WEBVTT - Ep. 155: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - 32 Years and 7 Months 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves. 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.720 From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.479 my stories and the country skills that will help you 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.360 beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.880 part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.000 outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.080 pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:39.760 think I got a thing or two the teaching thirty 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:44.839 two years and seven months. Thirty two years and seven 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.599 months is how long I've been in law enforcement. At 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.519 the end of this month, I'm going to retire. It's 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.200 been quite a rewarding and costly journey, and as I 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:56.960 reached the end of my career behind the badge, I'm 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.600 going to share a little bit about what that's meant. 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.320 So this one's gonna be a little different than my 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.200 regular episodes. It's such a significant milestone in my life 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:09.840 and one that I felt I should address, even if briefly, 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.559 just a lessen or two that I learned along the way. 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:21.640 But first, I'm going to tell you a story. I 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.600 feel it necessary to give a warning on this episode 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.319 This first story may be a little intense for the 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.039 young folks that normally listen, so mom and dad, y'all 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.760 check it out first before the little ones do. It's 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:37.880 very important to me and I take a lot of 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.880 pride in hearing from y'all that listen with your kids, 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.640 so I would never do anything that might upset them 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:56.880 or you. With that said, here we go back in 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.720 the mid nineties. I was working uniform patrol late one 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.880 week and got a call from the dispatcher that a 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:07.080 lady was being held against her will inside a gated compound. 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.800 Now this was a rural area and there were only 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.320 three of us on duty that night, and I was 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:17.160 the supervisor. I called the other deputies from their assigned 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.040 patrol areas and we met in the small community in 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.200 the south part of the county where the nine to 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.560 one to one address was listed. Dispatcher was on the 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.240 phone with a caller and she said she was hiding 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.720 behind the living room couch while her kidnapper was in 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.760 the other end of the home. She said he was 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.120 armed with a shotgun. He said that he was going 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.800 to kill anyone that came inside, and he was going 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.440 to kill her if she tried to call for help. 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.960 These are the kind of situations you trained for. You 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.560 don't ever want them to happen, but when they do, 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.040 and you're the guy that's responsible for making the immediate 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:59.040 decisions that are going to affect everyone involved forever, he 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:03.440 can get a little teen. Now, we've got someone calling 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.760 for help that's scared. We've got someone who's saying that 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.640 they're going to hurt us and her if we come 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:14.680 in and help her, or if he catches her calling 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.600 nine one one. So what do you do. You have 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.360 to make the decision right then and there, and that 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.120 decision you have to make in the blink of an 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:29.920 eye will be judged forever at everyone else's convenience. If 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:31.880 you're the guy with the badge that took the oath, 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:37.360 you don't have that luxury. Also, I had the responsibility 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.000 of ordering the two other officers to follow me in 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.080 that house, and if they got hurt, that was going 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:47.040 to all be on me. Now, in the time it's 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.280 taken me to go this far in the story, I 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.600 briefed those officers on what was going on and that 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.320 we were going in to get this lady out, and 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:59.960 they never hesitated. We parked just down the street from 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.800 the reported eye dress, and we could see that the 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.480 residents had an eight foot chain link fence around it 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:10.280 with three strands of barbed wire on the top. There 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.200 was a double gate that was locked with a big 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.240 chain and a padlock that would have had been cut 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.960 off with a torch. Even if we could have used 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.080 a set of boat cutters, the night light had that 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:23.600 part of the yard illuminated, and we would have been 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.559 in easy range of the front door with no cover 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.680 or protection. We also didn't have any boat cutters in 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.200 our patrol cars and didn't have time to go get any. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:39.200 We had to go right now for her safety. I 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.240 told the dispatcher to tell the lady that we were 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:47.400 coming in and to stay hidden. The dispatcher said that 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:51.480 the lady told her that she'd unlocked the back door. Well. 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.039 I told her we were going radio silent, and we 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.720 turned off all our radios so the bad guy couldn't 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.800 hear them, and two of us walked beside one of 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.560 the troll cars as the officer pulled up to the 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.200 edge of the yard furtherest away from the house, right 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.239 beside the fence, which it was about twenty five yards. 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:12.960 We took a blanket out of the trunk of the 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.480 car and laid it across the barbed wire, and one 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.000 by one we crawled on top of the patrol car 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.800 on top of the bar lights, climbed the fence, over 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.080 the barb wire, and dropped into the yard. I went 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.919 first while they covered the house. I let go of 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.640 the wire, and before my feet hit the ground inside, 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.880 I realized I'd forgotten to ask if they had a dog. 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:39.279 Now this was about to get really loud if they did. 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:41.840 But the only sound I heard was the other two 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.480 sets of boots hitting the ground behind me, almost at 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.200 the same time. As I held cover on the window 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.240 at the end of the house. The lady said the 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:54.520 kidnapper was in no dog. That was a plus, but 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.279 we still had a hostage situation to deal with. The 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.600 house laid north and south, and she said she'd unlock 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.040 the back door, which was on the west side of 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:08.000 the house, opposite from where we were. From what she 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.599 told the dispatcher, the man armed with a shotgun was 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.720 in the south end of the house, so the back 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:17.800 door was on the back third of the house, and 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.280 if we'd breached that door, we could have been walking 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.960 right into his lap. As bad as I hate to 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.520 say it, if you want to hurt a police officer, 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.359 you don't even have to leave your house. All you 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.720 have to do is call them. They'll drive right up 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:37.000 in your yard. Things like that have happened before. And 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.719 all of these things, along with what was reported, was 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.599 going through my mind. Was this an elaborately playing damn 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:49.560 bush or a legitimate hostage situation? I didn't know, but 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.880 I didn't know. I wasn't going through the back door. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.240 None of us knew either one of the people involved 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.279 in this call, so we were dealing only with the 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.680 nine one one operators out version of what was happening. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:06.160 I could do a whole year of podcasts about dispatchers. 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.240 They've kept me alive more than once, and this dispatcher, 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.280 she was one of the best. We slipped up to 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.960 the porch and eased up the steps, everyone covering a 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.600 different window that could have seen us in the glow 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.960 of the nightlight. I told the other two officers that 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:28.040 I would take point, and when we made entry, we 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.960 weren't stopping until we secured everyone in the house, regardless 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.640 of what that entailed. I placed my hand on the 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:42.840 doorknob and slowly turned it, and surprisingly it opened. As 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.040 I slowly opened the door, I could see the top 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.800 of a woman's blond hair in a bun behind the couch, 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.400 and I could hear her whispering on the phone to 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:56.120 our dispatcher. The room was lit by dim light over 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.520 the stove in the kitchen, and for whatever reason, that 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.960 lady poked her head up, and when she did, she 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.440 saw me standing in the door, pointing my pistol down 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:09.440 the hallway toward where she'd said her kidnapper was. She 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:11.960 dropped a phone and ran straight for me, with her 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.240 arms outstretched to hug me. And I grabbed her with 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.320 one hand and passed her back to the officer behind me, 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.480 who did the same. And the third officer grabbed her 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.520 and ran her across the yard and took cover with 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:28.000 her at the other end of the house. Hostage safe 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.280 check that box. Now we got to go get the 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:35.360 bad guy. The officer behind me that handed her off 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.960 to the last officer asked her, as she was going by, 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.280 where the suspect was. She said, in the back, and 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.000 pointed in the direction where we'd expected him to be. 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:49.960 He also confirmed from her that there was only one 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:54.000 weapon in the house. He walked up behind me and whispered, 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:58.640 only one weapon. He squeezed my shoulder to let me 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.200 know he was with me, and we went in the house. 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:07.680 We moved through the small living room and I stopped 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:09.640 at the edge of the kitchen where the hall began, 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.160 taking cover against the wall. While looking down the short 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:16.360 hallway into the darkness that was the bedroom and where 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:20.320 the suspect was supposed to be, I could see the 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.680 barrel of a shotgun lying on the floor at the 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:26.240 foot of the bed, and a man's bare right foot 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.440 on top of the bed, as if he was laying 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.920 on his back. The light that came into the room 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.360 from the kitchen was cut off beyond that, and I 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.440 whispered to my partner to turn his flashlight on and 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.720 secure the weapon when we entered the room, and I 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:45.319 deal with the suspect from that moment. When we squeezed 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.240 my shoulder and we entered that room, it was slow motion. 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.160 I crossed the threshold and was holding cover on the 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.679 bed in the darkness. Time stood still, and it seemed 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.960 like it took forever for him to turn on that flashlight. 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.959 In reality, I hadn't stopped moving when my partner was 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.199 standing on that shotgun and blinding the man that was 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:11.960 sleeping in the bed with his flashlight. That man bolted 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.959 upright in the bed and his arms went straight out 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:17.400 in front of him. His hands were empty, but it 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.800 was like he was reaching for something. I quickly hosted 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.839 my weapon and using his momentum my monkey, flipped him 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:25.680 out of that bed and onto the floor, with me 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.440 right on top of him. When I did that, I 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.520 was immediately tangled up in a mass of wires and tubes, 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.520 and a man was screaming, what's going on, What's going on? 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:42.160 Where's my wife? Is she okay? I handcuffed him and 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.400 I untangled myself from all the wires. I turned my 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.840 radio on reported that the hostage and suspect were secure 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:53.560 and all the officers were okay. I started reading The 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.960 Man who Writes, and after I finished, he kept asking me, 0:10:56.120 --> 0:11:00.000 is my wife okay? What's going on? And I told 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.120 to me he was under arrest for kidnapping. He asked 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.760 who he kidnapped. I told him the blond lady that 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.560 was in the house. He said, that's my wife. Is 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:14.839 she okay? I said she's fine, But it doesn't matter 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.000 who she is. When you hold someone forcibly against their will, 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.600 that's kidnapping. And I asked him what all these wires 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.120 and hoses were for they were hooked up to him. 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:33.000 He said, I'm taking dialysis dialysis. Well, this is weird. 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.120 I said, what about this shotgun. He said that it 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.880 was supposed to be locked in a closet and that 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.840 he didn't get it out. It was his father's and 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.440 there weren't even any shells on that property for it. 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.840 My partner checked it and it was unloaded. He was 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.840 starting to make sense, but this whole situation was far 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.560 from making sense. I set him up on the bed 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:03.600 and he said, my wife is off her medication. All 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:05.840 you have to do is talk to her and you'll see. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.959 Just go talk to her. I told him, buddy, we've 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.440 been talking to her for almost an hour on nine 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:16.600 one one. She's the reason we're here. He was calm 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.959 and collected. He said, just go talk to her and 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:26.920 ask her who her parents are. So that's what I did. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.320 I had the other officer bring her inside to the 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.240 other end of the house, and I told her we 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.440 needed to get some information for the report. So I 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:39.840 asked her her name, and she told me. I asked 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:41.960 her her day to birth and her address, and without 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.800 missing a beat, she said it. I didn't expect her 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.280 to look at me sideways when I asked her this question, 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.200 but I did it anyway. What are your parents' names 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.439 and their address? Well? She told me that they were 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.040 both deceased, and she looked sad when she said it. 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.839 I didn't know where this was going, but I said, well, 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:05.760 tell me their names and where they used to live. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:12.320 She looked up at me and with the most sincerest expression, 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:18.760 she said, my dad's name is Elvis, and I said Presley. 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.240 She said, yes, sir, and my mother was Grace Kelly. 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:28.160 She was killed in a car wreck. Now some may 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.360 find some humor in this, but it's really not funny. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:36.160 According to her husband, this lady had done irreparable damage 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.320 to her brain while abusing drugs, but it finally beat 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:44.040 the addiction, but the effects had lasted forever and would 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:48.240 last forever, apparently, and he was struggling to keep her 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:52.800 on her medications at times and also take care of himself. 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.000 That big chain link fence around their house was to 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.000 keep her from wandering off and being in the shape 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.000 he was in. It was the only way he could 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.880 keep her safe. He had an emergency contact for a 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.640 clinic that she was a patient of, and we contacted 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.520 them and provided her transportation to that facility that night. 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:18.520 There were a lot of things that could have gone 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.320 wrong that night, and I thought about them a million times. 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:26.800 What if we'd arrested him, took him to jail, ignored 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.320 him about what he was saying that his wife had 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.840 mentally issues. What if we left her there alone, thinking 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:37.000 we'd saved her, only to have her harm herself because 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.120 her husband wasn't there to help her. Or what if 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.080 she'd laid that shotgun across his lap instead of in 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.880 the floor. When that she finally admitted to and he 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.760 sat up with that when I entered the room, What 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:55.040 if this happened? Or what if that happened? But I 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.240 told her the lesson away from there that night, the 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:02.480 lesson that you can't take everything at face value, and 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.680 giving people the benefit of the doubt can lead you 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:11.200 to what's really going on. Sometimes I wish I could 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.000 tell you how that story ended, but I don't know. 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.600 That was the last time I saw either one of them. 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.840 And in this job, you run across people in situations 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:27.560 that are fleeting. Most are sad, and when the report 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.440 is done, you may never see that person again ever, 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:37.120 but you always wonder. I do anyway, and that's just 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:49.800 how that happened. I got into this job to help people, 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:53.560 one hundred percent. That was my goal. So a couple 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:57.000 of weeks into the police academy, when an instructor posed 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.800 a question to the hundred or so cadets in the class, 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:04.200 why did you choose this profession? He followed it up 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.720 with before any of you say because you want to 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:12.760 help people, you need to save it, because that's a lie. 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.520 You want to do it for the power and the authority, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.680 He said, you get called to preach, you don't get 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:24.640 called to enforce the law. I just looked at him 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.240 and thought, this guy's an idiot. I was telling Clay 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.560 Newcombe about that the other day. He said, maybe he 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.760 was making you evaluate the real reason that you were there. Well, 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.960 maybe he was, but I still think he was an idiot. 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.720 I absolutely wanted to help folks. It's all I ever 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.960 wanted to do. And it had nothing to do with 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:50.080 kicking in a door, or driving a car fast or 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:53.240 putting someone in jail, and there were people in this 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:55.920 world that needed help and protection and I was going 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.240 to do both. Now, don't get me wrong, I did 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.040 all that stuff. It was fun driving cars fast, it 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.960 was fun putting bad guys in jail, and it was 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:10.040 fun kicking in doors, except for one time that comes 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:16.560 to mind. I was selected to be the breacher on 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.399 a drug house warning we were running, and it was 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.320 my first search one. I was a little pumped into briefing. 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:27.359 The order was reeves breeches the door and everyone enters 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.639 the house, detains anyone inside, and we searched for drugs 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.879 in a contraband Brent, I want to take the ram. No, 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.560 I'm good. I'm finna go through that door, like y'r 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.560 Simony Sam. By the time y'all get in there, I'll 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.679 be sitting on the couch watching TV with the dope dealers. 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.240 Well they all laughed. We loaded up and drove to 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.199 the address, piled out of the cars like I stepped 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.800 on fire in bed, and stacked up at the door. 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.800 I got to nod to breach it. I looked at 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:57.200 the door and I could see it was a metal 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:59.920 so instead of kicking it in, I backed up about 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.840 five steps and hit it with my shoulder, going as 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.800 hard and fast as I could go. To my surprise 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.200 and to those around me, I went through that door 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:15.080 like it wasn't there. For a split second, that seemed 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.080 like an eternity. I was the only guy in that 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.240 house full of drug addicts and dope dealers that wasn't 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:25.320 one of either. I shouted, search Warrn. I took a 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:29.119 running step toward a table where several bags of narcotics 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.040 were piled up and the people were sitting around it, 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.720 and I tripped over a ten speed bicycle that was 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.600 laying in the floor that I didn't see. I was 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.080 watching them watch me as I nose dived into that bicycle. 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:46.440 It was like a scene out of a comedy. Time 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.600 was frozen, and they were looking at this clown that 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.760 had just knocked the door off their hinges, hollering search 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.879 Warrn that was now getting his butt kicked by a bicycle. 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.800 They didn't move, they were just staring at me. Now, 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:02.960 the rest of the troops came in and secured the 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.160 house and the folks in it, and helped me get 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.480 out of that ten speed booby trap. Someone to sit 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:16.440 in the kitchen I took the ram on the next one. 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:23.920 There's so many stories that I could tell. Unfortunately a 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.840 lot of them are sad. But for the better part 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:30.080 of my life, my job was seeing even the best 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:35.480 people on their worst day, and it's been a pretty 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:39.159 heavy burden at times. Memories of things I wish I 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.280 could forget and not knowing how things turned out for 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:46.719 people that still haunt me to a degree even today, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.760 especially the children. I've seen so many little folks that 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.320 didn't deserve the hands that they were dealt, and it 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.199 was for them that I dedicated my life's work. It 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.640 was ingrained in me and early age that you take 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.080 care of the folks that can't take care of themselves 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.800 and children before anything else. At the height of the 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:13.400 methamphetamine epidemic, it wasn't uncommon for us to arrest parents 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.679 with malnursed children that had no stable family members to 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:21.080 look after them, so they became wards of the state 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:25.600 and temporary homes where vetted volunteer families took these children 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.520 in and cared for them until their parents could get 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:33.800 squared away, which rarely happened. There were a few, but 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:39.119 we had a lot of return clients. After Social Services 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.440 were called. We never knew what happened to the children. 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.320 It was for their protection, and while I understood the 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:49.040 need for secrecy, it was still hard not knowing how 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.960 they ended up. I don't know how many I dealt with, 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.119 but at one time I was told I held the 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:59.040 record for removing the most children from meth labs and 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.920 drug homes in the state. I did the parents eventually 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.840 get them back. You just never know. I'd ask the 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.480 caseworkers and they couldn't tell me, so I just wondered. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.800 One of the last cases I worked that involved removing 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.399 a child from a drug house would keep me up 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:21.280 at night for years. I remembered how scared she looked 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:24.479 and how quiet she was while I tried to comfort her, 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.360 waiting on the social worker to come get her. She 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.160 looked at me for help, and I wanted to take 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.639 her home forever. So she sat in my lap at 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.160 the Sheriff's office while we waited for the social worker 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:42.720 to get there. A couple hours went by. I entertained 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.480 her as best I could, telling her stories and drawing pictures, 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:50.639 and finally the caseworker came and picked her up, and 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.720 I never saw her again. I'd call the social worker 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.240 and asked her, you know, how she was doing, and 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:00.720 all she would say was she's doing fine. And that's 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:04.399 how it went. For years. I relied on what she'd 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:09.760 told me, She's doing fine. I thought about her often, 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.040 and anything and everything would make me think about her. 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:17.679 I realized that I'd really never know her fate. I 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:21.200 didn't live anywhere near where that happened anymore, and didn't 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:24.280 work remotely in law in a law enforcement job that 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:27.400 would allow me access to even ask anyone about her. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.040 And then one day, far away from the city where 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:34.720 it happened, my wife Alexis, met a lady and a 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:38.520 young girl in a most obscure way, and they started talking. 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.000 Alexis was supposed to have left work for the day, 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:46.160 but she and this lady and young girl having such 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:51.119 a good visit that she stayed late. She even called me, 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.040 said she'd be a little late leaving working getting home 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:58.640 because she was helping some folks with some information. Now, 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:01.720 one thing led to another, and they started talking about 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.879 where they were from. I told Alexis about this little 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:08.440 girl many times and how I wish that I could 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:13.320 see her and how she was doing. In about five minutes, 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.680 into their conversation of talking about where they were from 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:20.240 and what they'd been doing and how they became a family. 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:24.359 Alexis told me she knew she was looking at the 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:27.120 little girl I had been telling her about all this time. 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.439 We connected on social media and for the last eleven years, 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:35.879 I've gotten to watch her grow up. I've worked a 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:39.080 lot of cases, some of them covered in the national media, 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:44.200 some records setting, drugs, seizures and arrests, apprehended some high 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:48.399 profile criminals. But that little girl is the pinnacle of 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:52.639 my career. There's never been a doubt in my mind 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.480 that all I had to go through all those years 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:58.600 was only preparing me for the day that I got 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.840 to take her out of where she was and help 0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:06.000 her get to where she is, and she's in a 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:12.800 good place. I think about thirty two years and seven 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:15.119 months and what that means, and it brings to mind 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:18.560 an old Jimmy Buffett's song that has a line in 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:23.160 it that says, some of its magic, some of its tragic. 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:27.439 But I had a good life all the way and 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:36.760 I did. I told you this one was gonna be 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:39.440 a little different. I hope it gives you a little 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:43.280 insight the cat and overalls. It's telling you all these 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:47.879