The Retired Cop

Case #41 - re The People vs Jeff Fleming #2 (A barfly, a deputy and a dozen friends named Jack)      Sometime in the early 1990s, Detective J.J. Johnson wanted his Carson station coworkers to meet his childhood friend.  So, he called his pal Darryl Strawberry and secured a bunch of tickets to a game when Darryl would be playing at Dodger Stadium.  After the game we met up at a nearby bar called The Shortstop.  I was the third one to arrive at The Shortstop.  Fast Eddie Brown and Jeff Fleming were there ahead of me.  And surprise, surprise, they had already started drinking.  Eddie Brown was trying his damnedest not to rip the felt on the pool table.  Jeff on the other hand was close to sealing the deal with a gal at  the bar.  He had both forearms crossed in front of him on the bar.  He was using them to prop his upper body up.  His head was drooped forward, hovering just above 11 empty shot glasses.  A gal on ...

Case #40 - The People vs Fozzy Bear aka Levi Strauss ( His parents had him for 23 years, I had him for 3 months, but I get the blame?)       This is about a nightmare I had that lasted a few months.  My neurologist says it may be the source of my seizures.  In the summer of 1991, or thereabouts, I was on the EM shift (graveyards) and had been assigned my third trainee.  I can’t recall his legal name, but his nickname was Fozzy Bear, because of his uncanny resemblance to the muppet character.  Now at the time he was an original.  Since that time there have been many imitators, but few that matched his…well I’m going to start cussing and I can feel my blood pressure rising, so I’m going to take a break. I’m back.  When I first got Fozzy Bear, it was a time when trainees generally wrote their reports while we drove and lived in fear of displeasing their training officers.  Sensitivity training, anger management, and cultural ...

This is a followup story to Case #38 Case #39 – The People vs O.S.S. (Above the law) (part 2 to Case #38)      After about 3 weeks worth of detective work, Jane Doe discovered that the windbreaker's not always greener on the other side. She pulled up stakes and jumped back into a radio car, leaving the O.S.S. spot to be filled again. Jorge Padilla got the call. Jorge was still in the Mexican version of a snit (una snita) over having been passed over for a newbie ruca in the first place. So he turned up his nose and said, “NO WAY, JOSE!”      Cliff Jones got the nod, but Cliff had just made training officer, and wanted to see if he was as good a coach as he was a player. The list was getting slim. After a coin toss, and then another coin toss, and another, all of which came up in Mike Gomez’ favor, the Captain saw it as a sign from God, that, on the fourth attempt, the coin fell in the toilet, so he reluctantly picked up his Magic 8-ball to choose Jane...

Case #38– The People vs Jane Doe ( Girl’s rule ) For my readers who are unfamiliar with the various units on the L.A. Sheriif's Department, O.S.S. (Operation Safe Streets) is the departments gang investigation unit.      Back in about 2007, when that pretty boy, Eric Ehrhorn, bailed on O.S.S for the Park Enforcement Team, and abandoned his friends, forcing them to pick up his workloa….(What Eric? Ohhhhh, uh huh, uh huh, uhhhhhhhh huh, got it.)      When the well groomed Eric Ehrhorn was promoted from O.S.S to the Park Enforcement Team, and bade a fond farewell to the people who looked up to him there, they threw him a going away party. He promised to look in on them from time to time, and that they were to feel free to contact him anytime they needed his expertise on a case. (How’s that Eric?)      This put a lot of pressure on the O.S.S Sgt, Sgt Fred Reynolds, and on the station Captain. Who were they going to get to fill Eric’s hig...