Have you ever been a victim of police misconduct?

[mnhtnbb]

22. In all fairness, I have to post a story of 'above and beyond' service from LAPD, years ago.

Last edited Sun Sep 7, 2014, 11:40 AM - Edit history (2)

I am white, female, and at the time, was 24, and not too bad looking.
Was it a case of being attractive enough to have gotten the attention of this particular
officer? I don't know.

This was in Hollywood in 1975. I had a 4 PM doctors appointment and managed
to find a parking spot on La Cienaga --the side street by the doctors office. Oh, joy!
When I came out, my car was gone. I thought it had been stolen. The only copy of my
masters thesis was in the trunk of the car, which I had picked up from the typist on my way in
to work that morning. I had not yet made any copies, and the rough draft was also in the trunk (pre computer and cell phone days).
Well, an officer responded to the call I made from a pay phone, and pointed out the no parking
after 5 PM sign on the street that I hadn't noticed, and checked to verify my car had been towed. In the course
of talking with him, I told him I worked at Hollywood Pres Med Center, and I guess because
cops and hospital folks often have a pretty good relationship, he took pity on me. He offered
to drive me BACK to the hospital so I could cash a check (banks were closed and no ATM's back
in the 70's) and THEN to the impound lot to get my car out. The impound lot would take cash only, of
course, and I didn't have enough cash on me to get the car. He must have spent close to an hour driving me both places. He was very nice. I never felt like he was putting moves on me--and I was married at the time--and never made any suggestive
remarks. Very nice guy.

If he hadn't done it, I would have had to wait for my husband to get to Hollywood from Santa Monica--during Los Angeles rush hour--
and then shlep me around to get the car out of the impound. We still might have had to go to the hospital to cash
a check, because I doubt my husband had enough cash on him to get the car out of the impound lot, either, plus we would
have had to figure out where it was and how to get there.

As it was, it was probably about 7:30 when I got home that night. Instead of being grateful for me being resourceful
and saving my husband the hassle of bailing me out of my problem, he had the nerve to get mad at me for not
calling him to come get me! Jerk. No wonder he turned out to be my ex-husband in a couple more years.

I would NEVER have expected a police officer to be so helpful--40 years ago--and I certainly wouldn't expect it now.
But I do think that there had to have been at least one nice guy on the LAPD and I happened to run into him.

Would I have gotten the same treatment if I'd been black? No. Absolutely no way.