One day while at work I received a call about a stolen gun. When I arrived at the house, one of my coworkers, Officer Valley, was there as well. Valley went up to the person who called the issue in and they seemed very familiar with each other, almost friendly. As they were speaking, the victim by the name of Jose, said that his brother Jamie stole his gun. Jose said that Jamie had a drug problem and that he was afraid that Jamie may do something with the gun. Jose feared being blamed on Jose. After getting all of the basic information, Valley told me that he grew up with Jose and Jamie and that they were friends as kids but as they grew older they grew apart. Valley said that Jose also went through some rough times but that he is back on the right track.
After completing the report for Valley I kinda put the situation out of my head and continued taking care of other issues. Several hours went by and near the end of my shift I received a call that a white male without a shirt was knocking on the door and yelling for help. The address was in the same neighborhood as Jose who called earlier . In fact, it was at the house next to Jose’s.
Valley and I once again got there roughly at the same time and a man without a shirt was walking towards the door of the home. Valley and I split up and tried to corner the man because his actions led us to believe that he was trying to break into the home. Valley and the shirtless man made eye contact first. Valley then leveled his gun at the man’s chest and yelled “let me see your hands!”. I continued to approach them from cover to see how the shirtless man would react while keeping my eyes on his hands. He reacted in the way I was not expecting. “What are you doing man?” The shirtless man said to Valley. He casually walked towards Valle who continued to scream at the shirtless man to put his hands up. The shirtless man continued to look confused but also continued to head in the direction of Valley. I then rushed out from cover with my gun pointed at the shirtless man and commanded him; “let me see your hands!” Upon seeing me he somewhat panicked, threw his hands up and yelled “yes sir!”
Soon we had the man in handcuffs. He then looked at Valley and said “man. What are you doing?” That’s when it dawned on me that this guy must be Jamie. Jamie wasn’t trying to break into the house, he was trying to go home. That also explained why Jamie wasn’t the least bit nervous when he saw Valley with his gun pointed directly at him.
I took Jamie out of handcuffs and we walked him over to Jose. Jose asked Jamie where the gun was and he just made up some story about friends who are also drug dealers and who stole it. Jamie also said that somewhere along the way he lost his key to get into the house so he was trying to find someone to let him in. Jose just gave up asking questions and begrudgingly let Jamie into the home.
This wouldn’t be the last time I had to deal with Jamie or for that matter with Valley trying to look like a hero.
Posted here first [https://ourstoriesfrombehindthebadge.wordpress.com/2022/03/11/burglary-kinda/]
