Brutal Stabbing Murder, Cheating Death Gun Fight, Wrong Place Wrong Time

this is things police see firstand accounts with your host Steve gold welcome to the podcast that interviews active and retired police officers about their most intense bizarre and sometimes humorous moments on the job it is I old Ginger face coming at you thank you guys for being here thank you for joining thank you for all the recent um binge listening and reviewing I truly appreciate that thank you to the patreon members that keep the boat afloat and uh and keep the money coming in to pay for all the the expenses of the show I truly appreciate it like the intro said um you were going to hear on this podcast uh totally unedited unadulterated um stories as the cops live them the men and women of law enforcement and that’s kind of the whole point you’ll hear these stories and get a better appreciation for what these men and women actually do and it’s uh it’s my honor to bring them to you and I’m so happy with um how the podcast has grown and you guys are really enjoying it so thank you for that um today’s today’s guest is uh is a great one I’m really excited to have him on did 21 years um LA County Sheriff’s Department he was a homicide detective he’s also the author of nine novels and an law enforcement Memoir uh I’m talking about none other than the great Danny Smith Danny hi Steve thank you very much hey man great to have you brother like I said it’s it’s an honor to have you and I’m so glad you’re here and um I love that you wrote nine novels that’s insane so far yeah so far I’ve got I’ve got two more that are uh you know varying stages of of being finished but yeah I don’t I don’t have any intention of stopping anytime soon I I’m having a blast with it and you you know people kind of demand that you keep going when they like what you write yeah you got you can’t you can’t disappoint the folks you know I I was I was I was going through um the books and you have like you’re wildly successful you have a ton of um five-star reviews all over the place did you ever imagine uh when you were a copper you’re in you’re in the thick of it you’re a homicide detective that this this would be your second career I didn’t and you know people ask me that and I say you know I wished I had because I would have uh kept a Daily Journal and and you know I mean you remember the the the biggest stories and and some of the funniest stories but you know as you well know Steve it’s the it’s the sometimes it’s the minutia that just is so rich you know and and there’s things that that I know if I had kept a journal every day I’m sure that there would I just have so much more material you know to to write about because I base all my novels you know I I base I base the novels the plots you know I kind of I kind of make some up and use some of the stuff that I experienced the character same thing some of the characters I base on people I’ve worked with because quite frankly you know you can’t make up more interesting characters than the the people that we work around right and and the same with the stories you can’t make up stories that that are more entertaining than the stuff that we see out there as cops on the line so um a lot of it’s based on on reality and and it makes it kind of fun to be able to to you know take the magic pin and do what I want with the story so I enjoy it absolutely there are so many different uh characters that are police officers aren’t there I mean there there are there I’ve met so many different archetypes of cops um through my career but there’s like the there’s like the super serious guy that climbs the ranks and like he’s never he just takes takes the job super serious which is good it’s serious job and and at time and at times you’re thankful for that type of attitude yeah you know but then there’s the guy that doesn’t take the job seriously and he just kind of there like you even wonder why why is he still doing it or like it’s like he doesn’t care and then there’s a combo where there’s a guy that’s like that he’s highly likable doesn’t take it serious but also is a very good cop when he needs to be and you’re like right wow this guy I wish this guy was my sergeant like this this is a guy I want to be in charge of my shift you know what I mean but there are and everywhere in between there’s so many different types of like funny characters doing this job oh yeah yeah it’s a rich environment absolutely Target Rich environment for writing Target Rich heck yeah um so you were were you with LD the whole time whole career yes okay so you went through their Academy hit the roads running with them went through their field training and everything yeah yeah actually you know with the sheriff’s department we have a a short stint in custody when we first graduate from the academy because you know that’s one of the sheriff’s Main responsibilities and um and you know most most young deputies don’t want to work the jail so they force us to you you have to do your time there but so I I I worked the you know it’s called Men’s Central Jail everyone on the street just calls it County and uh and it’s actually bigger than um I think it’s I think it houses more inmates than any prison in this in the country you know we were housing 10,000 inmates when I was there it was insane gosh but uh you learn a lot you know it’s kind of cool cuz by the time you hit the streets you know I mean I I grew up I was just a dumb white boy from freaking New Hall California you know this little town that that new Hall yeah I know it yeah I didn’t have a lot of life experience but you know you take a guy like that and and where I went to work Patrol in South La if you go straight from the academy to there you’re going to be 100% relying on your training officer to to keep you alive and to and to educate you but you work in the jail for two years and uh and you know when you’re working and you always do overtime so you’re working 60 70 hours a week you’re basically living with convicts yeah I’ll tell you what that’s an education man I mean you by the time you hit the street you know cons you know convicts you know gangs uh and then now you’re on the streets and you’re you’re running into the same people that you were dealing with in the jail and and you know sometimes you know them you know intimately and they know you and it’s it’s an it’s it’s an interesting thing I think in some ways even though none of us like working the custody or most of us didn’t um I think it it has a value to it that that you’re in a controlled environment right it’s not a place that you’re likely to be killed because you’re in a controlled environment but um but you get a good education and your StreetWise by time you hit the streets yeah absolutely you learn the culture learn how they talk you interact with them I’ve heard that from other deputies that have come on before and it like you said it’s not like it’s not like what you want to do initially but it’s almost you’re probably thankful for it down the road when you’re on the Road and you have some kind of bearing to the people you’re dealing with right yeah absolutely yeah that’s um that’s that’s like a thing at uh when I was at LAPD backgrounds I did a couple years there and the sheriff the LASD their candidates were always you know going for both and then the I think the sheriff’s department started making the stint you had to do in the jail smaller and smaller to entice people to come over you know because they obviously they know they came up through the system they know that people a lot of people don’t sign up to be a Jailer they sign up to be a cop they want to hit the road so the the idea of doing that was always the big wedge we could throw in there like you want to you want to go to a jail come on we’ll put you right on the road you know let’s do this thing right yeah yeah they ex they um they they smarten up to that one for sure but yeah you need there are also I ran I’ve run into a lot of people um that like the jails they I don’t think they think they would and then before you know they’re like Lieutenant in the jail and they’re they never go on patrol they they like they like the the controlled atmosphere yeah there are people that that don’t want to work the streets and I mean quite frankly there’s there’s I’m sure there’s cops that are afraid to go to the streets you know but um they get comfortable in the jail sometimes they get comfortable just because the unlimited overtime and uh you know we used to joke that you know every every five or six seven years you know the county had have this major budget crisis next thing you know they’d be a huge sale at the jail everyone selling boats and RVs and all the all the [ _ ] they buy with all their overtime when all of a sudden the overtime gets cut but yeah I I it wasn’t for me man I I I was all about hitting the streets and that’s what I did I went to South Central Los Angeles a place called Firestone that no longer exists but it was uh the legendary station of our our department for many years I mean it’s still it’s always going to be a legend I heard about it when I was LAPD yeah and uh and that’s where I wanted to work and that’s that’s where I went and trained and I spent a decade down there and and I mean it was it was cool I loved it that’s great man so when you were there when you were a young um Deputy Smith um can you recall your first hot call you went to or first call that really got your adrenaline going you know it’s funny Steve I I can’t and and I you know I listen to your podcast and I I hear the different guys telling their stories and I thought you know this is going to sound uh I don’t know I mean it just some people might not believe it but you know uh down there I mean my first shift right out of the gate you’re all of a sudden you’re coming out of the the driveway you know and it’s you know spinning your tires and rolling code three and you’re lost you know you’re a trainee and your to’s you know behind the wheel but um it seemed like we were always just racing from one call to another um so I I don’t actually remember the first call that that that we rolled hard on but I but the but the one that I do remember it wasn’t the first but the one call that I clearly remember that that really stuck in my mind it was actually the second murder I handled and uh um we were we were actually walking up to the steps on a uh on some kind of a family disturbance call and um and the the call goes out over the radio back then we didn’t have handhelds you know so you turn the the radio onto a PA and and it broadcast you know basically for the whole neighborhood we’re walking up the steps and and we hear this call come out of a 245 now uh stabbing victim and 245 is assault with a daily weapon as you know but for your audience I’m going to clarify that and um and my my training officer goes goes go let’s go and we turn around we run back to the car you know and and I’m thinking in my mind I’m thinking are we you know I mean there’s a problem here where we supposed to handle that you know course I’m not I’m not taking any you know independent action I’m doing what he tells me to do but we jump in the car and uh and we take off and I mean he takes off like a bout out of hell and grabs the radio and says hey this is 13 we’re rolling code 3 and and we’ll take the handle on this and and I just remember there was this different intensity and excitement um that he had and uh next thing I know you know he looks over at me and he smiles he goes you’re ready for your second murder and I was I was like yeah I mean yeah so later on I asked I mean you know uh uh as a street cop you you know that once you handle a murder you know that’s like you got the big one out of the way and where we worked by time you’re done with your six Monon of training you know you’ve handled four five six eight of them so I was like yeah fine I got you know my first murder I already have it over my belt and and I’m ready for my next one but I didn’t understand why he he told me that and what was interesting was um we rolled to the calls we’re working PM shift 2 2: to 10: p.m. and this happened probably at about 2:30 in the afternoon I mean we were right out of the gate and um and it was a a lady who worked at a a clinic a medical clinic and she was dressed in kind of a white nurse’s outfit and her aranged boyfriend sliced her up in front of this clinic on Florence Avenue 1400 block at Florence Avenue at 2:30 in the afternoon with you know 100 people watching and and you know later days when you know they’re talking about the autopsy of Nicole Brown Simpson and and they’re describing you know her wounds and everything I’m like yeah I’ve seen that because Virginia Gonzalez on Florence Avenue she literally had her throat slit to where I mean she it was it was she was almost decapitated geez and then stabbed probably 40 or 50 times and this white uniform was completely red um so that’s that’s the call that I’ll never forget uh as as being one of my first um really intense you know roll hard and so I asked my training officer later I said how’d you know it was going to be a murder he says oh people get shot around here all the time they survive he goes but man those stabbing calls he says those those are the ones that these these the people usually die and that’s those are personal I I found that you know he was right you know it seemed like a lot of the stabbings uh they definitely you know went uh went DOA and and a lot of the shooting you know Martin Luther King Hospital would save them you know yeah that’s funny you say that well it’s not funny obviously but I mean um a lot of the ones when I hear about people’s throat slit a lot of people say their heads are almost taken off so it’s obviously like a it’s like a crime of passion type of thing like they’re really saw at it yeah yeah I mean it’s rage you know and and uh so that was that was that was definitely a an eyeopener and and an interesting case I’ll tell you something that that else is interesting about that is the Nick day when I came into the station uh my training officer meets me at the back door which is right by the booking cage and he says hey come take a look at this man over here and I walk over and here’s this you know Mexican national that doesn’t speak English and he you know looks uh kind of the the you know we used to call them the the calone Cowboys you know that they dress very Western and um and uh Mike says take a my training officer’s name was Mike he says take a long hard look at that guy and I said okay yeah you know I mean he looked just like half the drunks that were in the booking cage at any given time right and and and he said he goes he goes That’s the man that cut up uh Virginia Gonzalez on Florence Avenue last night or yesterday afternoon and I’m like oh wow and and the guy’s sitting there nodding and smiling and his gold teeth are showing and and you know I don’t know how much of the conversation he picks up but my training Officer says he goes he goes you take a good long look at him and don’t ever forget it because he goes they are very dangerous people they the gangsters we know who they are they they stand out they you know they show themselves to you you already know you’re going to approach a gangster on a corner you know that there’s a good potential of having conflict or that he has a weapon but this guy looked just like a regular guy and yet what a vicious killer he was and and that was his that that was my training officer’s point on that he said you need to really take a look at him and and realize that the most vicious killer doesn’t have to look impressive you know this guy can just be a regular looking guy yeah yeah that’s scary it and when you first started where like the cholo a thing was that a was that like a archetype cholos was that like uh gang yeah yeah oh yeah I don’t know a lot about that but I when I when I was at backgrounds um working um one guy I worked with had a story about cholo actually saving him and his buddy from like you can correct me gangsters so so it it sounded like the old school guys back when he was a kid were the cholos they had like you know like um um the wing tip shoes and they button their shirts all the way up and they were kind of like in charge they were kind of like the old at this point they were maybe it was the 70s or they were like kind of like old school gangsters and some of the kids were roughing him up him and his buddy up trying to when they were trying to get home from school and um these guys kind of stepped in came to the school one day and put these younger kids up against the the wall by the throat and and kind of gave them a little correction and I I just don’t know how those all relate to each other cholos versus like kids that are gangsters like were the cholos like the bosses no no cholo is kind of a generic term for you know the the um Mexican American um who takes on that that particular uh persona persona and and you know the the gangsters I you know I think what you’re talking about is and you said it OG you know the the original gangsters the older guys that that you know they they they really look the part and they you know have the the Pressed uh khaki pants you know and the whole nine yards and the young a lot of times the younger gangsters don’t quite take that on sometimes they do after they’ve been to prison because you know prison’s where a lot of that posturing comes from and and the dress code and everything else so um but yeah you know I mean there’s there’s cholos who aren’t gang members I’ll say that you know there’s there’s a lot of people that that you know you can see low rider clubs and uh they’re definitely cholos they’re they’re you know in these clubs but they they don’t claim a neighborhood and they’re not gangsters per se so there is some difference but there’s overlap too I guess is what I’m trying to tell you okay sorry for being so uninformed Danny I just don’t know but he told me this it was a cool story I’m like oh it sounds like these like you said these OG gangsters came up and were like no leave these kids alone or whatever but maybe they were just like guys established guys in the neighborhood that everybody respected you know who knows I don’t know yeah so Cholo’s kind of like a um is that like the same thing as calling somebody a mick or a [ _ ] or something is or do they wear cholo proudly is that like a you know I don’t I don’t yeah I would say probably uh yes to both of those questions I I think it’s similar to the the mick or whatever but um yeah I don’t think that that I don’t think that most of them consider cholo being a derogatory term but I mean I don’t know for sure okay yeah I’m sure I’m sure you weren’t Pals with them or anything you have long conversations no and I’m not a gang expert I mean I worked around gang gangs you know my whole career but u i you know that wasn’t my forte I’m not a gang expert you know and and um so I I wouldn’t want to try to uh TR try to be the uh you know school teacher on that no I got you I totally understand uh Danny can you can you describe the strangest or most bizarre thing you dealt with in your career so this is a um an interesting story and it was after I had made detectives I was working at a place called special investigations Metro detail and what we handled there was basically in progress cases and it was a countywide uh organization so we worked the entire County we were centralized and the county is 5,000 square miles right so the Sheriff’s Department’s a big department 10,000 sworn huge and you had uh back then I think 26 27 substations all around the county and and each of those stations they have their own detectives but then there’s a detective division that oversees uh you know the entire County and they’re specialized and that includes homicide which I went to after being at Metro for a year but but when I was at Metro the cases we handled were all in progress cases you handled murder For Hire kidnap for ransom escape from custody threats against public officials and life-threatening extortion and we also had the collateral duty of fugitive Duty because during a budget crisis a few years prior they did away with fugitive team so that basically when we didn’t have an in progress case going what we were doing was was doing fugitive work going out and grabbing people and traveling all over the country and picking people up and extraditing them and bringing them back and it was kind of fun well I lived up in the north county and um and the office was down in Whittier and so it was really geographically inconvenient for me so uh one of the fun things about fugitive is is we had file cabinets full of warrants just file cabinets full of them right and uh and I would always go through the file cabinets and always have you know a couple dozen active warrants all felony warrants where uh you know I when I didn’t have something going on at the at the office that you know I could go work these cases and and i’ usually try to do it you know on the way home so I could get out of there beat traffic and go hit North County areas and and look for fugitives so one day I get one and and I’m like uh this is up in Gorman and Gorman is is up you know at the in the very North part of our County it’s so far away that they actually have a or they did back then they had a a resident Deputy that lived there and um uh it’s it’s a remote area it’s you know it’s probably at 3500 feet it gets snow every year so this is north of Sita like way up there yeah yeah up by the uh the Grapevine oh wow um so I’m thinking okay that’s cool I I’ll go check this out on the way home and and see if I can you know hook this guy up and you know it’s not the smartest thing in the world but you know I’m going to do it anyway because that’s how I was kind of wired so I I drive up there my my cop car it’s a take-home car but it’s a a 5 Mustang and it anything other than a cop car and and it was cool it was cool to to drive as fast a COR good but it wasn’t really good in the mountains and I I get up there and and pretty soon man I mean I it felt like I was driving forever and I’m like Jesus where the hell am I right I mean I knew where I was but I I started to question you know my sanity for being up here because pretty soon I I realized that my cell phone there’s no cell phone coverage the handheld radio doesn’t work and I keep I keep the handheld radio with me though and and every time I hit another switch back you know I try to see if if anyone can copy me you know Santa Clarita station Gorman station whatever Lancaster station thinking you know maybe maybe someone could pick me up but no I had I had zero Communications and uh so I’m tooling along and thinking you know maybe I’m not even GNA find this place maybe maybe I’ve got this all wrong you know because there was nothing up there and uh and then all of a sudden this Big R snake crawls across the the road in front of me and I got I have to stop you know and look at it because it’s kind of fascinating it’s huge and it crawls off and I drive on by and thinking this is this is really strange you know this is just kind of creepy yeah so I I finally top out at the top of this hill and and the the pine trees are cleared and there’s a there’s a house a two-story Log Cabin that that’s tucked into this place and um and and I go creeping up toward this house and and I’m thinking man you know this is this is this is crazy you know this guy yeah and uh and and as I’m pulling up toward the porch I look up and on the Second Story window there’s two kids staring at me and they’re both like towads just complete white hair they look identical they look like twins they are probably five years old and and all I can see is the chest up but neither of them were wearing shirts and they’re just staring at me and I mean it’s like it was weird man it was like Children of the Corn this is so strange yes and so I’m still looking at them when all of a sudden these freaking dogs come flying off the porch and there’s got to be a dozen freaking dogs and I didn’t even notice them because I’m looking at these kids and they Circle my car and they’re just going insane they’re jumping up on the car and you know barking their full heads off and uh and I’m dealing with that when all of a sudden the front door flies open and this woman comes running out and she runs out the out the front door across the porch all the way to the front steps that lead to the the patio area and she’s screaming at her dogs and she Stark raving naked just completely 100% freaking naked so I’m looking at this thinking can this get any weirder and finally she looks at me and it’s like she it’s like she all of a sudden realizes that someone’s there like maybe she didn’t expect company didn’t know why the dogs were barking or whatever but she kind of just looks at me for a minute I’m looking at her of course you know she’s naked and uh I mean you know she’s kind of a good-looking gal in a tweaker sort of way you know I mean she definitely do body fat you know but but uh um and then she turns and just saunters back into the house and and and the dogs had kind of followed her and they seemed to have mellowed out and I thought well in for a dime in for a dollar man so I get out of the car and I I go up there and I the dogs all Circle me and stuff you know and I knock on the door and they’re sniffing me and everything but but uh they’re not bothering me and I knock on the door and I’m waiting and I’m waiting and pretty soon she opens the door and uh same gal she got blonde hair I didn’t notice that the first time I I don’t think I was looking at her hair color the first time right but uh but now she’s wearing this this red Pendleton shirt that that was way too big for her I mean it was probably too big for for Shaquille o Neal to be honest with you this thing’s huge right and uh I’m not the smartest guy in the world but I’m thinking that’s not her shirt and whoever wears that shirt is going to be formidable and uh and and right as we’re starting to you know have this conversation I’m like you know hey I’m looking for such and such I glanced at my the warrant and I hear this booming voice behind her can we swear on this show yeah okay I hear this booming voice voice behind me who the [ _ ] is it so she she kind of throws her throws her voice over her shoulder towards some unknown Beast behind her and says it’s the cops oh great well when she said that I was like awesome she thinks there’s more than one of me you know yeah plural and uh yeah and and I’m thinking that’s going to work out perfectly you know and and uh and and so you know I tell her I said hey you know I just uh checking to see if such and such lives here and she goes who well right as as that’s happening this guy appears behind her and literally you know he can’t hide behind her I mean you could put three of her in front of him and you’d still see both sides this guy’s huge he looks like a a a hybrid mountain man biker I mean he’s just his his his head’s up above the door jam great he’s got this long scraggly beard hair down at his ass no shirt on cuz she’s got the shirt but uh she he uh he he’s standing there now behind her and he’s staring at me but he says to her what the [ _ ] does he want and she starts to say he’s looking for who’ you say you’re looking for and uh and right about then I decide okay it’s time to to start Play acting so I pick up my handheld radio that’s that’s good for nothing other than a paper weight or you know I mean I could throw it at this guy when I tried to run away if I wanted to but I on the radio I say hey guys Hold Your Position you know uh we’re code four up here you know just everyone everyone hold their positions yeah you know CU I want him I I’m thinking you know what I want to leave here today because I don’t know what their plans are for tonight my arms part of it you know I I I felt like I was hearing banjos in the background I’m thinking whatever they got planned for tonight I don’t want to be part of it I just want to leave here I don’t care what else happens and I don’t care if they got this fugitive right behind this big guy I don’t care I’m leaving that’s all all I want to do is leave right cuz I’m thinking if this guy charges me and I shoot him it’d be like shooting a bear you know I mean it just piss him off and then he’ll take my gun and and embarrass me and you know beat me with it so long story short you know the the description of my my guy that I’m looking for is like 5 7140 you know so I said well you know clearly this this guy doesn’t live here so thanks you know you folks have a nice day I’ll be out of here don’t want to bother you anymore you know and I’m sure they’re in there cooking meth and whatever yeah so I I excuse myself and I go walking off the freaking porch and a couple of the dogs are kind of following me and then they fade away and and uh and and I’m glancing back at you know at them and as I get in the car I look and he’s still standing there staring at me and she’s nowhere to be seen and I get in the car close the door fire that sucker up I look upstairs and those two mannequin-like children are still staring out the window and uh I back out of there and start heading back toward the road you know and and there’s there’s this distance to cover and I’m thinking God I I hope there’s not like freaking a you know scope site on my back of my head right now and as soon as I hit the road itself I just lit it up man I had I was throwing gravel and spinning out and I started racing down the road you know and and then I started laughing man I’m like God what a trip that was man that was that was crazy so that was probably the most bizarre thing one of the most bizarre things that ever happened to me in my career and and of course everyone got a big kick out it the next day you know laughing at me at the office when I was telling the story and my lieutenant said he goes you know Danny he says man he goes if if You’ been killed up there he said he goes everyone would just be saying what the [ _ ] was he thinking you know yeah oh man yeah wow you think do you think the little guy was in there or do you think it was just old address no no you know these a lot of those warrants man they were they were dead because these guys you know that are on the Run they just they couch Surf and and you know it usually took two three four you know times to find a guy and this was my first first house that I checked for this particular guy and I had several addresses for him you know but I don’t even remember if I ended up finding him or not but that that story was just you know worth a mint you know yeah man I hate dealing with dogs uh I love dogs but I don’t I hate dealing with um while I’m working I I just feel like they I feel like there’s an extra aggressiveness with them when you’re in that like they can sense you’re a cop almost like they’re they’re extra Mighty I got bit by one years ago I got bit by a fox hair Terrier like a little dog of course yeah and you know they the first thing they always say is like oh he’s not he’s he’s not a biter and it goes right behind me latches onto my calf I got blood going down my leg I’m like yeah and then I’m it it was at an old lady’s house I was like there to her husband died and he had a bunch of guns and she I was at the beach drinking coffee and she’s like hey my husband’s got guns yeah I’ll come by so I come by and she lets this dog out and it immediately latches onto me it’s ripping into my leg and oh man it just seems like it seems I’ve almost I just almost got bit last week also where this lady let her dog out and it was it was snapping at me and I kicked it you know and I’m like I’m sorry I’m kicking your dog but like do you know anything about your own dog like I have a dog I let it out when people come cuz I know it’s not going to bite anybody um you don’t yeah she’s like well I’ve had him for years I’m like well what the hell lady dog’s trying to bite me damn man that’s a good one that is freaky you’re you are lucky man because that up up I I know what you’re talking about going above the uh pine trees because I did some well I was in Southern California I worked for a short stin as a fraud investigator for insurance company and they send you to the weirdest places and I went to a place like that up near the seoa national forest where somebody torched a car and um I kept driving and driving and driving and driving and then the trees went away they got smaller and smaller and smaller and before you know it you’re just you’re in no man’s land there’s no no sell service no one to help you especially when you’re Insurance when you’re insurance investigator like you’re lower than whale [ _ ] it’s like no one respects you you know what I mean you have no you’re not supposed to have a gun whether I have one or not I’m not GNA speak to but um yeah just just a just a bad feeling I also had a cholo pop the tires of my insurance car when I was in interviewing him had one of his friends in Bakersfield yeah he’s mixing he’s mixing a big drink uh like a a big Gul up with a knife and then then I do the interview he no help and I go out my the tires are flat he’s trying to convince me to pull my car into his garage they’re going to patch me up hey come on bro hey man we’re going to take care of you I drove on my rims I was like see you later man these guys are going to freaking kill me oh God damn man um Danny can you tell us about your most intense or terrifying call I’m sure you have a ton but does one stick out to you God Intense or terrifying um you know I I don’t I don’t think I could call any of them terrifying because uh you know there were a lot of I mean hundreds of of calls that were intense but I never felt terrified until after and um I guess the one the one uh story that I could tell you about that is that that uh my partner and I working um patrol one night and we’re on Central Avenue and see a good shake these two guys coming off a dope Street and um and they’ve got the felony look on their face you know their their eyes are huge like saucers and they they don’t want to see the cops and so we start following them trying to pull them over and they won’t pull over and long story short they take us over into the City and uh and at the mouth of an alley and they’re looking they’re talking and looking back the whole time I mean we’re just we’re putting along at 20 25 miles an hour and my partner and I are both like man they’re going to they’re going to bail they’re going to bail they’re going to bail you know and um they get to the mouth of an alley and and it’s dark um it’s kind of shaded by a big tree and I think the street light probably had been shot out but but it just a pitch black spot perfect for the to bail out and I saw the alley and I’m thinking yeah he’s going to run right up that alley and and I was never fast so I I wanted to get a jump on him it was a mistake that that I you know remembered for the rest of my career and and you know I I when I was a training officer I’d tell other guys about this you know that that I got the idea that he was going to run and and it’s the worst thing you can do to to assume that someone’s going to do something you know that rather than rather than just watching and reacting to what they do I had it in my head they were going to run so I I bailed out as we’re coming to a stop and and I’m out around the door of my car as he’s bailing out of his car and we’re probably you know 20 feet from each other and he turns and he’s facing me and and and I can’t see he’s this he’s a big guy and he’s wearing this big black trench coat and all of a sudden I realize he ain’t running man holy [ _ ] you know so I I’m drawn down on him and I’m I’m thinking you know I think he’s got a gun you know I mean this all happen in a split second sure but it doesn’t seem that way you know your the time just like slows down and and you can kind of um it’s just kind of weird you you can have a million thoughts because time slows down you know like even though it it happens in a second it it feels like it took 10 minutes and all of a sudden I hear this Clank I mean it’s loud loud solid metal Clank hitting the ground and I’m the shoot don’t shoot scenario you know and and my first my first instinct was shoot and then all of a sudden I was like don’t shoot I mean he just dropped his gun and and he looked at me and then he took off running and you know and it’s like I looked back on that moment I wish that I would have been able to know for sure he had that gun before he dropped it because I I honestly wished I could have could have shot him I mean I you know some people are going to be appalled at hearing that but but trust me a guy that’s going to take on a cop I guarantee he’s killed before and he’s killed since then too because he got away that night but anyway I took off chasing him and then he’s fumbling in his waistband I decided he’s probably got another gun and I by then I’m pissed off enough that I go ahead and start shooting at him but I don’t I don’t hit him we’re in a running little gunfight yeah um long story short go back to the to the car because my partner is detaining the the driver of the car you know and and and I know that that I can’t keep chasing this guy because I I don’t want to be split up and and I knew that my partner would have probably put out that hey you know we got shots fired because he heard my gunshots so I run back to the car and um and we get this other guy in custody and you know now all our assisting units are there and we set up the containment and we’re going to try to catch this other guy well the gun that he drop we go over to the ground and it’s a fully automatic uh uh uh Mac 11 oh wow 380 caliber with a 32 round clip in it that’s uh good to go and and and that gun is an open bolt gun meaning that that the only time that the bolt is closed on that gun is when it drops and lands on an empty chamber like you’re out of bullets and so it’s original configuration you’re going to carry it it’s an open bolt you pull the trigger and all you have to do is pull the trigger and hold it and and it can fire that 32 round magazine like you know 1.2 seconds or something insane so at 20 feet I mean I would have been like swiss cheese and um and the bolt was closed so you know that was kind of like hm interesting you know maybe maybe there’s not round in the chamber well there was around in the chamber and and the and the primer had a dent on it so theun yeah so the gun malfunction basically he pulled it on me he pulled the trigger on me and the gun malfunction and that’s when dropped it otherwise to be interviewing some other guy here today because there’s no way I would have survived that I’d left the cover of my car I was you know within 20 feet of him face on and he’s got this machine pistol and it would have just lit me up so that that one afterwards is is when uh I was was definitely terrified afterwards you know um because I realized how close to death I’d come oh yeah you think about that the next morning when you wake up first thing you think about oh man I I’ll tell you what I went home and and drank a lot of beers that night I mean a lot of beers that night yeah Dam living that over and over and and actually the the Caper actually haunted me the rest of my career I mean uh you know just me personally cuz I always thought about that and and and I it just pissed me off that I didn’t freaking light him up when I had the chance but I didn’t know I had the chance and and you know the good guy you know we’re good guys for a reason so you know the the instant that I realized he had a gun it was the same instant that I realized that he no longer had that gun that you know he had the gun but he dropped it yeah so a good guy a good guy doesn’t shoot in that scenario you know and and you don’t time to consider and think about it it’s just that’s who you are that’s why we’re the good guys right we’re not going to shoot we’re not going to shoot in our man you know I mean it happens but it’s usually not intentional and it’s an accident and and every cop goes through their career just praying they’re not in a bad shooting so so you kind of take some chances sometimes that you know a guy’s reaching into his pocket well is he going for a weapon or is he stupid he’s just not listening to your command to let you know to raise his hand or whatever and you don’t want to shoot a guy and then he pulls out a cell phone you know no one wants that shooting no one wants to live with that and you come come to find out that he earned it but you didn’t know at the time yeah damn that’s that’s that’s sketchy that would haunt me for sure for sure yeah that was intense so the uh and you know the uh and there were others I mean I’ve written about a lot of it in my Memoir um you know you mentioned wrote uh nine novels but I also have one non-fiction it’s a memoir called Nothing Left to prove and uh and that story and and and the the the naked woman on the mountain and and several others are in there um but but that’s that particular story right there was was definitely one of the most uh intense uh encounters I ever had that that was pretty bad and I mean there’s others I I got beaten unconscious one night and there’s all kinds of [ _ ] I had a pretty pretty hairy career is you know 21 years in the fast lane yeah I bet do you have any um homicide investigations that stood out for you from any big ones that were kind of like you know earmarks in your career oh yeah oh yeah yeah quite more than a few actually um but uh uh you know one tragic case four-year-old girl thrown off a cliff by her biological father um that that case that case about killed me and uh um that that was a tough one he uh had um had a couple of nobody cases and those were were really interesting and and uh and and we were able to me and my partner were able to solve both of them put a woman on death row probably probably the most um um fascinating in a in a uh True Crime commercial interest type of a way would be a case that I had where a tragic Native American uh up in Lancaster was uh kidnapped robbed tortured and burned alive by skin heads whoa and and uh it was one of the skin heads mother who who put them up to it and um and she was his girlfriend the victim’s girlfriend so that was a that was a uh a really really crazy case and and um and you know we uh got got her on the death penalty although you know California never kill her but but um that yeah there’s there’s four of them and um and two were doing life without parole one one the woman got the death penalty and then a 14-year-old that was there uh he rolled over on everyone and testified against the others so he he did minimal time but um that was that was quite a uh um horrendous case to say the least yeah wow I I remember when I when I got trained as a Insurance Investigator the guy I rode with was from um ethnically he was from El Salvador and we would have cases that would go into the high desert so um you know Victorville and and feeling area or or and Beyond and he always said that um this will be your area because this is where the white supremacist so he always said that to me this is where the skin heads are but I never you know we were doing tit fortat insurance investigations out there it was you know um staged accidents or stage stolen car or someone needs money so they torch their car or whatever I never actually ran into the skin head element out there but I not just him other people have told me that yeah that’s where the skin heads are so I guess I mean hearing that from you that tells me that that is true the skin heads are alive and well in the high desert that is that the way it is oh yeah well you know the uh ano Valley the Palmdale Lancaster are the two stations that we have up there um and uh when I worked homicide boy we got a lot of cases up there and and and a lot of the cases were just really uh bizarre but um but yeah over over the years what had happened was you know you go back to the 70s and and the Aerospace industry is what kind of brought ano Valley to life and uh and then in the 80s and 90s um there was there was kind of something happened to the to the economy and the market and and all these track homes that were being built were kind of left in various stages of uh you know construction and at the same time uh our wonderful State started paroling people there because they felt it would be better than to have them down in Compton or wherever they were from and pretty soon all the gangs were moving up there and so if you talk to some of the some of the guys that started some of these gangs and I have um they will tell you the white boys the the that started these you know skin head gangs they they will tell you that they were kind of uh uh compelled to to gang up together because once once everyone from South La started moving up there they were getting robbed blind just robbed and beaten there’s nothing they could do and and you know they they realized that you know the only chance they had is if they basically behaved like the gangs that were moving into their areas and uh you know I mean I think that’s that’s an excuse for some um I think there might be some legitimacy to it but I can tell you this uh they they are definitely some of the biggest [ _ ] you’ll ever encounter and deal with man I mean you know yeah well I I could go on for too long about that case in particular but and I so I won’t but yeah there there was a lot to that a lot to these these guys up there and and a lot of crazy cases up there I you know we had one of our deputies get killed up there and and I was involved in that case and and there were some other you know just just crazy stuff that happened in the desert you almost cringed when you were up for murders you know that the way You’ get your murder is just wherever the next person died that’s where you were going you know it could be in Compton or it could be in Lancaster or it could be uh you know in the Marina del re I mean county is a big place hell for that matter could be in Catalina you know Catalina Island is is LA County you know so they’ put you on a helicopter and fly you out to Catalina Island to handle a murder if it h happened out there but the point is you know when you’re up for murders and and and a Lancaster or Palmdale case came in you you’d always cringe it’s like oh God what are we going to be into here yeah it I mean I lived feeling um for two years because we got a sweet price on a house with two acres fenced in we were up against the mountains so it was kind of like if you’re going to be in feland you want to be in this area but when you would drive down and go lower and lower and lower towards the Mojave Desert um you you would brought daylight witness crimes like you would see people parked on a corner and someone we saw a guy you know climbing out of a house running into a Honda Civic like it it it there was like a road of delineation in feeling where it was like um south of here bad North probably you’re going to be fine they just they just didn’t it didn’t they didn’t make it up that far the criminals they were down in the low the lower parts of the high desert but um it it is a very um kind of a spooky place the high desert and I I had to go to Palmdale to the courthouse a few times um for insurance stuff and it it it is I don’t get it I was born and raised in New England so obviously it looks really different but it it looks like um it’s like uh forced Humanity it’s almost like Las Vegas it’s like people are forcing like to live in this area is very difficult there’s like no water it’s dry all the time yeah even the nice houses are out in just the desert it’s like it’s just weird to me it’s like it’s a totally bizarre place and the and the people out there were definitely um the only only thing I can describe it is like if I was at one of the gas stations fueling up it was like Street rats like You’ be getting fuel and you would have at times people scurrying around the gas station like just like little Street rats like weird ass uh usually tweaked out white dudes um they look totally they look the good thing is that the plumage they wear in nature is totally a warning sign cuz they look nuts they look insane and they were yeah so the high desert was like a very I think there’s like when we were there there’s so much potential to it because we would our property a lot of the year we had snow cap mountains I could leave our property on an ATV and hit the California state trails and be riding a ridge that overlooks you know the Cajun pass I mean it was it was breathtaking and I I would see all this acreage for sale there like hundreds and hundreds of Acres up against these mountains just not selling just I’m like this seems like a place where they would put a spa in or you know something but just double wides you know no yeah no real interest how I remember I was walking my dog go I used to go on a couple mile walks and they were putting this new house up and the house went up and all I could smell when I walked by it was raw marijuana like that’s not that is raw like they’re that’s a grow house and it was you know they had they had a bunch of pit bulls in the yard running around the fence it would try to get out to get after my dog and sure enough it got taken down it was a just a grow house of you know a mile from my house it was a truly bizarre place so I I’ve had guys on before that have talked about like pulling bodies out of the canals out there and another totally creepy thing to me is those canals those water canals that are just going through the desert aqueduct yeah the aqueduct that’s what they call them such such a bizarre place and our Sheriff’s Department was great I talked to um I think feland has like 15,000 people and they had like maybe two guys on for it for the area and um you know because there was Tweakers and they would hop your fence and all that and they Bas basically what I got was like Hey if we show up someone’s in your fence and they’re dead there’s only one story because if we show up and this guy’s got a story to tell you’re in a lot more trouble and I never said that that’s basically what the deputy told me that’s funny yeah so uh definitely a really interesting place Danny I I’ve had you on here almost an hour just a couple more questions um when you think back on your career can you think of a a positive situation that you encountered yeah you know I was thinking about that um the uh there were several you know I mean when I worked Patrol I I I made some contacts with uh with people that that needed help and I was able to help them and um you know nothing that that I talk much about or anything because that’s that takes away from why you did it in the first place but um you know those those things were good uh you meet meet good decent people you know and and you you come to know people in your community that are that are trapped there um you know I I remember during the riots you know and I I was heading down there and my my sister calls me and she’s like why do you have to go down there just can’t they just let you know they can they can burn their whole town down who cares you know and I said well there’s a lot of people down there that don’t deserve that you know and I she was just caught up in the moment you know and worried about her brother but you know the thing is you know we knew all of us knew uh you know there there were there were a lot of really good people you just didn’t see a lot of them because they they Liv behind you know security bars and and um they didn’t come out much but so they were good people um as far as an actual story I I’ll tell you working homicide uh one night I get called out to a murder over in Linux uh linux’s area which um is is you know kind of over by the airport um but uh but but I’m told that they got the suspect in custody which you know is kind of exciting it’s like oh cool definite solve you know um we used to call those walkthroughs or slow rollers you know because you already got suspect and stuff nice I get down there and and and there’s this dead cholo you know to help you out with you know the use use your word for the day thank you on on this lawn and it’s elevated lawn you know with like a three- foot retaining wall around it and it’s right corner of a very very busy street and um and this this this dead cholo is over there kind of you know just cooling off and um and I’m talking to the deputy uh you know that’s the first thing you do you get there you get the patrol Deputy the tling the case and you talk to him and ask him you know okay so what do you got what happened blah blah blah and he’s telling me he says well he goes you know the uh um the guy’s in custody because you know right after we got here he drove by and and this lady identified him and said that’s him so we went and got him and and she did a we did a field show up this this woman identified him and said yeah that that’s definitely him and I’m like so he did a driveby and and he says yeah he goes he he drove by and and shot out of you know the window of his car well there’s shell casings on the lawn there you know and I’m thinking okay well maybe this guy shot back or whatever well no he didn’t and he didn’t shoot back at all and um it turned out as a walk up shooting so I go to the station and interview this guy I’m like okay you know we we got to go talk to this guy right away you know kind of put the put the crime La people in motion to start working on the crime scene but I’m like I I got to go interview this guy and I go in there and and and this guy I’m looking that you know is is number one he’s this specimen of health and uh you know not a badl looking guy and and um uh and he looks like a professional athlete and turns out he plays football for a major university and um and and you could tell he’s scared man I mean the guy is just really scared so so we start we start talking you know and he’s not sure you should trust me and and um and I told him I said you know I said uh I said right now I’m the only person that’s going to help you because if if you’re not involved in this thing you you need to talk to me and and give me a full accounting of what you were doing and why you were there well it turns out because I I I try to not make this a real long story but him and a buddy of his were going to go to a party in West LA and his buddy tells him to to go up this street because on the way there he’s going to buy some marijuana and so they drive up this street there’s nowhere to park and he says just just hang out here you know just park here and and I’ll run in and grab marijuana and and so the guy runs in and and and and our our man who was arrested is sitting in his car and it’s a Cadillac Escalade with big 22inch wheels and [ _ ] it’s the kind of car that it’s black it draws attention and he’s sitting there double Park thinking man I don’t want to get jammed by the cops and pretty soon some cop well no yeah cop Drives By so he decides while take a trip around the block so he goes around the block and he goes right past the corner where this thing happen happen of course he’s got his stereo thumping and all that [ _ ] and he goes back and Parks double Parks again and he’s waiting a few minutes now more cops are coming only this time they got lights and sirens on he’s like oh [ _ ] man so he pulls off again he goes around the same block and this time as he comes around this Hispanic woman who’s their quote unquote Witness Goes yeah he he you know oh jeez so they Jam him and she says yeah he’s the one that drove by so the only thing that that we were able to figure out is is he must must have driven by right when when this Cho was getting smoked on the lawn and because his car just draw so much attention and he had a Tunes cranked and stuff he number one he wouldn’t have even heard the gunshots but it drew all the attention to him and of course you know he didn’t want to tell this story I mean he didn’t want to talk admit to you know we stopped to buy some marijuana and I’m like look dude you could have a kilo of cocaine up your ass I don’t care you know I’m the murdered police we are here to solve a murder and if you didn’t do that Mur you trust me you want to talk to me because if you decide that you’d rather talk to an attorney you’re probably going to be in county jail for you know about six months while your attorney’s uh you know making his boat payments with your money and all that stuff and stretching this thing out I mean I I want to I want to resolve this tonight because I knew he didn’t do it I knew he didn’t have anything to do with it and I found the found the freaking uh the partner once he gave me the guy’s name and stuff I found him and and he gave me the exact same story you know before they had a chance to uh to talk so I get I get the guy out of jail you know and it was a good feeling I spent about 4 hours just trying to prove that this guy didn’t do it and um he had grown up in Compton and never been arrested or anything and I thought you know this is a remarkable guy he’s a guy that grew up in a really tough neighborhood he’s an athlete he’s never been in trouble with the law and this stupid thing that happened tonight could really um hinder his future so you know the he had been booked but that’s it and and truthfully all we would have to do is just do an 849 B1 which is you release them but that charge showing that he’ been arrested for murder would always be there and uh so I took it I took it a step further I put I put the case together and took it to the district attorney and said I want an exoneration on this guy you know so that so that it comes off his record and he has documentation to show that that he was not the person involved in this because nice you know I didn’t want his future derailed you know so that excellent probably one of the you know I tell people I said yeah it’s you know there there’s lots of Unsolved cases you know every cop every homicide detective has them that and that’s okay but you don’t want to put the wrong guy in prison you know i’ I’d rather have 10 unsolved cases than send one innocent man to prison hell yeah that’s a great story I love that that’s definitely a positive encounter damn man cool yeah that that’s great man cuz you know you have to wonder um would everybody go all the away on that all the way to the exoneration you know what I mean cuz it it does suck if you get if you get charged with something and then you’re not guilty that’s it’s still there you know cops run you and they see it and they go they got to wonder yep did he get off in a technicality you know yeah and you know we are we’re like oh yeah so they didn’t have enough to file on you but you did a murder I mean you know yeah that’s that’s what that’s what everyone’s going to think but worse sh you know I mean I don’t know to what extent they do backgrounds on on a guy that’s you know maybe going to go into the NFL fell or something I mean this guy looked like he could and uh you know I I honestly don’t know what his future held but but I know that I did not imped it and uh you know I felt I felt proud about that hell yeah that’s excellent um Danny so real popular question here is new advice to um or sorry advice to new police officers are people looking to get into the field I get a lot of emails about people hear your guys stories and they actually hear enough of them and they decide to become cops so I get emails with like Academy graduation pictures and stuff like that thanking you guys so what advice would you give to people thinking about getting into it you know and and a lot of people ask that question just in casual conversation so um a couple things Steve one I would say number one if if it’s in your heart do it you know I I realize that all us guys that that have been there and done that you know were like God I’d never do the job today not under these circumstance an es well that’s true and when I got hired you know there were 20e salty LAPD vets that sit in the shortstop and tell me ah kid you’re you’re just starting out God I wouldn’t do this job again and I had the time of my life man I mean everyone that hires on they hire on in a different era with different Dynamics and and they adapt and they negotiate their careers you know the best that they can and right now it’s tough to be a cop there’s no doubt about that and uh and and and you know I pray for the the guys on the street because it and gals it’s it’s a tough time to be a cop but if it’s in your heart to be a cop pursue it because it is one of the most rewarding things you can do and it’s also the one of the most difficult things you can do um I left the job with PTSD and that’s what my Memoir is about that’s another thing I’d say if if if someone listening to this wants to be a cop go read my Memoir um because it will give you a lot to think about and and maybe um maybe be uh an affirmation for you and maybe it will tell you that you know maybe you want to do something different but uh I think that anyone that wants to be a cop should uh should read that book I really do absolutely and I think it would be great just because um it’s amazing how many people get into the field and don’t it’s hard to quantify to them that the what trauma is like as a police officer like how you can tell them all day long but to them it’s still movies and one right along they did or whatever but um if if they have the information if they know the feel the feelings that come up are okay and normal you know what I mean like if it it’s okay to be kind of floored after something real traumatic you see and it’s normal and they hear it from somebody like you with this long and stored career like that that’s going to help people that’s going to help them put it in perspective and and not feel like they shouldn’t get talked to somebody or they shouldn’t they shouldn’t be feeling these feelings cuz they’re not they’re not tough enough you know what I mean I think just reading a memoir like that could really help well that’s and that’s uh a big part of the why I wrote that Memoir and uh and I get I get emails and and messages from people all around the country cops that say you know man uh I’m so glad you wrote this because most cops you know I think we’re I think we’re getting better you know with with being able to talk more but certainly My Generation you know we didn’t hurt you didn’t hurt you didn’t cry you didn’t you didn’t have you know uh nightmares or issues or anything else I mean that that just there’s just no way and the truth is we all hurt and we all cry and we all feel broken at times to to varying degrees and the most important thing is that because you know quite frankly I’ve got several friends who have committed suicide I have others who you know drink themselves to death and and technically it should be considered suicide as well but but I honestly believe that that a lot of these things are because um they just they they they don’t talk about it the real quick I’ll just tell you this the way I started writing was they sent me to a shrink when when they um when they diagnosed me with PTSD and the shrink is the one that said I should write because he he had a sample of my uh you know when they asked me to write you know hey you know tell us about your job and what’s stressful and he’s reading it he’s like hey man you you write really well you should write for a living well I didn’t I’m like whatever doc I I blew him off but here’s the thing at the end he goes no he goes Danny seriously he goes it’s the most therapeutic thing you can do yeah and so that’s that’s how I started writing and I did find that it was therapeutic but it still took me 15 years before I could start writing the the non-fiction the Memoir because because it was just too I just couldn’t do it I couldn’t address it I couldn’t be truthful about the things that I wrote in there and um and then when I did finally write it it it brought back a lot of uh a lot of things that you know weren’t weren’t so great to have revisit but you know it is what it is man and it’s a tough job but like I said it’s it’s also one of the most rewarding things you can do and uh and you certainly don’t have to wonder you know if uh if you lived a full life cops don’t have that problem yeah absolutely yeah thank God for your therapist man that’s amazing and you know like like you’re saying those guys that the guys that tell you to stuff it well there’s a there’s a good reason for why cops retire and they drop dead 5 years later because those are the stuffers you know I mean cops drop dead and those are a lot of those guys not all of them but a lot of them are those guys they don’t they they never talk about it and then they’re you can’t even enjoy your retirement because cops are dying five years after they retire which is ridiculous it should not be happening if you you know have some have some systems some tools know when it’s time to leave you know what I mean know when you’ve done your service and time to get out um that’s great man so tell tell us more about the um Dicky Floyd novels oh you got my website there okay so um yeah the website it’s it’s it’s a Blog and you know kind of a book promotion website it’s called the murder memo and uh you can get there by murder the murder memo.com or Dicky Floyd novels.com but um this this p you’re looking at it’s called The Book Table so if you scroll down you’ll see the these are my novels starting with a good bunch of men and and it’s a it’s a um seral it’s a series so um you know books one two 3 four five six seven eight and then I one book if you scroll down a little bit more The Outlaw is a spin-off of those books um with some of the same characters it’s but that’s why it looks different on the cover it’s a spin-off um the first felony is the last one I I just published here uh in February and then um I think if you scroll down further I think my uh oh no go to the homepage go to no the homepage doesn’t have it either where’s my wait a minute I’m gonna have to work on that why is my uh Drive books why is my why is my Memoir not there yeah the um I’m looking scroll down again okay well if nothing else you can see on the right over here there’s a picture uh go back up a little bit more right there so the nothing left to prove is right there on the right that that’s the the audio book um cover so it’s on audio also but okay um yeah great covers too I mean these These are fantastic yeah I love my my cover artist uh he does a fabulous job and and uh I’m real happy with it best place to go to buy them would would be your website which I’ll I’ll put a link in the show notes better than Amazon and all that well you know the truth is Amazon is is probably the easiest best place to buy them and of course you know most people actually read on Kindle so and all my books are in Kindle unlimited so for you Avid readers out there you can read every one of my books for free if you belong to Kindle unlimited um but the uh uh if you want to if you want a sign copy of a paperback then you go through my website but um but you know I got charge a little bit more than Amazon does if you got Amazon Prime you get free delivery but it it’s hard for me to not charge more than they do or I don’t make any money right yeah it’s always a way well fantastic man I I will put a link in the show notes to whichever you prefer Amazon or your website or actually I just put both I can put sign copy and then put your website below it that’s that’s no problem at all it was a absolute honor to have you on the show um fantastic stories I I really appreciate it hey my honor to be here all right brother I’m going to do the outro really appreciate being on oh man my pleasure I’m going to um do the outro to the show and I just thank the patreon sponsors can you hang on for like two minutes yeah all right I’ll be right back with you sir the great Danny Smith guys uh fantastic stories I know he’s got a bunch more in them maybe he’ll be maybe we can talk him into coming back someday in the future um ton of books great ratings on them um they look fantastic go check them out the link is in the show notes if you really love the show and you want to show your support the link to the patreon is also in the show notes go and do that there’s two levels patrolman and Sergeant maybe I’ll add a third at some point um also on patreon you get the uh I’ll send you a vinyl 3×3 sticker from the podcast uh suitable for putting on your vehicle or a water bottle or whatever people do with them and uh if you do the Sergeant’s level I will give you a shout out on the show and you also will get access to all the live recordings and cops of the news episodes that we do uh this is the point in the show where I thank the patreon sergeants who I’m talking about is the Great and Powerful Andy bigs Greg gab booy everybody Adam mihal the great Chris June Gary Steiner Jake pinino the great John Shoemaker Lauren Stimson everybody the handsome Lane Campbell Seth right the great James Rose Tony fahe everybody the great Ben Peters Jason Lao everyone the Great Sasha McNab Scott minkler the great Tammy Walsh holding it down at dispatch William James long that’s Deputy William James long to you thank you very much sha Clifford Dennis kiso Iceman from the motop Chronicles check him out George chier I’ll see at church Brother Scott young the great Thomas Connell Dan Carlson from burle Bo make amazing woodwork check him out on Instagram dog and Kelly Newman love you guys here at church the great Dave Elman Elliot Sykes Richard tols keep on trucking brother Christian thank you very much sir the great Brad Thompson Kyle Roberts the great Zack Haney Nancy Hammond everybody L Clark lucku Adam McMahon oifer Andy everybody the great Bentley Barnett Sheriff Ronald long everyone the great Zachary pleet Jason Le lover everybody Jason sorry ja family and company thank you very much and the great and wonderful Jessica King those are the patreon sergeants I thank you so much for that thank you for your continued support you keep the boat afloat and you keep the podcast going so I love you and I’ll see you next time [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]