Policing Santa Monica, Surviving The North Hollywood Robbery Shootout

This is things police see first and 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 Jorb. Hello, it is I, Old Ginger Face, here with you once again. Guys, I’m excited to be here. Believe it or not, I had a bunch of um I stacked a bunch of interviews in the queue. So, I actually haven’t I haven’t been on the mic in quite a while. I went to Cape Cod for a week with the family. Had an excellent vacation. I still have family there. So, when we go down, it’s like we stay my parents have like a little apartment above their garage. Um I got access to a boat and uh like a beach buggy for the other beach if I want. And u man, it was good. So hard. I know you guys can all relate. Um, so hard to go back to work when you like absolutely eat and drink like a pig for seven days straight. So hard to put the gun belt and uh vest back on. It was It was painful, but I made it through the week. I’m happy you’re here with me. I’m happy um to see that I kind of posted a throwback episode when I was for the Fourth of July week because typically Fourth of July and big holidays like that. Um the listenership is uh uh kind of down. It kind of just drops because people are doing things. They’re not really going to the gym or driving their car or um um keeping up with their podcast. So, um, I put one, I think it was episode number three, um, with my buddy Miguel Lopez, and, uh, man, you guys, you guys listen to the crap out of that thing. You guys download that a lot. It was a great one. He was, uh, state probation, got shot in the face on the job. And um yeah, that was that was a fun one to put back out because I I literally sat in the cubicle next to him and I was starting the podcast and I was like trying to get the courage up to ask these, you know, um these coppers that had had seen all this battle and these crazy stories and I was working with them in backgrounds and um to ask them to come on because I didn’t know like some people don’t like to talk about it. They don’t want to bring that up again. Some people were more than happy to. So once I got a couple of them then they were both like, “Okay, yeah, this is kind of cathartic. I kind of like this is this is good.” So, um, he was like the third one. So, I’m glad you guys really enjoyed that. And I apologize to the people that start from the very beginning and listen because you might have you might have just heard that. But, um, that’s why I did that. Just so you know, u, today’s guest, very excited to have him. He did, uh, believe it or not, he started full-time for seven years as a firefighter. And then because of some scheduling complex and getting full custody of his son, kind of needed to make a shift. like you know firefighters are 24 on 24 off like they’re not home a lot. So he actually then became a police officer for San Monica Police Department. Didn’t really plan on doing a career as a police officer but did he end up you know obviously doing patrol. He did narcotics. He was on the state task force and unbelievably he broke his back multiple times on duty and eventually had to go out injured. I mean very excited to have him. Let’s welcome the great Todd Taylor. Todd, welcome to the show brother. How you doing? I’m good. How you doing? Thanks for having me. I have to admit, brother, that is a firefighter mustache if I ever saw one. Yeah. Rocking the the foo man chew. Yeah. Yeah. It looks good, man. So, did it um that is quite the transition. I get it, though. Like a lot of like kids when they’re growing up, they want to be cops or fires and it it switches back and forth. You kind of got a taste of both worlds. Was it immediately better or worse? Oh, immediately worse. Yeah. I I never The only thing I ever wanted to be when I was a kid growing up was a fireman. I ate, slay, slept, and drank it. It was my thing. And um having this switch killed me. I mean, it was not a I didn’t want to do it. But there was good reasons. My my son needed to uh be with me. It wasn’t the typical, you know, mom sucks kind of thing. and you know fight between the family. It was she was doing some really bad things and he needed to have a a better life. So uh the fight started and uh I ended up it was a couple of year probably a good couple of year battle and I just said well here we go. I’m going to switch careers and see if this works. And I did it and bam, here we go. I had a three-year-old. Wow. Single single dad as a c a new cop with a three-year-old little boy. That’s intense, brother. You must have got some help going through academy with your parents or family members or something. Yeah, I had a I guess I could call them nannies, you know, semiquasi girlfriend. I lived in a really cool place. That’s everybody had our back. And it was it was really the best case scenario for something that was unfortunate, but it paid off cuz my son’s now a 36, I believe, and he’s a paramedic captain for a Las Vegas fire. He’s a rockstar with two little girls. And I always joke with them and say, “Hey, the beatings in the rough life paid off.” God bless you, man. That that is that is amazing, dude. So when you when you made the switch, were you Santa Monica city fire and went to the PD side, same city? When I actually made the switch, I was working for LA city and they completely lied to us. They uh you had to get you had to be a a lateral hire from another fire department. And I came from a department in Long Beach and they said, “Oh yeah, once you do your they because they turned us into fire cops.” So that was my transition to to to the cop side and you had to be a full-time fireman to get hired. They sent us to a full police academy. Uh eight hours out of our 24, you threw on a LAPD uniform. from Hopkins when LAPD car and you patrolled the Ontario airport and weird top-of-the-line equipment, you know, a big station, like 20 guys on at a time and and it was a joke. There was nothing but old retired LA city firemen that were double dipping their retirement. We were the first new batch of young guys they brought in. They hired 17 of us at once. It was kind of their transition out of the old retirement home for the old LA city firefighters going there as firemen and then they trained them to be reserve cops, but they sent us in there as full postcertified cops and the reserve oldtimers hated us and it was it was miserable. I spent a year there and got to the point where I could lateral now either side. I could lateral PD, I could lateral fire because I was both. And I always wanted to work for Santa Monica Fire. And in fact, Santa Monica Fire was my first fire department test that I had ever taken. And um they uh I ended up getting hired with Lake Arrowhead Fire first and then went to a city a little department in Long Beach area. Um, but I uh decided, well, hey, I can go lateral over to uh Santa Monica PD. And what small department isn’t going to pick up a guy with seven years fire experience and and lateral over once I got my son? Well, Santa Monica uh fire went on a six-year hiring freeze right when I got there. And I was kind of stuck, but it was new. It was different. You know, I I only did about a year on patrol before I started going into the special units. And I always joked that I didn’t have that typical [ _ ] cop mentality, so I would just kind of blended in with other things. And I was having fun, so I stuck with it. And kind of accidentally stayed with it. And it was a good career. I mean, it had its ups and downs for sure, but it was exciting. Definitely something different every day. Santa Monica is a great city to work for. Beautiful area was active. It’s where the [ _ ] come to play. Here we’re surrounded by LA. It’s beautiful area. But, you know, they was active and they kept a lot of what what was going on in Santa Monica quiet because tourist tourist area. They don’t want it out there. But, yeah, we were busy. Oh, you were? Yeah. Cuz we I walked my family down Santa Monica a few times, more than a few times when we were living in We lived in uh Los Feliz, then we lived in Ontario, actually. And um yeah, I saw some pretty serious stuff going on with Santa Monica PD. Very active. Raced up and down. This is daytime. Racing up and down the streets, grabbing people, throwing them against cars. I was like, they do do their best to keep it, you know, like, oh, it’s the boardwalk. Hey, let’s, you know, get an ice copy and walk around, but there is some real bad elements down there. So, you were saying you were a fire like a Was that So, in Massachusetts, the the fire cops are through the state police and there’s it’s the state police or troopers that are fire marshals. So, they investigate like homes that burn down, commercial fires. And Were you doing that stuff? Were you just patrolling the airport? Oh, we we’d literally so I was full-time fire with a city before and then when I knew that I had to do that transition to to something where I had a normal schedule, that’s when I went to LA airports which was owned the Ontario airport. So we would literally start our shift off as a fireman and your time your eight hour segment would come in your shift and you didn’t have to do it every shift, but you would throw on a police uniform and you’d patrol the airport. There was usually two people on patrol at once. One on foot in the in the hangers or hangers. The uh what do you call it? I don’t even remember anymore. The gates. The gates. Yeah. And then one uh in a car driving around the perimeter of the airport. And the funny thing is is if you need your backup, the guys would throw on their uh Sam Browns over their turnouts and come out in a crash, you know, fire, you know, airplane firefighting engine and come back you up if they needed to. It was hilarious. Dude, that is crazy. I had no idea that was going on because I when I was there, Ontario took it back over. Ontario PD took it back, I think. Yeah. Um, they’re in the mid 80s probably. Awesome. I love it. That’s They probably had to get created. They’re like, “Well, firefighters are already there and people aren’t going to want to commute to Ontario, so we have to make the firefighters cops.” Yeah. I don’t I don’t know if they still do it that way, but it’s it was an interesting deal. And and but just the dynamics between the old retired LA Fire guys that retired from a full career at LA City and came over to the Ontario for to double dip their retirements. They weren’t there to work. They didn’t want to train us. We were new guys. We, you know, when we were out on our patrol, we if you did anything proactive, you were in trouble because if they had to stop drinking their coffee, they were pissed. Yeah. Oh, I know the type. Absolutely. Um Todd, can you tell us go way back to the first call you went on as a police officer that um you would have considered hot or got your adren adrenaline going? Oh, my my first call was my very first day on Santa Monica Police. Walked in the roll call. I’m brand new in a weird uniform now with all kinds of stuff on my waist and a gun now. And we get a in progress murder rape and and it’s uh the the victims and the witnesses the well excuse me the witnesses were all deaf mutes. Oh my gosh. Yeah. In a in a homeless encampment where they broke into this house. It was gnarly. But you know, talk about getting thrown into the fire right away. That was pretty interesting. But you know, welcome to police work. Yeah, I know. It’s it’s always it’s always something nuts. But so in that situ situation, you guys try to track down somebody who can sign or can read lips or Yeah, I guess luckily being in LA County, you know, there’s all kinds of interpreters for everything available. So, we were able to get a uh a sign language interpreter to try to help us, but you know, you’re dealing with homeless deaf mute transients that are all hopped up on, you know, rock cocaine. So, it’s it was very unproductive. Uh was wasn’t it wasn’t a good time especially for a new cop. Yeah, I bet. What was What was the outcome? Was that Was that actually what was going on? Oh yeah, they killed her. Yep. Raped her and killed her. Oh my gosh, that’s nuts. Yeah. You know, when I was in um when I was at Backgrounds in LA, they um like a a lot of guys in like the bigger cities or I’m kind of um this is antidotal, but a lot of guy people were like, “Okay, so you do five years on patrol and then like you really try to unless you love patrol, you try to get on like a specialty like backgrounds or something else.” And um they somebody described to me, I forget his name, but he said uh this is what it’s like being on patrol. He said this is what it can be like. Um there’s a murder at Skid Row. They’ve also detected that the uh they may have found the bubanic plague down there. You have to stand there in the middle of these people who who are basically like a bunch of like mentally ill animals uh with one other cop for like ever waiting for homicide to come and you’re just standing there fending them off. I’m like, “And it’s 85 degrees.” I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, I can see why you’d like to be in backgrounds in this air conditioned cubicle with me.” Yeah. And no, I could I I couldn’t survive in an office. Yeah. It wouldn’t have worked for me. Yeah. And then I went to after patrol, I went right to a a bicycle unit, which was fairly new. In fact, I became one of the first uh I believe one of our uh lieutenants was the first postcertified bike training cop and I and my partner became like the second and third. And um we patrolled the downtown area which was a blast back then because the third street prominade was hopping and the dope in that area was insane. The rock cocaine was pretty much all you saw and it was rampant and being on a bike and being in a kind of a soft uniform. We stumbled on to everything cuz if there’s dope, there’s crime. And you know, being able to sneak around the hot, you know, the alleys and the parking structures, we would we would stumble onto, you know, hot in progress crimes all the time. So, it was a blast. And my partner was really motivated and active and so was I. So, it was a blast, you know, just arresting dirt bags all day long. Yeah. I bet the shift flew by. Uh, it did. Yeah. Yeah. Then we had a was a pal palisades park. Was that the park next? Yeah. Park that ran along Ocean Avenue overlooking the ocean there. And it was like fireflies in the middle of the night. You could just see all the people lighting up the rock pipes and you’d hide in the bushes and burst out there. And you know, you take three, four of them into custody at once with with the rock and and some of them would jump over the uh embankment, land on PCH, which was quite a ways down. Yeah. But it was it was a it was a good time. Yeah, man. You were busy. That PCH that that place is dangerous. People get cut in half going in their bikinis trying to get to the beach. Oh, the gnarly accidents I’ve seen on PCH would just haunt me to this day. I It’s crazy the stuff you’d see down there. It It’s It goes so fast, but it’s so like the beach is right there. And I was talking to a few cops when I was down there and they’re like, one of them was telling me literally we had a woman cut in half in her bikini. Nice young girl cut in half. Yeah. By a car. Oh, I I always I I’d like to think I coined the term DRT and that came from an accident. It was around the OJ trials and I remember going down on PCH in this accident and I pulled up on scene and and the DRT came from dead right there, right there, right there because it was just bodies everywhere. And it turned out it was a uh Volkswagen van, the old school Volkswagen van full of German uh media that were out covering the OJ tri OJ trial. Oh my gosh. And they went headon into a Mercedes and the passenger in the van. He went through the windshield and went through the windshield of the car that they hit. Oh my. Killing the lady inside. And the husband’s still alive and conscious. and his wife is dead with a German media guy in her lap that just crushed her through the windshield. I mean, just gnarly accidents, but yeah, there was bodies everywhere. I think we had like six dead on that one. It was crazy. But yeah, shift went by fast. Yeah, I’d say probably didn’t end some nights. Um, Sod, can you describe the strangest or most bizarre thing you dealt with, if you can think of one? I know you probably deal with a lot. Oh well, I think the most bizarre thing I can’t remember what the call came out as, but um maybe it was like an unknown trouble or so and at a fairly nice end of town and come pulling up and there’s this guy standing out on the sidewalk and we let him know, hey, what what’s going on? You know, we’re here and and he opens his hand and he’s got his dick in his hand. Oh jeez. But it was no longer connected to him. Oh my gosh. No, he cut it off. So like whoa, not touching that. But yeah, that was pretty that was that was interesting. But you know, that one always comes to mind. But you know, just some crazy stuff there. You know, people had money, you know, and and where do where do the [ _ ] from LA go? and they were surrounded by LA. They’d come to town. You know, the the the brutality, the crime, you know, seeing a pair of, you know, the most largest scissors I’ve ever seen in my life sticking out of a guy’s chest, you know, and turned out to be some kind of weird gay homicide thing in a house. You know, you just never knew what you were going to stumble into. you driving down the street in the morning, you know, real quiet and all of a sudden I literally see the Terminator coming at me and it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger on a Harley. That’s And it was right around the Terminator movies. Just the things you saw in Santa Monica were wild. Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah. My buddy um he is a big I mean I was too growing up a big Arnold fan and he when he was out visiting California, he went to um whatever gym it is. Arnold, everybody knows Arnold still goes to this gym. Maybe it’s in Venice. um old jammer that wasn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. And you can like now he rides his electric bike to it, you know, because he’s like an old man, you know, but my buddy got him and um I think he went twice and the first time Arnold was like not today type of thing. Cuz he I guarantee it’s like he can’t even work out with people. No, we go there so they go there and wait for him on the sidewalk. It’s like how annoying. But the second time I think it was he was like, “All right, come here.” And they they did the picture, you know. But um yeah, he’s uh I can’t imagine living a life like that where you can’t go anywhere without somebody on you. Everybody knows you. It’s a it’s a blessing and a curse, I’m sure. Yeah, absolutely. I hear I listen to a lot of podcasts and there’s um Bill Burr said before, he’s a comedian out of Boston. He said he’s like the perfect amount famous. Like he can put on a ball cap and go into like a grocery store and no one only like a real big fan would notice him. And yeah, like but if he takes it off and walks around enough then you know people will be like, “Hey, what’s up?” Yeah, absolutely. All right, Todd, can you tell us about your most intense or terrifying call you went on? Uh probably when I was on the task force, uh we were a surveillance unit and we would we could roll pretty much anywhere and we we pretty much hunted people, you know, we followed people around and we just never knew where we were going to end up. And one day we’re on a surveillance. We’re in the area. We would always uh have the local PD’s frequency on and we hear this call go down of uh armed men going into the Bank of America and was like looking at my partner. I was like, “Damn, we’re right here.” And turned out to be the uh uh Bank of America shooting in North Hollywood. Whoa. The one we all see in Police Academy. They show it to every Yeah. Yeah, we we rolled up onto that and they were still in the bank. We rolled up to the first uh marked units that were on scene and and we hear shooting going on inside the bank and oh, this is real. And then I remember I’m I’m getting my getting my stuff together, threw my vest on, and I’m I’m in plain clothes. I looked like a biker back then. I was My mom didn’t even recognize me back in those days. Classic narcas. Yeah. And all of a sudden the SWAT pops around the corner. It’s like, “Oh, SWAT’s here.” And then they turned around and started shooting at us. And it’s like, “Hey, SWAT.” It was the bad guys. They came out of the door of the bank. And um just everything around us just lit up. The the patrol units were taking a lot of hits. And I remember a civilian got hit nearby us. And I must say that his dog was hit. Um, and then just cops started going down all around us, in front of us, behind us, and and you’re hearing the the calls for help. I mean, I think that was the worst part of it is hearing other cops, you know, begging you to come help him. And there was one cop that I can see and I I just couldn’t get to him. And he took multiple hits while I’m watching and trying to get to him and he just kept getting hit and Um, yeah, just all we could all I could do. You know, they were obviously there by then we were getting on the ra on the radio. They were saying, you know, that, you know, they’re they got full body armor, head shots only. So I to go backwards as soon as the cars started taking hits, I rolled out of my car to get get out of the big target and only got out with my vest on and my Glock nine and that’s it. just one mag in the lock and I didn’t think we’re going to have to bail from our car and u we had probably the only weapon on scene that could have taken him out and my partner at the time for whatever reason threw the car in reverse and backed two blocks out of the area leaving me in the middle of the road in plane clothes with body armor on and then I start realizing there’s bullets coming at me from the other direction and as LAPD units are rolling up. They’re shooting at me. Oh. Also, so I’m getting it from both ends. Say the only thing good my partner did that day was he put out on the radio that you know, use caution undercovers in the area and that that helped a bit. And then um another I I would love to meet this guy, but an old school LAPD cop, you know, just that textbook like right out of uh Adam 12. I just remember a real low slung holster and skinny and fit guy and he comes over to me and he kept me from getting shot from LA as they’re rolling in. and he and I just made a plan that literally, you know, kind of sounds corny, but till we see the whites of their eyes because they were shooting like crazy and the bullets are coming by us and, you know, I’m sure a lot of the cops have been shot at, but when you got a couple AKs shooting your way from not too far away and you hear those bullets that are just flying by normally and then you can hear the the flutter of the ones that are coming by and there’s just hundreds of them, it it got your attention. Yeah. Yeah. I remember my uh I I called up the Santa Monica PD and I remember telling them, you know, roll SWAT, roll our SWAT, LA cannot handle this. You know, this this is not working out. And um then my next call was my girlfriend at the time and her first thing she says is, “You’re there, aren’t you?” I’m like, “Yep.” You know, she I was a complete [ _ ] magnet. if there was something gnarly going on, I was likely to get involved in it. But no, it was that was an intense call, you know. There was it was you you it was like, “Yeah, bitch.” And you know, this is the call everybody wants to be on, you know, and then you’re there and it’s like, “Wow, you’re kind of helpless.” You know, this sucks. You know, I don’t want to become part of the problem. You know, I got cops shooting at me. I’m I’m too I just wasn’t it. Yeah, there was cops behind me shooting. I don’t know why the hell they were shooting just to to lob bullets in the air. I don’t know. But um it didn’t make sense to me, but I guess they thought I was a bad guy, too. So, I get it. But there was no sense in me shooting them knowing because you could see them taking hits. You’d see the the bad guys, you know, taking a hit, lurching, and then they turn backwards and start shooting. And I remember that, you know, I had occasionally when I’d see them um you know, lighting up the a couple of cops that were getting hit, I’d pop up to get their attention and they’d start shooting at me and stop shooting at them. So, I guess that’s the only thing good I felt I could do is redirect their attention. You’re playing human whack-a-ole. Yeah. Yeah. It was human rack. It it was funny because they a after it they had a big awards ceremony and Nicholas Cage was the announcer at it and they somehow voted me the flattest man in North Hollywood because the only thing my my final resting position was a curb. That’s where I ended up taking cover was at this curb because I could see them and but I could still have some cover. But I got I got a few uh bits of shrapel from concrete and stuff in my head that I I I still feel like I’m picking some of it out. I don’t know how long that stuff stays in your system, but definitely some is coming out of my head, but you know that that was the only thing between me and them was a a curb. And luckily I was a lot skinnier back then, so other my ass would have got shot up probably. But no, it was that was an interesting day. Very interesting. I think I was on scene there for 14 hours. That is and ultimately I remember the videos they showed us like in academy was um I’ll never forget it because I’ve never seen like the front of a car just buckle like the firepower the difference between the firepower of an AK-47 and a handgun. Like you know a lot of cops we train mostly on the handgun then rifle and everything now but you know that’s they’re not really weapons of war. like an a full auto AK-47 is made for battle. And the the the hood of that car just looked like um aluminum foil. Like I was like, “Oh my Swiss chief.” Oh my. It was believable. And the sound too, you know, it my ears were ringing for days after that. Just that that constant of that shooting of those AKs was it was it was loud. It was very loud. And that, you know, I’ll never forget it. Just that smell of gun that that amount of gunpowder in the air, that that noise, the the sound of the cops, you know, on the radio letting you know they’d been hit and where they were, and you just can’t you just couldn’t get to them. It was very frustrating. And also knowing that I had the pretty much the only weapon on scene that could have stopped him and it backed up two blocks down the street with And you guys or something? M4. Yeah, we had a something special in the car. So, it uh but it was gone. It was out of play now. So, we couldn’t use that. And is it true they went to like local gun stores and were like, “Give us rifles.” Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I want to say it was like B&B gun shop that was a few blocks down the road. They went came in and got them. And um they then they used the armored car to uh go in and get that officer that was down that took multiple hits that I was watching unfortunately. But yeah, I always wonder how those guy I was talking to the chief of LAPD uh what’s his name is Chief McDonald. Chief McDonald um my fiance knows him fairly well and uh I was like why don’t they have a reunion or something for us all? You know that nothing just done. Yeah. just it’s like this the biggest shooting in US history happens and nobody that was part of it. I I heard unfortunately I hope it’s not true but that like four cops that went you know that were there have killed themselves you know early on. I mean, it was it was it was like that was a gnarly day, you know, and nobody nothing. No, you know, back then, you know, we didn’t we didn’t talk about things. We didn’t tell tell each other we were hurting or anything, but I’ll tell you that day messed me up. Yeah. And uh it kind of was looking back, I kind of think it was the start of my journey of being a whack job, you know, later on because it’s just it brought Yeah. PTS, but it um it definitely affected me and it brought back it spooled all kinds of other crap up. It was weird. It’s Yeah, being retired hasn’t been all that great. Yeah, I totally understand that. That I mean that is like going to war in your own country, you know? I mean that’s like a little battle. That’s like something you would a soldier would have to face in the Middle East or something. That’s that’s couldn’t imagine doing that every day, you know. Yeah. Especially when you’re not prepared for it. We had um I had Dave Keroskeo on a guy who used to work at LAPD backgrounds and he was an Englewood gang cop and he was also a Marine, but he said the thing about the military is like when you’re home, you’re home. He goes when I work when I was doing gangs for Englewood PD and he was involved in a bunch of stuff. He was like every night at dinner, I would just think got to go back tomorrow. like it the the war never ended. Like he it’s just you lived in it and he said it just messed with them big time. Proforce Law Enforcement, the best damn cop shop in the nation. Whether you’re purchasing for an entire agency or you’re an individual officer looking to buy firearms or duty gear, these guys are the best in the biz. Proforce has law enforcement exclusive pricing and is the place to be buying your guns and duty gear. They carry all the top industry brands and the guys and gals that work there understand exactly what law enforcement officers need. Special discount link tps.proforceonline.com. Um it’s u deeply discounted items just for listeners of this show or you can go to proforceline.com and shop the whole place. Place is unbelievable. You can also visit Prescott Arizona in person or Brea California in person to get hands-on with the gear. All the context up is in the show notes. Thank you, Pro Force. Yeah. And then then when you’re retired and it’s like especially the way I was retired, I I didn’t go out the way I want to. I didn’t go out on my terms. It’s like I you know, not to sound like a crybaby here, but I didn’t leave the fire department on my terms, you know. I It was a good It was the right decision. I didn’t leave the I didn’t leave the police department on my terms, you know. I Somebody chose that for me. And and I wasn’t the typical I don’t mean to say it down anybody, but you know, a lot of cops and firemen when it’s time for them to leave medically, it’s like, okay, my you know, I’m going to get this knee surgery next month and I’m going to go to um, you know, start my real estate career and then be ready. But when you go out catastrophically, it there’s no preparing for it. I did not plan on, you know, I was a fireman, got went to cop. I didn’t plan on retiring, you know, when I was young, you know, and somebody else decided to drive over me on purpose and break my back. It wasn’t my choice. So, when I was retired, it was like one day I was at work, the next day I’m in a body cast. And yeah, can can you talk about how that happened, Todd? Yeah, it’s kind of a long story, but I’ll cut it real short. like I was the initial incident where I was driven over. I was uh working a a deal and undercover and I was I guess I was the wrong demographic for the area when things started going bad and the bad guy decided that if he’d kill me that the rest of the cops would stop following him. So he came up on the sidewalk suddenly at close to 50 m an hour and um just missed from going under the car, but as he was aggressively turning at me, the left front fender clipped my right hip and picked me up. My hand went through the windshield with my gun in my hand, which broke my hand. The uh when the bumper hit my hip, it broke my hip. Then it spun me around. Uh the mirror and the apillar hit me in the back. Broke my back in three places. Uh sometime during that a rib head was broken off my spine uh in the thoracic area. It threw me. Luckily I went over the car but it carried me about 50 feet into the center of the roadway and I landed on all fours and I just remembered and nothing really hurt at that moment. My hand hurt. Um, but I remember being on all fours. The first thing I started doing was counting my bullets because I’d been around shootings and um just knew they’re going to start asking me how many rounds I shot in which direction. And I was pretty sure I shot the guy, but I didn’t. I thought I did. It was the sound of me going through the window. But that that happened and um I was off for a little bit. Uh, turns out the city doctors missed the extent of the injury. Plus, I wasn’t a whiner and I wanted to get back to work. Um, I went back light duty for a bit. Then I went back on on my detail. And then the second time where it really catastrophically broke, it was uh right after the um Northridge earthquake, they pulled us all in and put us in uniform. I was not used to being in uniform. I wasn’t used to being in a marked unit. Uh my partner and I got a call from one of the narcotics sergeants who watched a drug deal go down and we found the car a short following because we can’t pursue anybody. Um occurred and um the car turned up this un unnamed road just inside of Malibu. But uh ironically at the same time an armed robbery had just occurred in Santa Monica on the complete opposite end of town. So everybody on our departments apparently ran to that one. Now we end up on the complete opposite end in in Malibu by the time the car stopped. And long story short, the uh I get hung up on my seat belt getting out of the car. The guy just stops abruptly. My partner, who’s usually a real dialed in focused cop, is kind of freaking out on the guy, pointing his gun at him, and he’s on the passenger side, and I’m like, “Okay, something’s going bad down here.” And I can see the guy dipping under his seat. Um, I get out of the car, finally, a little bit delayed, and I walk up to the driver’s side door, and he’s focusing on my partner who’s on the other side. He’s digging under the seat. So, I’m like, “We’re on a really steep hill, too.” So, I’m like, I’m going to open this door and just drag his ass out. Use the downhill to my advantage. Sure. And all my partner and I did all, you know, multiple times a day was fight people with drugs. And so, we’re not going to have a problem. Well, I remember opening the door and putting my hands on the guy’s shoulder to yank him out. And the next thing I know, freaking Bruce Lee is doing some kung fu [ _ ] on me like I’ve never had before. Oh boy. Um he was a multiple it was like right before MMA started but this guy was like a very advanced in multiple yeah aspects of martial arts and he jacked me up quick kicked me and uh ended up falling back and not using wearing my uniform often. I had my flashlight right at the small on my back and I landed on it which rebroke my back. Oh, and and and it uh it it hit just right in the right spot. So, now I’m on the ground. My legs are instantly tingling and numb, getting numb. We’re rolling down this hill fighting, and I’m not going to let go of them. And my partner finally comes around the other side of the car. He jumps on him. Now, there’s three of us rolling. This guy’s giving both of us a run for our money. And I remember being pinned underneath the guy. I’m on the bottom. My partner’s on me. Somehow I got one handcuff on the guy already and we’re just kind of in this big dog pile and the guy starts spitting out the dope and my partner and I never lost the dope. We always recovered the dope. That was just our thing. And I remember watching, you know, I’m kind of pinned on him under him with one hand on one handcuff on a wrist. Watch my partner reach over and grab start grabbing his hand because he’s the bad guyy’s crushing the dope with his hand. And the bad guy reaches over, grabs my partner’s thumb, and pulls it back all the way back. Breaks it backwards. And I’m like, “Oh shit.” You know, that was gnarly to watch. Yeah. And I’m But I’m still kind of pinned. I got one arm on the guy, and then my partner hits him with the OC spray, drops that, and then I watch him reach out again with the other hand, and the bad guy grabs that thumb, breaks it backwards. Oh my gosh. So now, and it turns out that’s like a martial arts technique and it basically kills your arm from the elbows down. Now my partner rolls off of him. He’s in shock. Now I’m still stuck underneath the guy. And as my partner rolls off of him, his gun’s on the ground. Somehow comes out of his holster. And I’m like, “Ken, get your gun. Get your gun.” And the bad guys trying to worm his way to it. And I see my partner in a days just he’s in pain. He’s in shock and he’s he’s like pushing it with his arms. He’s just getting he’s he’s out. And um I I just started beating the [ _ ] out of the guy with my flashlight with the one arm I had free. And I don’t know how I got him, but I ended up hooking him up. And um one of the eeriest things is um I still got the tape somewhere where I put out the officer needs help call before I got out of the car and it was several minutes and they’re looking for us cuz I we put out Yeah, we just you know all I remember saying on the radio was, you know, we we just made a right one street past Tamasco and and we’re in another city. So, it took a while for someone to get us to us. And then I when I put out, you know, the suspects in custody roll roll a code three ambulance and they’re like, “Well, what are the suspect’s injuries?” And I just remember saying, “It’s not the suspect. It was both of us.” And mind you, now my legs are going numb. My back fracture just refraractured or it dislocated. My partner’s completely out of it because having both thumbs pulled backwards. Gnarly pain. And uh next thing I know we both go to the hospital and I was off for close to a year and a half and he was off for like six months and um that was my the beginning of the journey but that’s not when then they they were going to retire me and I didn’t want to retire and I remember running into one of the narcotics guys that I worked with at the gas station near where I lived and told him, “Yeah, dude, they’re going to retire me. I don’t want to go.” He mentioned that they had a narcotics filing detective position available, which was a plane closed, you know, office job. Let me let me talk to them and see what we can do there. So, they got me into that and I got back back on as a light duty position. I did that for a bit. Uh was working out like a fiend trying to get better and um they wanted to do surgery on my back. I wouldn’t let them do it. They wanted to put eight inch Harrington rods which would have froze my entire lower spine and they also wanted to fuse my entire neck and nope not going to do it. No, I’ve always heard heard the horror stories and back surgeries. Once you get one, you’re going to get them all. And um refused and long story short, I ended up uh they were going to re-retire me then because they said, “Yeah, no permanent light duty positions in Santa Monica.” I didn’t want to do that. I was able to convince my doctor to he would he said that I was okay to go back as long as they lightened my load that I was first cop in Santa Monica to be able to wear a a nylon web gear. Go to a Glock for lighter weight. I had titanium handcuffs, this carbon, this weird material uh PR 24, super lightweight, a real lightweight vest. The doctors made me a uh a brace to wear under my uniform to help and they said as your doctor says you’re good to go and uh and our doctor says you’re good to go then you’re good to go. So there was no more no positions open on any special units so I had to go back to morning watch which is what I want to be is morning watch. Yeah. And um back on patrol. Um, so they s nobody ever scheduled me a doctor’s appointment with the city doctor and they scheduled me to be on mornings and then my first shift. I’m like, well, I guess guess I’m good to go. So, I just go on the mornings and I did that for a few months and I was hurting, but I didn’t want to say anything. I could feel my spine shifting literally. It’s It was the craziest thing. I just I was not okay. Yeah. And um but I just didn’t want I wanted to work. What am I going to do? A retired fireman now cop. What the hell am I going to do? Yeah. If I leave. So luckily an undercover position opened up with this task force. Um I put in for it figuring, you know, as long as I’m playing clothes, you know, I can kind of plan when I’m going to get into stuff, I can throw my brace on, you know, stretch, whatever, I’d be good. And I ended up not getting the spot. They wanted a Spanish speaker and luckily the one of the few people in the department knew how much I was hurting and wanted to stay on. He is the one that got the spot and he turned it down for me. Oh, he knew that that would Yeah. I I owe That’s good looking out right there. Yep. And um I ended up getting the spot and it was only supposed to be a one-year commitment and I ended up staying on for six years. That was probably also not good for the PTS because I understand now why it was only a one-year commitment. There was a lot of stuff, you know, when you’re rolling around all of LA County completely undercover. And I mean, I’m talking deep undercover stuff. They don’t you run you run into some stuff. But long story short, I did six years with that. Um, my final day on the job was a a pursuit, you know, undercover pursuit. the CHP who always uh shouted us popped into the picture. Um I was the running after this guy and I always said they’d never they didn’t pay me to lose. So even though I was hurt and I don’t know why I had this weird drive about me back then to where I just pushed through stuff and I ended up going headon with this guy and um it rebroke my back. Oh my goodness. Todd, you are you you might I think you’re one of the toughest men I’ve ever met in my life. Stupid. The first back break I would have been like, “Peace. I’m out. See you later.” Yeah. Well, I I remember going to the hospital that night and I’m I’m home and I get a call from my captain from Santa Monica and he’s like, “Hey, uh, you never got cleared full duty.” Like, what? It turns out I’ve never in seven years after my first injury, second injury actually of it. Um, but somehow I missed my city physical and um was technically never cleared to full duty seven years. Might let you know that. Yeah. Well, you know, I was good. I was out of sight, out of mind. I was undercover on the task force. You know, I Yeah. you know, so you know, I don’t know how I miss it. I mean, it was it wasn’t intentional, but you know, turns out I guess they wouldn’t have let me on back in. But either way, I got seven years in and um it was a still a shocker. You know, I didn’t want to retire and I I think they they threw a lot away and um next thing I know they they said, “Yeah, we’re going to send somebody over to get your your county car.” and the the good weapons. And then that’s the last I pretty much like the last I heard of him. It was the craziest thing. It’s like out of sight, out of mind. Not a single person’s calling me from the PD. Not a single nothing. It’s like I’m retired. I’m done. I’m gone and just totally discarded. It was such a weird thing to be dealing with. Now I’m in pain. I’m back in this turtle shell thing. Um I unfortunately was married to a nightmare who the her one of her first thing is I’m not going to be married to another [ _ ] Like wow thanks for the support. So you know I got no support at home. I’m getting no support from the department. You know they weren’t fighting me. Um but there was just you were alone. You know I just was totally alone. You know for six years on that undercover unit. all the I everybody that I worked with was used to not hanging out with me because you couldn’t and it was just a weird thing. I I I really feel like the department dropped the ball. I I’m real grateful for my son because he kept me going but I’ll tell you there was a lot a lot of times I didn’t want to go anymore and I I was hurting no support. I went from, you know, 50 went down to 50% of my salary and and just nobody seemed to give a [ _ ] And I I I remember six years after I retired, I finally well, I never cleaned my locker out. It was just a mental thing for me. And they ended up clearing it out for me and sending it to my house. And it took me almost 20 years to open that box. Wow. Um the uh I six years after I retired, I ended up in Santa Monica for some reason and stopped by the department and walked into the jail and some of the old school jailers were still there and they said, “Hey, Taylor, what’d you bring us today?” Like buckers, I’ve been retired for six years, you know, thanks for singing. Yeah. You know, it it was just a really weird deal. And I I think that you know what I could say to any department on new guys whatever is don’t do that again to anybody. You know it was it was that was not pleasant. Still not pleasant. I never had a retirement I want a retirement party. You know I never had a goodbye nothing. You know it’s let’s just you’re gone. You’re broken. You’re gone. We don’t need you anymore. See you. And then that really adds insult to injury is the I got zero cash settlement. Look, I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know you you did. I got lifetime medical on my broken parts. Bitching, you know, and and I got 50% of my salary taxree for the rest of my life supposedly. But anytime I need to go to the doctors, I mean, my back hurts right now. Do you know there’s a level of pain you live with and ideally I try not to complain about it. I don’t take pills. I I try to live as healthy as I can, but I do need my back looked at again, my neck, and I just want to know where it’s at. And nothing. I call the city. I’ve called them hundreds of times. Not they don’t answer the phone. They don’t return my calls. And it’s like, man, at one point I’m going to just get pissed off and get an attorney. And I now I want my money. You’re not doing your part of the deal. You know, I did my career. I got hurt doing my job. I didn’t get hurt [ _ ] off. If I didn’t, you know, I got hurt doing my job. Now you do your part. Yeah. I want I want a freaking MRI. I want someone to look at my back again. You know, I don’t want to I I’m 60 years old now. I I want to continue to be active. I don’t let this slow me down. People are always surprised at the things I do. And it’s like, hey, I didn’t ask to be retired. If I can hop on a mountain bike and go, I’m going to hop on a mountain bike and go. If you know I I off-road, I boat and people, how do you do that with a broken back? I just do. I I I’m not gonna roll over and die. You know, if I would have let them do the surgeries they wanted to, I’d been dead already because I wouldn’t have been able to move. Moving is what keeps me going. I always I always say I’m like a shark. If I stop moving, I’m going to die. You know, I’m very active. I to help with, you know, looking back at it to help with the PTS, I guess, which I did not admit to for years. And the only reason I even addressed it was, you know, I I’m I met the love of my life now, Tanya over here. But before then, um I ran into my elementary school sweetheart, you know, and she was this tiniest little sweetest thing and just the the most important person to me in the world. And one night in my sleep, I had a a a moment, a flashback of some sort or whatever, which they happened a lot. And um I heard her and I not as much physically, but mentally it was over. And she knew she knew it wasn’t her, you know, I choked her out in her sleep, but it wasn’t her. this it was, you know, and when that happened, I I went and tried to get help and nobody knows how to deal with us, you know. Oops. You do. Um, military’s got all the help. They got they’ve got the uh, you know, the counselors that can help and things. And I they tried to send me to a counselor and I’m not the easiest person to talk to. And um, finally once the counselor gets me to open up, the counselor breaks down and is crying. It’s like, I’m not crying. Why are you? It’s like, I broke the counselor. And And that happened with three counselors over the year. And it takes a lot to get me to go talk to a counselor. Yeah. But they kind of force you. The last one was the best one that I ever had, but she finally had to tap out. She’s like, I can’t take this anymore. She goes, “It’s it’s too hard on her.” I’m like, “What do you think it is for me?” You know, give me here, you know? And then it’s and it’s uh ironic because Tanya uh you know my fiance her husband uh Sergeant Steve Owen was literally assassinated on duty, shot four times in the face and the last one in the chest, ambushed just horrible. And she really helped. She’s my best therapist, you know, because she’s she’s seen some [ _ ] you know. She’s a 32 year old 32 year old. She looks like 32y old points there. No, 32 32 years on the sheriff’s department, uh, bomb squad and the whole deal. So, she’s she’s been there, so she she understands me. Um, and and she’s she’s pretty tough. So, I don’t I hope I don’t if I ever have a flashback at night with her, she’s probably going to beat my ass, right? But, you know, they still happen. She the other night, I don’t know. I don’t even think Tanya knows about this yet. Um, I ram my head into the wall so hard. For some reason, I was in a fight and I had to get up and run. Well, I was in bed. Did I tell you about this? No. And I remember kind of jumping up and going to go forward and the headboard was there. You know, just it’s weird how that stuff sneaks up on you out of the blue. And I know there’s other people like me y that this stuff happens to. Um, it it took a long time for me to admit to it. Took a long time for me to take any medication. There’s a couple that I take now that seem to help. I I think I’m more terrified not to take them than to now cuz I don’t want to hurt I don’t want to hurt anybody again. Yeah. Yeah. She doesn’t want me to take them. But, you know, and there’s got to be something out there. The the Wounded Blue Tanya’s a big part of that. Um, there’s so many but there’s so many organizations out there. I wish they’d all just get together and make one because they still aren’t doing it. I mean, where’s where’s my where’s our help? I mean, somebody where’s our help? You know, I want to help people. I I think I could. And you know, you got to you got to walk the walk to be able to do it. Maybe it would help me. You know, sometimes when I talk about this stuff, it uh makes for a few bad nights because it kind of stirs it back up. But sure, I don’t you feel like a [ _ ] but you know, you’re you’re not. You’d be just the guy to talk to people because there’s nothing cops other cops respect more than someone who’s, like you said, walked the walk and been through it. That’s that’s the that’s the most comforting thing to cops to hear from someone like you. You know, I would I would definitely get involved if you could. Randy Sutton’s been on the show before. He was um he was a fun fun guest. But yeah, you should get hooked up with those guys or some or see what you can do, man. I I bet that that could be a really good new mission for you, you know. Yeah. One of my That’s going to be one mission. My next mission is going to be going after Santa Monica to take us their ne their half of the deal, man. I got her and them. It’s It’s They’re gonna have to figure it out because I’m Yeah, that that story, man. I’m It’s so so gross. And um the wounded blue guys, the two guys that came on um they had other stories like that and it’s like you really want to believe. I mean I’m I’ I’ve only been on um I’ve been law enforcement 18 years and um you know when you’re just doing it and everything’s you’re not injured or whatever. You just kind of figure, oh, they’ll take care of me. Like I’m all set. Like look at all these rules they have set up to take care of me. And then but then you hear stories about like oh I had to fight the medical board for not in your case but in other cases you have a legit injury and it’s like you fight the medical board for five years meanwhile you’re making like no money. It’s like it’s what kind of thanks is that? Well it took it took six months to get any money out of them like my normal paycheck because and the thing that sucked is like I didn’t have to fight for anything. It was I was they considered it a department initiated non-contested medical retirement. It just means I didn’t ask for it. They weren’t contesting it. It was obvious. I mean, I have pictures of, you know, anytime anybody questions me, I’ve got a I’ve got a picture of my uh CAD scan, I guess it is, or some kind of scan. It’s gnarly. I mean that my vertebraes are they’re like in six pieces still but they’re so low in my back that the there’s enough muscle and stuff around there to kind of keeps me together I guess. Uh but it hurts but you deal with it. You know pain is weakness leaving your body. Yeah. That’s the end of that’s the way I try to think of it. As long as I can keep moving I got to keep moving. I don’t take pills. Occasionally I take some motans here and there but she’s got to force that on me. Yeah. my walking like an old man. But no, there’s the department’s got to stop forgetting about their guys. You know, I I live in a small city in Arizona now and two cops were recently hurt pretty bad. And I remember talking to one of the guys on the department like, “How are the guys that got hurt?” Like, “Well, I don’t know. We haven’t seen them or heard from them.” Like, “Dude, pick up the phone, man. Go talk to the guys. I’m soon as I get back home, I’m going to go find them. Talk to them.” Yeah, you should. Yeah, man. That is it’s it’s a I don’t know if it’s a it’s a police culture thing, it’s an admin thing, but it’s also a it seems to be a guy thing, too, because when I played sports growing up, if someone got injured and was taken out for the season, you might get a few initial how you doing and then it’s like because I broke my leg in football and you’re just gone like that. No one’s asking how you are. It’s like you broke your leg, you’re out of the game, we’re going forward. And there’s no unless you show up to the sidelines and stuff, there’s no um there’s no checking on you. No. Yeah. Be and being away from the department for six years, still being on, but I was gone for six years on this task force, you know, nobody contacted me. It was weird. It was like I was erased from the the books, you know. I still have my radio. I still got, you know, it’s like all they wanted was the uh the weapons back that had to be federally licensed and then I like, well, this is weird, right? Really, really. I’m sorry you had to go through that, Todd. Man, that is that is brutal. Um, incredible, incredible um experience you had. I mean, just had everything in it. Overcoming all that adversity with injury and and still going and pushing forward. Like I was saying, like I don’t think there’s a um there’s a lot of guys that wouldn’t be that dedicated that wouldn’t that wouldn’t do that at all. They would just well number one, they would immediately look for a way out and they would immediately sue the city, you know, before they wouldn’t even let the city do the right thing. They’d be like, “All right, suing you for all these things and put me in this situation.” So, I hope I hope you can figure it out and get um you know, get what you deserve out of Santa Monica. You know, they they pay out all these um all these uh scumbags for a lawsuit. No, the the North Hollywood shooting, they had to pay their family $5 million because you guys didn’t re render aid to these guys that shot a bunch of cops quick enough. But then that lawsuit held me up from get that lawsuit help held me up from getting my house because I was listed in a lawsuit and uh because I had an active lawsuit because we didn’t render aid to them. It’s like and I’ll say you think even after both those guys were taken out, there was still shots being fired. Yeah, I believe it. I I don’t know if it was citizens, you know, that were in the area still, you know, freaking out because it was gnarly, but we didn’t render aid to them because it wasn’t safe to get to him, right? And also, screw him. Yeah. [ _ ] that guy. [ _ ] that guy. I think 95% of people think that. It’s like gez that was like the cap on the whole thing and when we saw the film and police academy like and then also LA was sued for all the millions of dollars and they had to go to the dirt bags families and we were all like what that happens how was that how’s that happen? Um incredible Todd thank you for sharing all that man incredible story. Um shift gears a little bit. Do you have a positive story or encounter call from your career or something you would consider positive? You know, there was a lot positive, you know, and and I think the one that really kind of comes to mind is um I remember driving down Sanente Boulevard in the real ritzy part of Santa Monica one day. I don’t even it was probably even fairly early in my career and I remember seeing a dog but just got hit by a car and a little kid out there crying and I I I love animals and I remember going over to see if I can help and block traffic for a bit. But I I just remember sitting there with that kid for probably a half hour just crying with him, you know, his dog just got hit. Little kid, you know, and I think that’s positive when we can help people like that, you know. How’s that kid remembers it? Yeah. Ah, then there’s another funny one actually. Sorry if we got time. Yeah. Uh, it was it was Easter and somebody gave us a bag a big bag of stuffed little bunny rabbits and my partner and I were goofing off doing Joe and Sam were doing drive by bunnyings, you know, throwing them at people and just just having a blast with these bunnies. And um I I’m down to my last bunny and I’m going to save it for my kit. But then I see I’m in the number one lane and I see this kid over off on the other side of the road by the third street prominade and he like lights up when he sees the police car and he was a little kid probably like three or so you know we’re still walking whatever age you are when you’re walking and he was so excited to see the police car. It’s traffic stops so that whole two lanes next to me are clear. So I ah I got to give this kid this bunny. So I reach in and I go to throw it and it hits the A-pillar and does this horrible fall right into the middle of the street. Light turns green. Kid starts running out to the road. I’m like, “Oh, right. I’m I just killed the kid.” So I jump out of the car and run and swoop it up and hand it to the kid who’s already back on the sidewalk now. Turn and run back to my car and total embarrassment leave. Like a couple months later, I’m in World Call and the captain comes down and he’s got this plaque and it’s a picture of me handing the kid the bunny. I didn’t realize I had no idea it was happening because I was just running around so embarrassed about it. And I handed this kid the bunny and this his uncle who was with him wrote this really bitching letter and he must have been a writer of some kind because it it’s really good. Yeah. It’s funny. It’s good. that’s moving. And uh turns out like apparently I really made an impression on that kid. So I I got to track that kid down. It’s he’s probably 40 now. But you know that’s awesome. You never know. You never know what’s going to make a huge impression, right? That’s never never that was good. That was a good memory. Yeah. I love that. Thank you. Um Todd, final question. U a lot of people love this question. There’s a lot of people listening to the show that are like in backgrounds or they’re they they’re on the fence if they’re going to be cops or not. They hear the men and women that come on the show, they hear you and they decide to be a police officer. So for people who have decided they want to be a police officer, what advice would you give to them? Max out your 401k. Be sure you have a know what will happen to you if you are suddenly injured. You know, with Santa Monica, there’s no medical insurance after you’ve retired. You know, they only cover your broken parts. I was declared uh uninsurable for years because I too many broken parts. I couldn’t get medical insurance. Just couldn’t even get it. Um and you know, with the sheriff’s department, which I’m not part of, after so many years, you get your medical. Yeah. I with Santa Monica, you don’t get that. You’re on your own. Um, so make sure you know those circumstances. You know, definitely max out on your uh what is it called? Like AFLAC. If I would have had AFLAC, that would have really helped out. But because I went six months without pay because I had already used all my 4150 time because they declared it a reinjury of the same injury. So I went six months until my final paycheck stopped. and and the and the actual retirement kicked in. That was really difficult. So, make sure you got your ducks in order if something goes to [ _ ] you know, make sure your family knows what to do. you have everything in order because like knowing from Tanya, you know, she lost her husband on the job and um you got to make sure all your you know they’re your family’s going to be dealing with a lot of crap not just because you’re gone but it’s how to survive. So make sure you got think ahead, you know, conversation. Yeah. Have this conversation now. The tough conversations. I if I got back to Santa Monica, I would tell the guys, you know, people always told me, “Slow down. You know, stop beating up your body.” Yeah. I’m I I remember being pulled aside a couple times by some Santa Monica old-timers saying, “You’re you’re gonna pay for this.” Yeah. you know, be be a little kinder to your body than I was and um make sure you got all your eyes dotted and tees crossed of worstc case scenario and invest you know put a put a little bit of money away now aside from your retirement because I was I was certain that uh you know I would be fine you know even after I retired it’s like well I got 50% of h you know 50% of what I made taxree the rest of my life well that equals about the four grand a month. Yeah. You know, so it you make sure you’re taken care of and your family’s taken care of because I’m not. Yeah. Thank God I I got an awesome fiance who did take care of things and her husband. Well, I wish he was still here now. You don’t want in this circumstance. But both of them had these tough conversations in advance. And they prepared themselves for the worst case scenario. And unfortunately, the worst case scenario happened. Yeah. You know, but at least Steve set Tanya up to where she’s going to be okay and the family’s going to be okay. So have those tough conversations. Absolutely. Words of wisdom, brother. Thank you so much for sharing that. Yeah. Give to those deferred compensation plans and the extra retirement. I do that. I started doing that years ago because my dad did it. He was a cop for 32 years and he gave um he always put away to like the little deferred comp thing and it seems like nothing. you know, you do like $50 a paycheck or something, but after all after 30 years or 20 years, these are um compounding interest accounts. So, you all of a sudden you’re getting your retirement, but you’re also getting another, I don’t know, four grand a month on top of your retirement because you gave to this deferred comp. And it’s really hard to think about when you’re young because it’s like, ah, I got, you know, I got so many other expenses, but it really is that. Yep. I started way too late with it, but um that is really good advice, brother. That is something that um you know, you’re 23 and you’re going in hitting the ground running. It’s like, wait, you have to be financially secure. Yeah, whatever. I’m you know, I’m doing my thing. But yeah, that’s that’s no wiser words been spoken about. Police retirement, man. So Todd, it was nice. You know, people just need to know, don’t be a dick. You don’t have to be, you know, when you’re when you’re a cop, you don’t see it, but most people don’t see cops. They don’t have any interaction. So why make every interaction a bad one, you know? So take take your time to have a good interaction with people and just don’t be a dick. Just be nice. Absolutely. I say that all the time because when you might pull somebody over, you might be doing traffic or you might be going to a domestic whatever call interaction you’re having. Um that to you it’s you’re working your shift. To that person, they’re going to talk about their involvement with a cop for the like the next six cookouts they go to. that’s a huge event in their life having to deal with a policeman in their life and to you it’s like you don’t even think about it. So like you like you were throwing that thing to the kid you’re like ah this is a nice thing to do you know whatever huge impact like we we should keep that in mind. Yep. Nice. Todd it was uh an absolute honor to have you on man. Thank you for uh coming on the show. I’m going to do the I’m going to do the outro to the show. Um, is there anywhere do you have social media? Do you have anywhere you want people to uh you want me to put an email for you if people want to reach out or um Yeah. Uh my social media Todd Taylor images dot wait uh Instagram Todd Taylor Images Todd Taylor Images T R Images. I’ll put that in the show notes so people so people can find you. Yeah. I I ended up uh having a 23-y year career as a photographer after I left. So Oh, that’s awesome. Who Who you know, it’s funny. Are we Are we still on? We’re Yeah, we’re still recording. Yep. Okay. Yeah. I um after I retired, it’s funny because a lot of the uh uh skills from the PD kind of came over to my new thing, which was photography. So, I do high-speed aerial photography from helicopters. Whoa. So, I shoot really fast things going fast while in the air. And it’s funny because the point shooting really helped, you know, because I’m able to get on track, get on target, and stay on target and get some and it and I really did pretty good with that for close to 23 years, you know, flying around in helicopters shooting fast boats by for a boating magazine. So, that’s killer, man. I love that. Yeah, check him out. Well, I’ll put the uh link to the Instagram in the show notes. That’s really cool. I didn’t know that about you. That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I got I don’t know who I want to be when I grow up. You’re almost there. Almost there. All right, brother. Like I said, honor to have you. Thank you for your time. I’m going to do the outro to the show. Can you hang on for just like two minutes? What’s that? I’m sorry. Can you hang on for just like two minutes when I do the outro to the Yeah. Yeah. I’ll wait for you. All right, sir. I’ll be right back. Thank you. The great Todd Taylor. Uh wow harrowing uh career in stories. Um so happy to uh grab him to come on for the interview. Very very cool. Thank you for that Todd. This is a time in the show when I thank the Patreon sponsors. As you guys know, the show um does involve some overhead and u bunch of time and all that. 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