The Retired Cop

Case #56 - re The People vs Rocky Costa (lie down Sparky, roll over…good boy) When Rocky Costa was a Sgt on the Early Mornings shift, he was pretty big. He was no Fat Sam mind you. He couldn’t even give Fat Sam a run for his vending machine money, but he was still pretty big. One graveyard shift, some deputies jammed a duster (a guy high on P.C.P.) on Gardena Bl. and Figueroa St., right in the middle of the intersection. It was about midnight, and it was cold, but the guy was barefoot and shirtless and sweating his ass off. The deputies requested the Field Sgt respond. Sgt Costa responded along with me and my partner, Jeff Adams in 162B and about four other deputies. So there we were, eight deputies in a semicircle around the duster, with Sgt Costa at the apex of the semicircle. One deputy was giving commands to the duster, which the duster was ignoring. The other deputies were getting ready to swarm the duster and take him to the ground, when Sgt Costa told us to hold off. He walk...

Case #55 – re The People vs Dan Dyer (Dan the man becomes Dan the fireman) At the end of 2000 Dan Dyer made T.O. I’ve been waiting to get that slippery Dan “The Man” Dyer in this courtroom ever since he put those 2 stripes on, but the first incident I heard about was blown all out of proportion, and it didn’t seem fit to present. But now an incident has presented itself, that I think is a slam dunk case. In June of 2005, the 911 board lit up on the EM shift. It was a fire! Not just any old fire, no, this was a house on fire! The type of fire that heroes emerge from, medals are awarded for, and careers are made out of! The call went out, “Closest unit to roll Code-3, structure fire at 12345 S Bibbidyboo St. Is there a unit in one?” Dan the Man grabbed his mike and coolly announced, “169A2, Daniel J Dyer, band 1 on the Sgt’s list, in less than one.” This superfluous radio traffic caught the SRC radio operator off-guard for a moment, but she quickly recovered and advised, “Uhhh, ...

Case #54 The People Vs Wayde Farrell & Family (dolphins vs duffys)      On May 31, 2015, Wayde Farrell got into an on duty scuffle with a motorcycle. He was eventually medically retired from his various injuries. The injuries could be summarized as follows: His legs and arms were pretty frickin' useless and his back was jacked.      On October 16, 2015, four and a half months after the accident, Wayde turned 56 years old. His sister, Stephanie and her husband Patrick, took Wayde out for a ride around Huntington Harbor in a Duffy boat to remind him that he was a year closer to death. Also along for the birthday celebration were Wayde's wife, Michelle, the birthday boy's parents, Willie and Terri, and Patrick's mother, Donna.      For those of you who don't know what a Duffy boat looks like, just picture the African Queen, but instead of being powered by a steam engine, a Duffy is electric. If you are too young to be familiar with the...

Case #53 - The People vs Luis Nunez (retrial)       Sometime in the mid to late 90's, I started writing these stories.  I wrote a story about Luis Nunez in, mmmmm, probably the late 1990's.  That story was titled The People vs Luis Nunez (If it’s not being pulled by a 40 mule team, hook it) I emailed it to all of my friends, including Luis.  A few years later, when Todd Rogers was the station captain, I emailed it and about 200 other stories, to the entire station. Uhhh, I kinda got in trouble over that.  Not much though, because Todd spoke up on my behalf to the chief's.  When I retired in 2016, I opened a Facebook account and posted the story on there.  In late 2017, I started this blog and it was one of my first stories (Case #6 in fact).  I have seen and spoken with Luis many times since this story first appeared, including several times in the last two years for lunch. Luis has provided me information to write about.  One thi...

     My Dad's 84th birthday was on the 6th. We were going to take him to dinner, but he and my mom decided to visit a sick relative instead.  So today, I took him to lunch to celebrate his birthday. Some people who don't know him and read, or hear, my stories about my dad's epic temper, might come to the conclusion that he is a jerk. Nothing could be further from the truth. I never met anyone who didn't instantly take a liking to my dad. He is the nicest guy you could ever meet. He's charming, funny, friendly and outgoing. He just has a strong sense of right and wrong. He also used to have a temper that would build up over time. In my life, he only spanked me twice. He never once spanked my sister. Parents, nowadays, may say, "Well you should never spank your children!" But in the 1960's spanking was normal. School principals kept a wooden paddles just for that purpose. So, not only was it normal to spank your children, it wasn't unusual for other...

Case #52 - re The People vs Kevin Mckee #2 (A shooting, a pursuit, a felony T-stop and a 1st date)      Smilin’ Bob and I were patrolling the area of 228th St and Vermont Av, west of the 110 Fwy, when we heard several shots fired in succession. the shots came from the area of Figueroa Street (east of us) and we got on the Patch to advise other units. The Patch allows us to talk directly car to car, rather than having transmissions rebroadcast by  the dispatcher.  Several units happened to be within a mile radius and said they had heard the shots too. One of these units was Dave Tateyama and his partner Lance Wulterin. Another unit was Kevin McKee. The Patch was released as units began searching the area. Within a few seconds Kevin was on the Patch, completely out of breath, “I’m in... (pant, pant, pant) ...pursuit... (pant, pant, pant) ... of a 245... (pant, pant, pant) ... vehicle (that's a vehicle involved in an assault, for you non-deputies)…”, our little...

Case #51 - re The People vs Chester Mitchell (Foghorn Leghorn) This week I pay tribute to one of my favorite bosses.  Chester Mitchell passed away in August.      In the early to mid ‘90’s we had Sgt Chester Mitchell on the EM shift (Graveyards).  He was a well liked supervisor, who spoke like, sounded like and was therefore nicknamed Foghorn Leghorn.  While we liked working for Sgt Mitchell, he had one quirk.  If we fucked up he might write us up, but no matter what we did, he would never write us a commendation.  When asked why, his reply would always be along the lines of, “Boy, Ah say boy, ya jest did wha’ cha s’posed ta do!  What the hail should Ah give ya’ all a commendation for?”      The other shift Sgt’s would write a guy up because a citizen called up and said, “Deputy Soandso smiled at me and I thought that was very nice.” That was an actual Dayshift commendation!  But on EM shift, if you ran across a...

Case #50– The People vs Mark Wedel (Boss Rhino comes clean)      Mark Wedel became a Training Officer sometime in about late 1987, or early 1988. As he hit the backdoor, at the end of shift, his unmistakeable voice could often be heard, yelling out, “Well that was a fuckin’ waste of time! GeezisfockinCrist!” This outburst was to indicate he had another statless night. This exclamation was a transparent and, in the end, vain attempt to head off the inevitable looks of disdain that would come his way from the other black-gloved, sap toting, training officers, especially Vic Rodriguez and Keith Kodera, who kept track of who booked, and who didn’t. This hope was always dashed, as they glared at him and shook their heads, letting him know he had fallen short of T.O. standards once again. (By the way, back then, only felony hooks and guns counted as a stat). Occasionally, he did luck into a hook, at which time he was less loquacious in his announcement of his good fortune, ...

Case #49 - The Infant Vs Sgt. Lena Moreno (beauty and the feast)      On December 30, 2013, Wayde Farrell and Steve Nemeth arrested two dirtbag parents for burglary and transported them to the station for booking. They also transported their 8 month old baby and 2 yr old toddler to the station to be picked up by the Department of Children's Services. While Nemeth booked the parents, some of the station ladies assisted Farrell in tending to the little kids. The ladies included Mary Acosta, Julie MacAleer, Diane Gallegos, and Ms. Brazile Their assistance was a wee late as the 8 month old had already peed on Farrell's thigh, but better late than never.      The older child was no problem and was easily entertained after a diaper change. The younger child was quite a bit fussier and his caterwauling was non-stop. Mary tried to feed him, Julie changed him and tried to feed him, Diane tried to soothe him, Ms. Brazile tried singing to him and Farrell offered ...

Case #48 - re The People vs Craig “Biscuits” Roberts (The heart attack and the interior design consultant )      In the early 90’s, Craig Roberts (aka "Biscuits") and I were working 162 Earlies. We got a rescue call of a woman not breathing in the area of 121st Street and Avalon Boulevard. When we got to the house, the woman’s boyfriend directed us inside and said the woman was in the bathroom. We went to the bathroom, opened the door, looked inside, and saw the extremely large woman sitting naked on the toilet, apparently dead. The foul odor caused by her final bowel movement forced us to back quickly out with our eyes watering and our stomachs churning. “Hooooly Shit!!!!”, gasped, "Biscuits". “Nothin’ Holy about that, pal!”, I replied.      I then took a deep breath and headed back in for seconds. She was a BIG woman, around 5’10” and 280 lbs, staring up at the ceiling with her legs splayed out. The toilet was FILLED with her final bowel movement. He...