A funny thing happened on the way to the Methadone Clinic

I had my vintage VW Beetle out for a spin and was thoroughly enjoying the sound of my new exhaust system, carb, speaker system, and fancy rims. I drove all over town but my eyes were distracted, which gave me pause to pull over and watch the real drama unfolding before my eyes, across the sidewalk from a local Methadone Pub (Clinic). It appeared that three young black men were “hanging out”, laughing and having fun joking around as a police cruiser literally flew alongside with lights spinning and siren turned on. The young men were clearly as rattled as I was and I was just watching from the safety of my car!

I don’t know what the purpose of this stop was, or will I ever, but I will never forget the struggle that ensued. Two men bolted and the cops (two out of three) swarmed the third remaining man. They pinned him together against the trunk of the car they had been standing behind. It soon became clear that he wasn’t going easily. I saw one officer reach for his duty belt and pull out a canister of Mace or Pepper spray and emptied it “point blank” into the man’s (alleged “perp’s) face and sweeping it back and forth across the eyes and nose area until it was empty. One cop on each shoulder pinning him down with a face covered in defense spray, this guy was still flailing wildly kicking like a Georgia mule, and at every moment, almost squirming free. His strength appeared like two men. The third policeman now steps up and hits him in the chest area with a stun gun….no effects…gives him a second burst, but visibly shaken at this point the man fought on. The cop steps up and hits him a third time and he finally “took a knee”, to borrow an old boxing term. He was not “down and out” though by any means, but the police were able to finally “cuff him” and get him (just barely) into the paddy-wagon that had showed up as the titanic struggle was going on. I’m sure the scene at the station would have been worth seeing, as too many people had collected in the urban neighborhood to watch the scene, and the police were on their best behavior…considering the circumstances.

This whole thing disturbed me at a gut level. It gave me pause to think about many things. Why did the cops treat this guy so badly. I decided that he was a “bad guy” and must have had a warrant out surely, for them to zero in on him like a Tomahawk cruise missile. Second, the man’s resistance to “police strength” Mace, and subsequent shocks from the 3rd officer’s stun gun, repeated (3) times, and they barely got him restrained. These cops BTW, were “big boys” about 6′ – 6′ 2″, around 215 to 230 pounds, with bulging muscles and experience in this kind of work. So what went wrong?

I did call a young man who is employed as a policeman in a neighboring township and told him about what I saw and my reservations about the effectiveness of self defense spray and stun guns. He said “I’ll call you back in about 15 – 20 minutes”. Upon receiving his call he explained that the man was a known street pusher, selling crack cocaine to the captive audience as they went in and out of the drug clinic. Drug testing also showed the man to have had a large amount of crack in his system at the time following his arrest. Great place to set up shop, if you’re a dope dealer. I’ll give him an A- for entrepreneurship, the “-” being for not knowing that such places draw a lot of heat from the metro police, due to the very nature of the area he set up shop in.

This young policeman spent a few minutes relating other stories where drug and/or booze addled “perps” had resisted with such strength that it just wasn’t easy to believe unless you were there. He told me flatly that “some perps” just don’t respond to these measures (defense sprays – stun technology) and more forceful or brutal methods must be employed (like the triple team I had witnessed).

I spend a lot of time researching the effectiveness of self defense weapons and techniques to put “bad guys down” or gain an advantage to escape or mount a counterattack. This story was meant to relay the message that sometimes almost nothing works short of being a skilled runner, gun fighter, or just a plain bad ass. There are mace, and stun gun resistant criminals out there folks so be on your guard and don’t be in bad places at the wrong time. Know your city’s “trouble hotspots”, and be aware of your surroundings wherever you are traveling, whether going out to the club, your route to work and back, or where you want to go for a jog. Alert, aware and prepare my friends…they’re out there and they want YOU!!!