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

[Dick Zunkel <rzunkel@xxxxxxx>]

 Nice going, Jerry.... Sometimes the old guys win! I've also discovered that taking the helmet off showing my bald dome ringed in gray hair and wrinkles tends to defuse the situation.

Dick


 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Grainger <grainger@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Sunday Morning Breakfast Club <smbc@xxxxxxxxx>; NorCalNOC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <NorCalNOC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, 26 May 2008 10:40 am
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?