Don't Take Your Guns To Town

From the book, "Blue Lights and Sirens" - a true story.

        One of the first things taught at the Law Enforcement Academy was to always keep the suspects hands in your sight. Lt. Blair was a fourteen year veteran officer and one of three shift supervisors.  His crew was known as The Wolf Pack  The were tightly bonded  brothers in blue who took care of one another, and did not back down from any situation.  And Lt. Blair would always be the first one in on any call.

      It was a busy night on the 3-11 shift.  Teenagers were cruising the strip and the bars and clubs were rocking with loud music, dancing, drinking and all the things that go hand in hand with nightlife in the city.  Dispatch put out a BOLO be on lookout, and all other activities ceased. We had been advised of an man with a gun who had threatened to kill his wife.  We knew him on sight, never known him to be dangerous, but then one can never tell.  We knew where he lived and had a vehicle description with a tag number.

   At that moment our job was focused on finding the vehicle and the suspect before anyone got hurt.  It was not long before Lt. Blair notified dispatch he had located the vehicle and was making a traffic stop.  He called in his location and Sgt. Sparks immediately headed his way running hard to assist.  All other units positioned themselves so they could also respond rapidly if the situation turned sour and they were needed immediately. 

     Upon his arrival, Sparks saw the suspect was standing with his hands on the trunk of the car assuming a pat down position.  Lt. Blair was pacing back and forth, kicking gravel, car tires, tin cans and everything else close by except the suspect. .  He was jumping up and down and swearing incessantly.  Sgt. Starks began talking with him trying to get him calmed down and try to determine what was wrong.

     Lt. Blair stated he had asked the suspect about the gun.  He responded that his wife was out partying at a bar and he got upset.  He knew she carried a gun in her purse so he stole her purse. He told the officer he had taken the purse and gun to get it away from his wife; he had taken the purse back to the house and kept the weapon.   When Blair he had the gun the man said, "I got it right here in the front of my pants".  As he reached for the weapon, Lt. Blair grabbed the pearl handled .357 magnum revolver he carried and told the suspect to keep his hands on the car that he would get the gun.  The suspect complied and Lt. retrieved the weapon, a .38 special, from inside the front of  the man's trousers.

     At that point Lt. told the man he could relax but keep his hands in front of him.  As the Lt. started to check the weapon to see if it was loaded or had been recently fired, the suspect relaxed and looked over his shoulder at the Lt.  And with a calm  and appreciative voice said, "Thank you Lieutenant John, I done got the crabs and that gun was starting' to make them itch".