker 1: tales every week and until next week. I thank you

402
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,560
Speaker 1: so much for this. This is Brent Reeves signing off.

403
00:24:52,680 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 1: Y'all be careful the