The Retired Cop

Case #21 - The People vs Steve Williams (what do you get when you cross methamphetamine with wayde farrell) In 1991, I was working with my little unlucky charm, Steve Williams.  We were working unit 169 in the Torrance strip.  I don't recall if it was Day shift or PM shift, but it was still light out when we stopped a well known car thief and methamphetamine seller/user named Carl Kotke. Carl was with some other White guy in a beat up old truck.  Boring part of the story, short, Steve and I ended up arresting Carl and his pal for possession for sales of methamphetamine.  They had a sandwich baggie stuffed full of freshly made meth.  THAT'S a nice hook!  It was so fresh, it hadn't been dried out yet and if you tilted the baggie to the side, the fluids would collect in the lower corner.  So we slapped it high and transported our two felony suspects and our evidence to the station.  Steve was the driver, so he got to book the suspects, book the evidence and run the arr

Case #20-  re The People vs Rick Cocke and Mike Chacon (The Fog of War)      One day in 1991, Rick Cocke and Mike Chacon were working together on day shift and their shift was over.  They were in Carson station's report writing room filling out their log, before heading downstairs to change.  In the oncoming PM shift, Michelle Downey and "Downtown" Eddie Brown were scheduled to be partners.  Rick had been wanting to retaliate against Eddie for something Eddie had done to him when Rick was on training.  Now Rick was off training and it was payback time.      Prior to the start of his shift, Rick had stopped off at a place he knew and purchased some stink bombs.  For the uninitiated, stink bombs are small containers of ammonium sulfide.  When they are popped, the ammonium sulfide mixes with the moisture in the air,  and creates a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gas.  We all know ammonia has a sharp, very unpleasant, smell, but the odor of ammonia is Paco Rabanne

Case #19 - re The People vs Leroy Baca (Oh, If You See Kay)      The other day, My Little Lotus Blossom reminded me for the 25th time in the previous month’s time, that she wanted me to clean my work papers out of the garage.  I responded for the 25th time, in the previous month’s time, “Okay Princess, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Imagine my surprise when, instead of the usual, “Hmmph, you bettah, G.I.!”, followed by her I-mean-business look, and stomp-off out of the room, she screeched, “YOU BEEN SAY DAT FO, FO WEEK NOW! I SICK AN' TIAH, HE YOU ALL TIME SAY, YOU DO TOMORROW, YOU DO TOMORROW! YOU DO NOW, YOU HE ME, GAW-DAM-IH!"      WHOA!  Ayyy-parently, my little Tokyo Rose was on her you-know-what.  Ahhh, the wonders of a married man’s life.  I wonder what kind of mood she’s in today? I wonder what she bought today?  I wonder what she’s pissed off about now? I wonder why I’m paying for a pool boy and we don’t have a pool?  I wonder if Robert Blake would take my wife to din

Case #18  -re The People vs The D.A.'s office #1 (Wow, so many lawyer jokes, so little time.  And by "lawyer jokes" I mean actual lawyers, not, "What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the sea?") My first federal lawsuit can be directly attributed to an assistant district attorney's geographical ignorance.      In about 1989, when I was still a new boot,  I was working the early mornings shift (10:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.).  It was the very first day I was issued a handheld radio.  Prior to this date, we only had the car radio.  Around 1:00 A.M. I got a call of a "beer run" at the "7-11" on Avalon Boulevard and Victoria Street.  A "beer run" is when somebody goes into a liquor store, grabs the alcoholic beverage of his choice, and runs out without paying.  The suspect was obviously gone, when I got there, but the clerk had the guy on videotape AND he got the guy's license plate.  I ran the plate and it came ba

Case #17 - The People vs The Baker-To-Vegas Wannabes  (Smokin’ the competition)      Back in 2006 Carson, had their Baker-to-Vegas qualifier run.  Baker-to-Vegas is a big deal!  Aspiring runners train for months, just hoping to make the team.  22 of the “in-shape” folks were at the qualifier.  Among them were, Joe Corrales, Mark Bosckovich, The Captain, Gary, “Ooooooh Baby Girl” Ross, Lt Oglesby, Miguel Medina, Belen Wilkins, and Dave Kluth……DAVE KLUTH?  Yes, Dave Kluth.  Uhhhh, is this the same death-warmed-over looking Dave Kluth, who chain-smokes five packs a day, and washes every other nicotine, tar and arsenic laden batch of smoke down with a swig of caffeine laden coffee, forty-sumthin' years old, Dave Kluth?   Yup.      He was the little train smoker that could, the little train smoker that just kept chug-chug-chugging a cup of coffee along.  For the entire 6.5 miles, one little tune kept running through his head, “Them ol’ black lungs, they ain’t what they used to be,