Re: [smbc] A SUNDAY MORNING CONVERSATION WITH OFFICER JOHN R., SFPD

[jgreysffd@xxxxxxx]

Jerry

You obviously met on of the good guys.  It will be interesting to see if you show up on time to ride with the pack on the forthcoming Sunday mornings.  I will change my schedule and be in the Bay Area instead of Clear Lake to ride to breakfast just to see if you ride with the pack.

Stay safe, and keep the shinny side up.

Jerry Grey
-----Original Message-----
>From: Jerry Grainger <grainger@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: May 26, 2008 10:40 AM
>To: Sunday Morning Breakfast Club <smbc@xxxxxxxxx>, "NorCalNOC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <NorCalNOC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [smbc] A SUNDAY MORNING CONVERSATION WITH OFFICER JOHN R., SFPD
>
>AN UNANTICIPATED SUNDAY MORNING CONVERSATION WITH OFFICER JOHN R.,
>of the San Francisco Police Department, immediately after exiting Golden 
>Gate Park, via Crossover Drive, and northbound on Park Presidio.
>
>Humming along, as usual on a Sunday morning, trying to make up some time 
>and catch the breakfast riders, this time in Novato, for the usual.
>Also, as usual, I've copped that last few extra minutes of snooze, and 
>there's always something needing doing before departing, so I'm running 
>several minutes behind the pack, but I'm usually good at making up 
>time.  Usually.
> This morning, however, I stopped and had a very long conversation along 
>the way.  It started when I heard a siren, and then immediately noticed 
>that it was right behind me, and was not trying to pass, but also had 
>red and blue flashing lights, which seemed to be conveying a rather 
>urgent and personal message directly to me.
>Slowing, signaling and turning off Park Presidio onto Geary, there was a 
>red zone, but the loudspeaker from the patrol car was very loud and 
>insistent that I stop the bike NOW, get off and remove the key from the 
>ignition.
>Problem: the pavement is not angled for parking this Honda, which needs 
>a definite lean to the port side to be at all secure, so I lift my visor 
>and try to shout that I just need to pull up a little bit, or the bike 
>will fall over, but the loudspeaker voice is all the more commanding 
>that I stop and get off the bike NOW.  Pulling up a couple more feet 
>into the crosswalk gives me a suitable lean angle, and I'm obeying 
>instructions with as much alacrity as I can muster.
>
>Officer R is immediately front and center, asking me if he should arrest 
>me on the spot for reckless driving, impound the bike and make me cool 
>my heels overnight or two (it's a holiday weekend) while waiting for a 
>bail order.  Um, no sir, I don't think I'd like that very much at all, sir.
>
>"The speed limit back there is 35 mph, and you were doing at least 70!  
>That's twice the speed limit, which is reckless driving, and the court 
>will automatically suspend your license for at least 30 days.  Why on 
>earth were you going that fast?"
>"Um, well sir, I uh . . . ."
>
>Producing driver's license, registration and proof of insurance, I 
>fended off this line of insistent questioning, not denying anything, and 
>fully acknowledging that
>reckless driving is not a good thing at all, but neither would I come 
>out and state that that's what I was doing. 
>After additional such aggressive questioning, I respond: "With all due 
>respect Office R (his name is stitched onto his shirt), you may be quite 
>right, but if I am going to be charged with reckless driving, I simply 
>can't make a statement against interest like that." 
>So the fact that I'm a lawyer climbs on the table, not that that means 
>anything, but we did quickly establish that I'm not one of those 
>criminal defense attorneys, oh no.  But we both have professional 
>experience with the rules of evidence, and he knows his business well.
>
>"How old are you?"  I'm 61  (This question was asked more than once, the 
>second time almost with an air of incredulity.)
>Officer R is age 46, and has been on the force for 23 years, and will be 
>eligible to retire in another 7 years, while still in his early 50s.  He 
>was on the list for motorcycles for 19 years, but when his name finally 
>came up, he decided that he had seen too many ugly crashes involving 
>motorcyclists, and would prefer to retire in one piece, if at all 
>possible.  I acknowledge that yes, motorcycle accidents can happen to 
>anyone, and that reckless driving is not an advisable way to improve 
>your odds.
>
>By now, I've accepted his invitation to remove my helmet, but still 
>politely resisted making any directly incriminating statements, although 
>by now we are as much in a conversational mode as an adversarial one.  I 
>acknowledge that I got a speeding tag last November, and took traffic 
>school, having gone three or four years without one before that, with a 
>few details of that citation, which was not awfully flagrant.  Officer 
>R. takes my license into the squad car, and I'm clean for warrants, 
>etc., coming out with his citation book, which he slowly commences to 
>use in the usual way. 
>
>Was I in any hurry to get somewhere?  Oh no sir, take your time, I'm in 
>no rush.  Further details are provided on the foolhardiness of unsafe 
>motorcycle operations, and the serious consequences which may befall not 
>just the rider, but innocent others, and how I might not make the date 
>to go to the museum later today with my daughter, if I get killed on 
>that bike.  And as a 46 year old, and me at 61, he's not going to try to 
>lecture me,  but I am certainly aware of these risks, am I not?  After 
>all, I'm not some 20 year old who is convinced that he is immortal.  
>Yes, I am very much aware of the kinds of nasty surprises that can 
>happen in a hurry, while riding along thinking I am fat and happy. 
>
>By now, it's not officer R, but John, and I can tell you that John's 
>eyes are quite brown, because I've looked directly into them with 
>respectful attention while he has given me more than a serious piece of 
>his mind.  And you know what?  He's telling me things that I have said 
>to myself, as well, but just kind of stifled, because it just so easy to 
>zoom around another pack of cages, and toodle on up the road.
>
>So he gets towards the bottom of the tag, where the seriously 
>prejudicial stuff goes in, and I ask him what he's going to write me 
>for.  I'm still chilled over that 70 mph, twice the limit, reckless 
>business, and hoping to cut at least something of a break off of that.  
>He tells me he's going to write it for 50 in a 35, and I feel a big 
>sense of relief, however resigned. 
>
>How many traffic tickets do I think he writes?  He then estimates that 
>he has written maybe ten so far this year, after five months, then says 
>maybe fifteen, say, two or three a month.  Not a lot.  They do not have 
>any quota, says John, and I'm sure that's true.  In retrospect, I'm also 
>sure that those ten or fifteen motorists all richly deserved their 
>citations, and probably didn't do so well on the attitude test, either.
>
>After awhile, John's responds to his dispatcher, assuring her  that 
>everything is OK, thanks, just a fairly quiet Sunday morning.  So then 
>he asks me if I really need this ticket.  I'm not quite sure what he's 
>getting at, but I tell him that the dramatic lights and siren stop, with 
>the loudspeaker commands, and so forth have all made a significant 
>impression, and one that I won't forget.  All quite true.   And as a 61 
>year old, very experienced rider, is this ticket something that I need 
>to learn a lesson?  Well, uh  . . .
>
>John then proceeds to tear the ticket in half, writing "VOID" across 
>both top and bottom.  WOW!  Now that's a surprise, far beyond anything I 
>could have hoped to have happen.  I'm sure that if I were a 20 year old 
>rider, or even a 46 year old one, I would be studying that citation 
>carefully by now, trying to figure  how to contend with it.  But I guess 
>there are some advantages to a lot of gray hair sometimes.
>
>But you know what ?  John was certainly right about a few important 
>things.  It shouldn't take a reckless driving citation to persuade one 
>not to ride recklessly.
>And he didn't mention anything that I didn't already know, but may not 
>have considered seriously lately, as to the risks of zooming along a lot 
>faster than other traffic.  At a minimum, it draws unwanted attention.  
>But it can also get a lot worse than that.  I really could wind up dead, 
>or hurt some innocent person, if things suddenly go wrong.  And they 
>can.  I'm not Superman, and I'm definitely not Superider, either.
>
>So yes, I'm relieved big time over a one-of-a-kind break.  But I don't 
>want to take it for granted, and I will think seriously about it for 
>quite a while, I'm sure.
>That's the ride report for today.
>Jerry Grainger