In this episode Steve and Ken interview 42 year police veteran Gregory Fell! He did a full career on the Yuma Police Department and is now working as a college police officer. Greg has some great stories and his passion for the job comes through in this fun interview!
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this is things police seize first-handaccounts with your oast steve goldhey guys welcome to the podcast andinterviews active and retired policeofficers felt their most intense bizarreand sometimes humorous moments on thejob with me as always can Roybal ken howare you sir I’m good here I am excellentalways good to have you today we have wehave a guy that some been in lawenforcement a long time long long timehe’s still therethat’s he oh he’s still on the job wellthat is that’s a long time plus 42 yearscan that’s crazy crazy cuz he you knowhe should be taking walks on the beachin his Bermuda shorts and socks andsandals yes white shirt yes I’ve neverseen so many Hawaiian shirts then when Iworked at backgrounds standard issuestandard issue retirement for Californiaalso the mustache goatee thing that’salso when standard is she retired copmotif yeah I don’t know why it is butyou know the Hawaiian shirt things it’slike it doesn’t even matter what you’rewearing you could be wearing yourpajamas and a white shirt so yeah it’s ayeah he should be really relaxing butyou know what who knows you know it’speople people like to keep active and ifyou have a love of the job keep onkeeping on it looks like he does lovethe job cuz he worked for Yuma PD formany years now he works for college inArizona I don’t want to say it cuz he’son the job they’re not sure if he’scomfortable with that but uh when alittle google search of him and you cansee that he’s like high-fiving studentshanding out candy like he’s like into ithe looks like he’s really enjoyinghimself which is cool oh coolis he a police officer there yeah campuspolice officer wow that’s interestinghave I said his name on itno you have no I don’t know who he isgreatGregory fell is his name and he’swaiting patiently for us so let’s givehim the hook-up let me just warneveryone that my iphone well itspristine condition it’s an iPhone 10it’s like it’s likebut it took it out of ice it’s inperfect shape the Lightning port suckslike it’s starting to fail well on a 10yeah yeah it just doesn’t I’ve beenusing the wireless charger latelybecause the port is like if you wiggleit at all the wrong way it disconnectsOh which sucks for us because this isour guest line so I’m just just warningeverybody I’m gonna call him right nowand I’m hoping that uh just I’m notgonna touch it I’m not even gonna noteven gonna fart yeah cheese please don’tif I do we’ll be very quiet[Music]how you doing sir Steve Gould withthings please see thank you for comingon the show Steve Gould finally nice tohear from you sir very good also with meis my co-host Ken Roybal hey how are youI’m good how are you hey we are goodhere in Yuma Arizona it’s gonna be abouta hundred and three today oh manreminds me of those days in Californiawould that I don’t live anymore but I amin Washington state where it’s gonna bea sunny 55 and rainy yeah Arizona’s likelike an oven it’s like and there’s youguys don’t have any spring either rightto summer just BAM all of a sudden it’s110 yep that’s what happened this yearwe went from 75 to 95so Greg Yahoo you’re brought to us by afriend of the show Christine roof who isa co-worker of yours that is correct shealso works here at the Community Collegehere in Yuma Arizona Western collegeshe’s uh she’s part of the health andwellness God yeah she’s awesome she’sbeen uh been a good fan and she broughtus a guest so we’re always grateful forthat you yeah you’ve been a policeofficer for a long time Greg you’ve beenon the jobif I’m doing my math right 42 yearstotal in law enforcement correct yes1978 oh man oh manand you started skip us a littlesynopsis of what we’re what we’redealing with here okay an older brotherwho was a cop work for Yuma police and Iwent right I went on ride-alongs withhim and that’s why I always sell rightalong to everybody who wants to be a copgo on a ride-along I was hooked I saidyou know what I can do this job I wantto be a cop so I got guy tested gothired and it’s just been a great it’sbeen great for 42 years well I want tolet you know that whatever you’re doingwe’re picking it all up so if you’reflicking something or a pen cap becauseno I because I do the same thing I havea little pen here and I click oh yes andsometimes I have to edit it out so I’mjust telling you up frontyou remember Stephen we had that oneguest and he was eating this cereal hisspoon was clinking the book all right soyou knew right from the beginning youwant to be a police officer how manyyears did you do with Yuma 28 well I did31 I did 28 as patrol and then I’mretired and I went into that civilianposition as a patrol support officerthat was a lot of stinkin paperwork wetook all of the fast of the stolen carsthe burglaries anything to do with withan investigation we did as long as therewas not a suspect and we didn’t arresthim so we took all the paper but then ajob came open at the Community Collegeand I’ve always loved working in schoolsso here I am Greg I can tell you lovethe job I you know we did a quick Googlesearch of you and I’m seeing youhigh-fiving students you’re handing outcandy like this isn’t like you didn’tdrag your ass to this job to to earnkeep earning money you genuinely love itoh absolutely my whole philosophychanged on the human raceI started to work in the schools I was adare officer starting in 1993 and thenfrom there I went into being an SRO aschool resource officer at the highschools and the junior I am an that badjust changed my image of the youngpeople and then just people in generalbecause there’s parents attached toevery student and it was great and Iwould recommend that every officershould have a term where they serve as aschool officer for at least two years ifthat if that was possibleawesome yeah my father actually was thefirst dare officer in the state ofMassachusetts and he really enjoyed itas well oh wow absolutely absolutelydare was yeah it just changed everythingyeah he um he’s one of the firstofficers but he uh he was kind of bummedat the end of it where he really likedit and he went to my elementary schooland taught a class I think once a weekor something but he was really bummed atthe stats for the program years laterwhen they didn’t think it was effectiveyou know but he still enjoyed it rightabsolutely and you don’t wanna when Ifirst started in the DARE program and Iwas a dare officer if there’s oneelementary school just to tell you justto show you how things have changed theprincipal thought that we should reallybe wearing our guns with the gun beltand to leave the gun in the car this was1993 so just to see how how full circlewe’ve come it will be unheard of to walkaround now without a gun and your andyour holster Wow staple the policeman isgun you know that’s interesting can dothey have they have dare going on in LAthey must have well I must say I believedare started in Los Angeles with DarrylF Gates I think soso yeah I’m sorry that I was gonna sayyeah I believe you are correct I thinkthere did start in Los Angeles yes yesDarryl Gates started it and so we werethe on the forefront of dare and policeconsent decrees from the federalgovernment we did both those we were thefirstso yeah so yeah that’s a big deal backthen dear officers were up there and andthey would go to the schools and hangout and do whatever they did but there’sa big deal I think that was know thatwasn’t back when Nancy Reagan had justsay no I can’twas that during just say no I think soyeah a lot of it had to deal withremember that the shoot the agent thatwas killed Camarena got tortured killedand Mexican marina yeah him too yeahthat was a boy you’re taking me way backoh yeah oh yeah yeah the program wasgreat because I mean well it they youknow they don’t think it was thateffective to keep kids away from drugsbut it it did serve another purpose orit got kids interacting with police at ayoung age and I know it had an impact onmy classmates all the way through schooljust to get to you get to know a cop atleast you know oh absolutely theconnection with the community was greatbecause it was also the parents and thenyou know all your educators so yeah Ithink we found out the same thing thatthe statistics really didn’t show thatit was really effective and keepingpeople off of drugs that the young folksoff of drugs but there was thatconnection with the community absolutelyvery important very cool yeah Greg canyou tell us about the first time youresponded to what you would consider tobe a hot call or you know somethingwhere your adrenalin dumped yes that’swhen I just you know during my FTOprogram I hardly bumped into anythingthat was significant and then of courseI and they sent me I was a solo beatofficer and I remember going to thatfamily fight we called them familyfights back then and I got there and ofcourse our department hadn’t we had notmorphed into portable radios yet so onceyou left the patrol car that was it oncommunication and of course we didn’thave cell phones back in 1970s thinkingnine and then I mean it’s not the houseand then the husband and wifemiddle-aged and boy they were they wereslob or knocking drunk and I rememberhim asking me questions andyou know they were not agreed to much onthings that night and I told himsomething that he didn’t like and that’swhen he said well you know what I’mgonna go down the hall and get my gunand he went down the hall and man Ibrand-new I went to the house phonecalled dispatch and said hey I needunits here right now and then he emergedfrom the hall I don’t even think my gunwas out I just I was still so new andnaive I just felt I guess things wouldbe okay luckily he emerged from the halldid not have a gun because I was lookingat his hands that’s the first thing Iprobably did right and then I justremember him sitting down the lay-z-boyand then everybody’s coming through thefront door to include my sergeant and Itold my sergeant what the gentleman hadsaid to me and the sergeant said wellofficer Phil you were gonna arrest himright now and I did oh man that is avery very good first story and justshows how a green you are when you’re anew cop you know that uh I mean tenyears in your career you would havetackled that guy in the hallway andcuffed him oh absolutely yeah he wouldnot have reached he would not havereached the bedroom I don’t think oh manyou must have been sweating it yeah wellyou know what I I didn’tI just wasn’t processing I guess rightaway but boy when the shift was over andI went homethen it processed I bet yeah what couldhave happened yep mmm were you aloneGreg at this point like one man carsyeah uh yeah we were always a solo oneguy to a car I’m sure that somebody musthave been dispatched with me but I’m notremembering that part it’s so me I whichdomestics have changed like because youknow my father became a cop in the 70sas well and um it like in the East Coastanyways it was like you now it’s thepreferred response as arrest and thepreferred responses arrest and primaryaggressor which is the male but back inthe day like you say and they call themfamily fights if the if it didn’t matterwho was beat up if no one wanted topress charges you just left you’drespond alone right you’d go in thehouse alone you know without withoutsomeone right so different yeah we usedto divorce peopleused to well yeah I know I used we usedto divorce people when the then they gookay coolcool when they thought they weredivorced and then we want to go backyeah you know I can remember going toone family fight and this this husbandit’s just knocked the dog do out of thewife she was bleeding profusely severeinjury rescue showed up but she keptsaying no no no he’s okay don’t rest anddon’t arrest himso we cleared the call no one goes tojail and she was just beat to a pulpbecause she didn’t because she didn’twant to prosecute we we didn’t we don’tarrest yeah oh that oh that all changedin the 80s I believe Greg you cancorrect me if I’m wrong but back in the80s we used to just you know it was itwas common we go okay what do you wantto do we can arrest him no no no we’dleave and then apparently somewherearound the United States women be wereturning up dead you know because ofthese family disputes and then thecourts took over and decided that nothat’s not going to work and theystarted making it to be a felony andthen we were arresting people right andleft as soon as that law came into playright because with another thing theywere noticed and we would continue to goto the same address over and over againand nothing’s getting done so I thinkthe state did take over says you knowwhat will be the victim if we have toand let’s start arresting people andyou’re right I want to say around 82 8283 84 somewhere in there yeah I can’tremember I do remember what time when itfirst came out it was a it was felonyand the bill at the time this is in theearly 80s was about 5,000 it was $5,000and I had you know we started with thatand then I went inside for a little bitand they went back in the field a fewyears later and I was working patrol andwe arrested this guy for domesticviolence and he’s sitting there he goesI I gotta I gotta go to work I can’t Ican’t be in jail I says I don’t worryabout it’s only five thousand dollars soI had been out of the field for a minuteI had come back and I talked to mypartner says yeah the guy’s got to go towork so we you know that’s all he’sconcerned about and then I found out thebill I told him was five thousand it hadgone up in that time to fifty thousand[Music]domestic violence calls a up the bailpretty Wow and I don’t know I I I don’tremember the part that a domestic wasautomatically a felony I that I don’tthat part I don’t remember but I doremember yeah if you had any PC at allthat the violator the aggressor goes tojail yeah and it was it was where if ifsomebody originally it was if somebody’sthat usually it’s the ladies said thathe hit me he put his hands on me we’darrest the guy and it would be a felonyit was this was in California and thenlater on they decided that if anybodyhad marks it didn’t we weren’t there todecide you know whether he was attackingher she was attacking him if they had ascratch mark on him whoever had the markwas the victim and the and the otherperson wouldn’t go to jail and if ifthey both had marks whether they weredefensive or offensive we weren’t thereto adjudicate you know the the caseright there they would both go to jailabsolutely I can remember several timesI took both and then they started torevise that a little bit saying okayfolks you know what we got toinvestigate here a little bit we got touse some discretion let’s get theaggressor yes I understand if bothpeople are injured and they’re havingthat knock-down drag-out but you’regonna have to investigate a little bitand we got to get the aggressor so rightthey kind of they started to revise thatyeah they hated that when you arrestedboth of them toward yeah two thousandsix teams last year I was a cop but thatwas like the DA’s are like don’t that’sthe least preferable response rightbecause then you you you you knowthere’s a risk that you’re traumatizingthe victim obviously yeah that they tryto make it simple I think like just justarrest the guy or justregressor this is nothing simple about adomestic there’s no they’re trying tomake it easy for the boots on the groundand then I remember the last training Iwent to it was like well if she’s aprimary aggressor but you but she theydid this this video case like for us andit was like if but you see that he wastaking his rings off and she knew thiswas a precursor to her beatings but shetook a baseball bat to him before thathappened even though that’s a felonyyou should arrest him if there’sevidence you know it was like whoaright this is good right crazy yep itwas getting crazy Wow so Greg can youdescribe to us the most bizarre orstrange thing you’ve dealt with yeahthat well that’s got to be when theystole the police car right out fromunder my nose[Laughter]yeah not embarrassing at all weresponded were the night shift ready toget off work and then at about 5:30 6:00in the morningsome guy climbed into a big old metalutility pole and so we get there we findtwo drunk passengers in the truck it’s alittle mini truck but the driver hadfled on foot the passengers were slob orknocking drunk so we put them inseparate patrol cars and just kind ofyou know so we could start investigatingand then some of the officers went andto go to the registered owners residenceto you know to find him and you knowlet’s get him charged for hit-and-runanyway you know a cop was just sittingthere watching the scene waiting for thecops to get back with the driver andthen like I say I put a guy in my patrolcar and we left the windows down it’s umArizona it’s hot they’re not suspectsare not arrested and so I want them tobe comfortablewell this yay whoo he reaches out popsthe door open crawls out and instead ofjust maybe fleeing and running awaythinking he’s a suspect when he’s not heclimbs into the driver’s seat so me andthe cop were looking at the scene thecop cars behind me I don’t know why Iwas behind me but but it wasand I heard this vehicle acceleratingand I turn around and this cop car isgoing through the landscape and he’she’s hot on a corresponding to a hotcalm and I’m realizing I didn’t hearanything over the radio and they look atthe vehicle closer as it starting tospeed away and it’s my stinkin drunkshirtless passenger and he’s taken offwith the car right then you just getthis horrible feeling I’ve lost my jobthis and that so I so yeah so I run tothe other patrol car that’s got theother drunk guy in the back man I takeoff after this guy and I call it in 503police car only time my 28th patrol mancareer I said thatand so I’m after this guy and he goesinto the intersection he spins outthere’s this going to work in themorning traffic all around him and hestarts going northbound in thesouthbound lane on our main drag whichis called fourth half I’m getting behindhim I got my license ironed on to letpeople know that a car that cop car infront of me is not an official guy didout of the way he spins out again hegoes over the median he corrects nowwe’re gonna go northbound on thenorthbound so at least we’re going theright directionspins out again smacks the rear the axleup against the curves snaps it so nowthe car it’s disabled I pulled my patrolcar right up to the front of his so nowwe’re kissing kissing front bumpers Ibail out I run around I got my gun out Iremember tap and accidentally tap in thedriver’s window telling this guy get outhe’s not responding because he’s slobberknocking drunk so I luckily the cardthat the car door wasn’t locked III openit up I don’t know how I did thisbecause the guy is shirtless atsummertime he’s sweaty but somehow I Iwent one hand free I I grabbed him and Ithrow him out it and put him down on thepavement and take him into custodyand I still remember that one gentlemandriving up in his truck officer you needhelp and I says nope I got it undercontrol and put the guy in custody andthen of course allof the Calvary showed up and this isyour buddy’s patrol car yeah and the guywho I was standing with he doesn’t movean inch he stayed right there never andof course I resurfacer Bledsoe respectthe guy very much good cop but he saidit because I asked him later since wellwhat why didn’t you come help he says nowayI saw policy I just saw policyviolations up the wing wing I stayedright here so in your cop cars at thetime there was no cages he just climbedover or did he get out oh yeah no no hegot out and got in but see I left thewindow down for him oh yeah so you canbe comfortable cuz it’s summertime thisguy sweating up a storm but he’s just adrunk passenger why he got into thedriver’s seat once he got out you wouldthink he just would have ran walked awaywhatever but no he climbed under thedriver’s seat he took off he must havebeen very drunk that’s all he’s sostupidhe was so so he went from being apassenger witness to two years in prisonstolen car oh man and his blood so scaryou know you know I’m struggling toremember whose car is who now no I thinkthe car that he stole was one of thecops that went to go find the driver andthen I jumped into my car I thinkinitially I had said it was my car butno my car was the one idling with theother guy in it and I took on after himthat’s one thing about cops man whensomething like that happens you willnever ever live that down no way andjust but you know I was able toarticulate in my memo exactly whathappened I did not get a day off wellevery cop leaves his car idling with thekeys in it nowadays I was just sothankful that no one got you know therewasn’t an accident no one got hurt Imean it was just remarkable that that wecame out of thatclean as we did that must’ve been allthat was going through your mind asyou’re following him through the crowdedstreets I don’t hurt someone absolutelyand I got an unsecured drunk guy and myyou know sitting right behind meI’m going after drunk guy it was just itcould have been so bad I’m starting tosee all the policies being broken he wastalking that’s a good one city heat didhe actually do any time or did he justgive us two years believe oh no yeah thebad guy got two years Wow yeah theydon’t mess around in Arizona I heard anArizona also like if you get a DUI theywill actually strap you to the gurneyand take your blood is that true yeahyou know what because I’ve been out ofthe game now for ten years but I thinkit is I know that I knew somebody inIdaho they got a DUI about five yearsago they paid like five hundred dollarsin fines and won like ten days in jailin Arizona if you get a DUI you will getcrucified with the fines I’m not sureabout days in jail but it’s gonna costyou a bundle yeah I have a buddy backhome like a DUI and he’s trying to tellme how we beat it and I was like howmuch did you pay your attorney again howmuch was the class yeah if you you neverbeat right yeah like I if you if youagree to get a license from the stateand your implied consent is that you’regonna give your breath or blood to anofficer if he requests it otherwise youlose your license that’s way it isn’tmass but yeah I friend of a friend backin Massachusetts was friends thanArizona cop and he said I think he wason the Highway Patrol or a trooper orwhatever you guys have that that versionof he said yeah if we give him a chanceand if if they don’t give us a samplewell take him to the hospital have anurse take it I was like wow that’sthat’s pretty hard court it like youknow against someone’s will yeah puttinga needle in their arm and taking them tome that’s over-the-top that’s a littlebit of too far toome right but at the same time I kind oflike it no no wait wait kind of like heyI mean it’s all part of that littlecontract when you get your license todrive your ring – let this happen if youknow wouldn’t you right people getconfused they think having driver’slicense is a constitutional right it’snot most people know their rights I meanI’ve I’ve I’ve run into tons appiah it’samazing how many people know theirrights oh yeah and the booking room ofnaturally yeah they take one law classand they know everything and you knowwhen you come up to the driver’s door onthe traffic stop and they want to startnegotiating and you got to explain tothem okay look give me your license andthen I’ll be happy to explain to youwhat’s cooking a man they want to startnegotiating and then it goes south youlearned that quick to if you if you letthem start talking if you startanswering questions before you get thatlicense you’re not getting the licenseand you would think they would have beentaught this you have to present ID youhave to present license in Arizona whenyou’re the driver of the vehicle and I’msure that’s probably every state mm-hmmunless you’re a sovereign citizen thenyou are bound by no and I’m not drivinga car I am traveling as a free man as afree man you have no jurisdiction overme there’s a little car found in NewEngland up in New Hampshire of peoplelike that I forget what they’re calledFree Staters or whatever but theythere’s a little commune of them in NewHampshire and we have one in our townstop not not me but a patrolman namedofficer monkey been stopped one and theguy was doing that whole I’m travellingas a free man you know there’s no yourlaws don’t apply to me and this is rightright and we have a we had a sergeantwhen I was working there that was youknow about six one 230 good-sized dudeand you listened for about 30 secondsand then just reached inwindow and group pulled him right outyou know yes he was the guy calm down Iguess in the booking room and was yeahsovereign citizen he was you know alittle more agreeable and had time tothink about it but yeah he was you’vewatched too many internet videos wherehe you thought he was going to schoolthe police on the law you knowwell Greg will remember this Gregremember this phrase when we used to sayyeah man the guy was he was starting toget froggy so we yanked him out of thewing window it’s this the wing windowwas a little a little yet the way we’reangle shape window on the on the eacheach drawer each driver driving duringthe past week door there was a littletiny triangle say and you pull thelittle button up and you’d push thewindow window and that was a commonphrase back in the dayYankee no suspects nothing right or theother one was hey Sarge I had my killlight I swung in his shoulder he duckedI hit him in the head that wasn’t me[Music]single time about that yeah so Greg canyou tell us about your most intense orterrifying call that you went on yeswell that would be my one and onlyofficer-involved shooting where weresponded to the rainbow apartments herein town and the the gentleman had justgotten out of prison already violatedparole already smoking meth was inpossession of a 380 in a waistband andtold his sister I’m going to kill yourhusband so she called 9-1-1 and she saysplease don’t tell him that I called buthe’s going to kill my husband tonightplease get here now al so we got thereif we saw mr. newup on the top floor when he started downthe stairs that’s when I told the guy Iwas with it was four of his total okaywhen he starts down the stairs we’regonna run run through the courtyard andwe’re gonna take him down so thisgentleman starts down the stairs we runacross the courtyard and just as I’mready to start screaming instructions tothe sky keep your hands put your handson your headthe initial officer who was dispatchedto the call he started screaming ordersthere was four of us we got in thisperfect crossfire but luckily mr. Nunezwas on a elevated position there was twosets of stairs you know ten stairs to amid-level platform and then ten morestairs down the ground so he was up highso we were all aiming high and whenScott officer boar instead startedscreaming instructions at mr. Nunez I’mseeing Nunez his hands are down by hiswaist they were not up on his head hewasn’t putting him up on his head andI’m thinking man I just knew thisI just knew things weren’t going to begood and I don’t even see the gentlemandraw all of a sudden the gun is out hestarts popping caps at war instead wethen returned fire and we all shot acollective twenty rounds ten of them hitall in his mid all in the midsection allin his lower torso and hip areahe finally it would seem like forever hefinally fell and he probably died justas he was hitting the ground accordingto what the medical examiner said andunfortunately officer born Stan took twotwo rounds to his legs he had not pipesbut rods put in his legs and heeventually returned back to a full dutybut you know I can still like in the warpictures I can still remember someone’sshell I’m sure it was my shell by 45 theshell in slow motion and the gunpowderand then ringing in your ear and youjust can’t believe what you’ve just beenthrough and then I was the first guy tojump on the radio and scream for rescueand you know the nine nine nine shotsfired and all that stuffwow that’s intense and there was um yousaid there was kind of about a crossfiregoing on how many of you guys weresurrounding him yeah yeah there was fourof us we were at as 12 9 6 and 3 at thetime I don’t know that but luckilybecause he was elevated my rounds wentover officer OSIS probably missing hisskull by about probably three to fourfeet oh good that’s plenty of clearancethat’s good oh yeah yeah yeah holy cowthat’s that’s intense man and did younotice when you’re firing the roundswhere you’re you know you notice rightaway when you go to the shooting rangeand you forget to put on your earprotection it just takes one round andyou’re like whoo oh yeah but I hear alot in in shootings your ears kind of doa natural the adrenaline of the dump orsomething prevents your hearing frombeing injured did you notice that at allyeah I didn’t even notice the the soundof the the gun was going off but Inoticed the first thing was there was alot of smoke the gunpowder smell andthen the ringing the ringing in the earscame a little a few seconds later butthe only thing that the one thing thatwas really as we started having to shootthe gentleman man I’m just going man whydoesn’t this guy fall down but heactually fell within a couple of secondsbut you’re just sitting there I Icranked off five I hit him twice I wassix feet away I don’t know how I didthat but anyway he finally fell and thenthat’s when everybody starts screamingand the radios yeah yeah I imagine thoseI’ve heard that before too those thoseseconds are stretched out they feel likeminutes but it’s just you know you justwe have gravity to happen and it’s justyes wow man that’s intense and yes andthat was it he was cashed out rightthere at the scene probably right anofficer an officer there was two otherguys that came up a sergeant and anotherofficer he grabbed the gentleman and hadto drag him down the stairsso rescue could start working on him itwas funwhen the rescue guys get there there wasa total of seven EMS workers five ofthem started working on the bad guy andonly two guys were working on Bournestead so we were kind of upset with thatlater but it turns out when all thefiremen got there they were just awareof the victim well suspect now victimdown on the ground that they weren’taware that Bourne stead had been shot soall the firemen started working on thethe shooter got you guys all carry 45sthat was this like yes you took asix-hour six hour 45 it’s a me to 20that’s a big round to get shot with abunch of times especially for the otherofficer who was in the crossfire man yougot we get shot in the femur yeah oneI’m trying to remember one was up abovethe kneecap and I know one was down bythe ankle and now I’m trying to rememberwas it one leg or was it one in each andI maybe it was both legs out but I’m notremembering now damn that’s a but I kindof fell back after he got shot and he’slaying down so I I came to help him andas I round the corner he raised up Iremember his gun raising up man and Ialways saw was muzzle and I told them Isays hey hey Scott it’s me it’s me so heluckily he didn’t shoot me yeah that’ssomething you talked about your um youknow right you you’ve been shot so yourbody’s going into complete survival modeand it’s gonna drag a split second toidentify good and bad that dude thatscary you are lucky that no yeah Ididn’t think about it then I thoughtabout a layer you should have shot theguy in the leg who shot him right okaybring that go over here yeah hey Owenyeah but you know and normally insituations like this you know there’s alot of protests or the family’s upsetwhy do you got to do why’d you have toshoot our our uncle or Dan orand there was none of that the familywas very sorry that he that the shooteryou know shot us and that he had to putus through all that so we got a lot ofpositive feedback from from communityand immediate family oh that’s that’snice that’s rare ya know though yeahthat was good now Yuma Yuma the city isum it’s pretty famous Old West City Imean it’s in westerns and stuff I’m kindof curious do you guys have any likehere one of our cities near where i amcolton the first chief of police wasvirgil earp which is really cool likeyou go in the station I guess I haven’tseen it but there’s a you know they haveall the Chiefs and one of them is youknow Virgil herb who’s famous famouslawman was Wyatt Earp’s older brothermm-hmmis there anything like that in uh in youmod did was there any famous lawmen thatwere work for you guys you know I can’ttop my head I can’t think of anythingyeah yeah you can up maybe to make theyeah we had the old prison of course orthe old Yuma prison and that that’s amuseum here and that’s where you knowthey would arrest folks and put them inthe old Yuma prison but can’t think ofany gunslingers or anything like anyhistory uh I’m not not familiar I see amotorcycle is there a motorcycle run outthere there is they call it the prisonhe’ll run that’s there you go Stevewhat is the I mean motorcycle run theydo a yearly motorcycle right out therefrom all different areas they convergeon this place oh yeah I heard AnnieOakley was the first Chief of Policethere so that’s interesting you knowhuman history and I don’t know let’s notlet’s not go there that would behorribleoh it’s funny Gregyou kinda have an interesting storyabout a run-in with law enforcementyourself I’d like to hear about ah I donot the deaths really that interestingto me but if you must hear it yeah I wasa high school kid at me and my buddy wewent and worked out of the melons we youMo’s a large agriculture industry and wewent out we worked the fields and forfor extra money in the summer so we wereworking the melons and realized weneeded gloves because the the crops thatkind of work your hands over a littlebit after a full day of picking melonsso we decided hey let’s go to thesupermarket let’s go get some gloves sowe walked into the supermarket everyintention on buying the glovesmy buddy pulled two pairs of work glovesoff of the display and he looked aroundand he lifted up his shirt and threw theone pair of gloves and under his shirtunder his I guess stuffed at hiswaistband handed me the second pair ofgloves and of course me being me I guessdumb guy I looked around didn’t seeanybody and and threw my pair under youknow tucked it in my waistband and as westarted to walk out of the store we were16 years oldthe store manager caught us and we gotthem driven to the police station byofficer Bobby Hudson who I would laterwork with and he processed us and ourparents came to the police station ourdads and took this home and it it was itsucked as terribleyeah but how old were you yeah 16 16 16that’s so interesting I love hearingthose stories about cops before theywere cops getting in trouble you know ohyeah a lot of people think it’s over forthem when they get into backgrounds orbefore they go in like well I wasarrested once or I could never be a copnow but it’s so not true my dad was ummy dad retired a lieutenants like theEast Coast and he was him and his friendgot arrested for joyriding his dad’s carand drinking beers and then they youknow the patrolman that arrested himended up being his sergeant years lateryou know yeah that’s interesting wasthat was the only time you’ve beenarrested yeah that was itI knew that would be the last time butyou know I mean I you know you know youalways had the suspect say officer thisis the first time I’ve ever done thiswhich of course it is and they’veshoplifted many many times before andthey got caught well believe it or notthis is the first the first time I’veshoplifted yeah and of course now it’sthe only time because I got arrested andthen the backstory on all this was thenI get hired and then that poor storemanager he was held up at gunpointrobbery at the El Rancho market that heworked at and he handed over the moneybut then he made a bunch of commotion totry to get you know witnesses and thatthat son of a gun shot and killed thatthat poor guy and we knew the preyfamily whose last name was prey and itwas just a sad deal oh man that’sterrible yeah how awful so he was tryingto like he was trying to get people torally against the guy before yeah IIIguess he resisted he did something Idon’t know exactly what it was but hedrew attention to to getting robbed andand mr. Grover I think it was last ableto grow over the suspect I shot andkilled him after he took the money ohwow that’s a shame yeah yeah because Ihide that manager I mean I have a lot tothank you know be thankful for I’m gladhe caught me maybe I was gonna keepshoplifting I don’t know but that was agood thing that happened to me and thatwe weren’t going to do that tomfooleryanymore absolutely yeah Greg can youtell us about a positive situation astraight up well ii does guess a youneed a straight up thug shooter yeahGreg can you tell yeah well real quickwe used to ride ten speeds when we wereteenagers and so we figured out weneeded a name for a club like we were agang so I suggested the fells angels butthat difficultyoh you can have all kinds of fun withthat last name yeah I guess can you tellus about a heartwarming situation orpositive account yes yes and this goesback to me being a dear officer at thetime you’re doing dearyou know you maybe don’t really thinkyou’re making the impact that you’remaking you’re just you’re going throughthe motions you’re teaching the lessonssay no to drugs there are 17 totallessons and you target the sixth graderswhich is the core class the core groupthat you’re targeting but you teach allgrades kindergarten through sixth butanyway as I evolved and got out of thereand then and did other job jobs at thehuman Police Department you know I hadas these dare students grew up theywould approach me later at the store orwhatever I was doing sometimes on dutysometimes off duty and they would sayhey officer fell I want to thank you forfor everything that you did for me whenyou were a dear officer and I was your Iwas your dear student I mean you youhelped me to stay off of drugs and if Ihad anything to do with it great and sothat those are pretty good stories Imean my age is what happened all thetimehey fell you know I don’t smoke becauseof you they fell I became a policeofficer and good stuff that’s awesomeman sounds like you bet some yeah goodimpacting as you know being policeofficer for as long as you have been umyou will go for long stretches withoutthat positive reinforcement right sothat’s coolI know that um Christine thinks theworld is she she’s um you know lookingto get into law enforcement and you’vedefinitely impacted her life so youstill hey I hope so but I’ll tell youwhat the first five minutes speaking tothat girl I immediately because I’m theunofficial recruiter for Yuma PoliceDepartment not that I work there now butI want everybody go there and be a copand I told her you need to be a copbecause she’sget behind that computer and light thatkeyboard up and she will do reports andwe back out and they’re on the road anda half hour unlike me I was a horriblehorrible report writer as a as some copsare and some of us spend all shiftbehind the stupid computer which backthen was a typewriter doing the stupidreports but she’s gonna be very fast andshe’s very articulate she’s veryintelligent she’s got the UM it’s funnycuz I I told her that I said I couldtell you’re gonna you’re gonna make itthrough and you’re gonna be a goodpolice officer and she’s kind of likeyou know what why would you say that butshe’s one of those people you can justtell she has the right stuff for it youknow she sure absolutely you’ve got awicked sense of humor she’s gonna dogreat for the community oh she’s gotcommand presence that’s the first thingI noticed and everybody mistakenobserved for being in the militarybecause she told me that she’s you knoweverybody thinks I’m in the military youknow she’s got this she’s got this tightjawline and just just her commandpresence and her confidence yeah ohshe’s gonna do great that’s awesomevery cool well Greg you started to tellus a little bit when we started thepodcast but can you expand on someadvice for new officers or policecandidates yep I would tell them becausetwo things I really started getting goodat that I wasn’t in the beginning was areport writer and being a public servantyou know don’t ever forget that you werehired to serve the public you are apublic servant they do pay us and theydo call us and they expect us to toserve them and to help them sometimesthe badge gets a little heavy on ourshirt and we kind of forget that we aretheir servant we are a public servantand we get a little arrogant we get alittle lazy we kind of forget that theyare the reason that we have our job andthat we work for them with them and it’svery easy to become very cynical and ananti person because of all the lies thathave been told to usevery person you stop certain weeksthere’s a glass pipe in their pocket andyou start to lose a lot of faith andrespect and the public that you work forbut you have to remember that that’s asmall percentage of the public that youwork for and so always try to be verycordial and very courteous but but youalways give your a-game to any personthat ever calls you and then the secondthing would be just try to be the bestreport writer you can be because if youcan’t put it on paper then you’re reallyno good to anybody you’re gonna have toarticulate on paper and that is the bigchallenge some of these new recruits weget man they just can’t write a lickthat would be meI was terrible if I would have beenhired at this day and age now I wouldnot have made it that they would havelet me go because my report writing wasso bad so that would be the two things Iwould suggest to any new guy right rightwell articulate well and also alwaysremember you’re a public servant anddon’t ever forget thatgreat advice men that and that is veryvery good to bring up the the reportwriting thing cuz a lot of people thinkthey’re just gonna become a cop and kickass take names right walk away no you’regonna go to a call you go sit in thestation for an hour and a half and foundout a tedious report about it and ifyou’re not careful with it and you tryto rush it later if it goes to courtyou’re gonna be embarrassedso and I’ve lived that several times Wowsure yep yeah I remember my family gotum one of my cousin’s when he’s youngergot a DUI or member and yeah they got toreport you know and it was his firstoffense and whatever and the cops reporthad the wrong name first and last namein like two thirds of the report and yepit’s because he had a template for DUIso when he got a DUI he was changed theroad names and changed around the fieldsobriety a little bit but he left thelast person’s name in the report youknow and yeahdefense attorneys love to see that nowho’s this person did you rescue mebehind oh wait you’re not ya are socareless with your report that youcouldn’t put the right name and so howcould you take proper observations onthe side of the road at nighttime youknow it was you know you know it was abig victory for my cousin and uh youknow I don’t know if it helped learn alesson or not but he was pretty prettypsyched about it right yes know I becamea decent report writer but boy it tookme about seven eight nine years and Ifinally the light switch finally went onand I finally got decent at it but Iwould go back and look at my reportsback in the day all they were they’reterrible yeah I hear you man I workedwith some old school guys and they werenot fan of reports and they wouldn’tknow they were they were used toI mean you legit could go to a bar fightand do a two-sentence report went to barfight I woke it up yeah I mean thatsounds awesome to me too yeah like theold DPS guy Dave Smith I think I got hisname right Dave Smith he would come outin training films but he was a funny guyand he would always say saw suspectarrested same that was his report andyou know of course you can’t do that butbut he was just yeah that’s a beautifulthing I love it hey Ken do you have anyuh any more questions for Greg no goodto gooh it’s been awesome I’ve been enjoyinglistening X no yeah hey thank you verymuch for the invite to be on your showand to to talk to you guys about policestuff it’s I tell you what it gets inthe blood doesn’t it and I am nodifferent I still listen to the policeradio the YPD Channel I watched cops I’ma junkie yeah I’m just I’m a geometrythat’s awesome Greg I gotta tell you mantalking to you lifted me up I love tosee a guy who you’re so committed you’restill you’re no slouch you’re still outthere you’re still like I said I’m likenewspaper article articles abusedslappinghigh fives to new students and it’s thisawesome n that’s that’s the way itshould be and I’m just happy for yourlong and successful career oh thank youvery much – even Kevin cannot dieappreciate itall right brother thank you thank yougoing on and we’ll be in touchhey you guys keep fighting the fight andkeep on talking to cops and is this is agreat stuff and until Christine I saidhi absolutely say thank you Greg allright have a good day take care hey guysI hope you enjoyed the episode if you’dlike to support the show go over tothings police see calm when you get onthe website there’s a few different waysyou can show some support you can donatedirectly you can do a one-time donationor a monthly donation even a buck helpsus keep the lights on over here pays ourexpenses for the month is greatlyappreciated you can also just use ourAmazon affiliate link if you just wantto buy something on Amazon like younormally dojust do it through our link and we’llget a little kickback for that so youcan go to the website and do that or inthe show notes I’ll put a link you canjust click right through that link andthe third way is you can buy some goodbuy some merch so we have coffee mugs wehave t-shirts men’s and women’s and wealso have hoodie sweatshirts now so goover two things please see calm andcheck it out you can also just listen tothe podcast there or you can apply to bea guest to scroll down to and click onbe a guest and what you want to do isjust give us a brief synopsis of your ofyour service how many years you were onthe job and just a very brief idea ofthe stories you’d like to share and Iwill get right back to you so thank youfor listening and we’ll catch you nexttimeyou[Music]English (auto-generated)
