The Time I Ran From The Police
When I was 18 years old, I ran from the police. Now before you start assuming things let me just say that I was not "on the run" from the police, they literally chased me and searched for me for about 2 hours. It's an interesting story I've only shared with close friends. But now I share it with all of you guys, my blog readers.
Five years ago I worked at the Pizza Hut on Ironwood. I really liked working there because the people there were super easy to get along with. I remember it was a Friday night and my coworker Spencer (let's just say that was his name to protect his identity) came up to me and invited me to a party at his house. Spencer was 16 years old and was more open with me because I was the closest to his age of all our other co workers. He was telling me that his parents were gone for the weekend and that he was going to have drinks and a few friends over and wanted me to come. So I accepted the invite and told him that I would need to go home and change but I'd be there. Since I was a cook, showering immediately after work was mandatory. I don't like cheese and that's all I smelled like after work. After work I went home and showered and put on some clean clothes and headed to his house. It was about 1am.
As soon as I got to his house (he lived on Climbing Rose) I could see a few cars parked out front so I decided to park a few houses down. Walking up to his house I saw Spencer sitting on the curb smoking a cigarette. He finished his cigarette and welcomed me into his house. The second we were about to walk inside everybody was coming out of the house and saying their goodbyes to him. I even saw a few people being dragged out or carried. That's when I started to think "Wow, they've only been drinking for an hour or two and they're already shitfaced. Damn 16 year olds are lightweights." After he said goodbye to all his guests we went inside his house to see if there were any survivors and any sort of alcohol left. Once inside we saw that his friend "Rudy" (lets just say that was his name) was still there. At this point I decided that I wasn't going to drink because it was late anyway and I had to drive home. As soon as we sat down the house phone rang. Spencer picked it up. As soon as he said "hello" the expression on his face COMPLETELY changed. He just answered every question with "ok." Once he hung up the phone Rudy asked him "Your parents are coming back right now aren't they?" Spencer just shook his head. We started to clean up a little bit to try and make it look like nothing ever happened. As soon as we cleaned up Spencer decided that we needed to leave the house so his parents wouldn't see him drunk. He suggested we go to the mountain behind his house and just hang there and converse or something. We all agreed and made our way out the door.
If you know where Climbing Rose Ave is in Moreno Valley then you know that it runs along the base of Box Springs Mountain. There is also this little section of the street where there are no houses and the mountain is exposed. We followed a small trail that led behind his neighbor's houses and eventually up the mountain. As we were climbing we noticed that Rudy was getting more and more drunk. The alcohol really began to take a hold of this poor guy, so we helped him the rest of the way up. We walked for about ten minutes when we finally passed everybody's backyards and got to a view point where we could see the city. As soon as we got there Rudy said excitedly "Look what I brought!" He pulled out a bottle of vodka that he had hidden in his pant leg. He wore really baggy jeans so we didn't notice it at all. We were all so captivated by the view that we didn't really pay attention to what Rudy was doing. I had gotten a text from my friend Taco (that's his nickname but YES that's what we call him) who was at a Kansas concert at Casino Morongo. Once I text him back and put my phone away I looked for Rudy because he had stumbled away for a bit. I found him a few feet away trying to spark his lighter. Once he got his lighter to spark, a giant circle of flames surrounded him. I didn't realize that he poured out the remaining vodka around him to make a perfect circle then he LIT IT ON FIRE. As soon as the circle of flames was on fire he stood up and started to dance! He did the Beavis and Butthead laugh and said "look guys, I'm dancing in a ring of fire!"
I know what you're thinking... this guy is crazy. Trust me, I thought the EXACT same thing. Alcohol makes you do crazy things.
As soon as he said that we started to kick dirt on the flames to put the fire out. Right as we finished putting the flames out, the ghettobird (police helicopter) shined its lights on us. A voice came out of the speaker and said "Freeze! Do not move from where you are!"
Spencer then yelled "RUN!" I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think it twice and started running. I don't think I've ever ran so fast in my life. During the period when this happened I was in my high school's cross country team, and I was in peak running form. I remember looking back and leaving Spencer and Rudy way behind me. The trail that took about 10 minutes to walk felt like it took 5 second to run back, and as soon as we got back to the street, there were two cop cars parked there waiting for us. I remember seeing them from far away and thinking "This is so crazy, I was never so scared before in my life. The police are going to think we are arsonists. They are going to smell the alcohol on Spencer and Rudy's breath and blame me for it because I was older." So many thoughts ran through my head as I approached the waiting officers. As soon as I got close to them I remember I started to run even faster and ran right between the two officers. I could almost swear that they grabbed my shirt but couldn't get a grip on it. I didn't care, I just ran because it felt like my life depended on it.
As soon as I passed the officers, they started to chase me. At first I could hear their footsteps and then they started going in the opposite direction. I looked back only to see Rudy stumbling down the trail and falling down right in front of the officers. I didn't see Spencer so I assumed he found a good spot and stayed hidden in the mountain. I kept running and right when I thought I was in the clear the ghettobird focused its lights back on me. I stopped in the middle of the street and started running a different direction. the lights lost their focus on me so I took full advantage of that and hid the only place I thought I could, under someone's truck in their driveway. I saw a small Tacoma parked in a driveway and ran and laid under it. From under there I could see all the officers running by trying to find me. I could hear the ghettobird's propeller and the speaker telling the police that they lost the visual. I hid under that truck for about 30 minutes when I saw the officers walking back from the direction they were running. I could overhear them talking "Damn that kid was fast. It's alright though, we got the other one."
As a precaution I laid under that truck for about 3 hours after I heard all the commotion stop. During that time I called my friend Taco to see where he was and then my friend Justin who I worked with at my prior Pizza Hut. Taco was still at the concert but Justin said he was in town and on his way over. I told him where exactly I was at and came and got me. As soon as he pulled up, he parked in the driveway and I got out from under the truck and jumped in his van and we drove to Starbucks on Day St to let a little bit of time slide and so he could drive me back to my van so I could go home, finally. At Starbucks i explained everything that happened and we both just laughed. I felt good that I could finally laugh about it all. Eventually we drove back to my van and I drove home.
A few days later I saw Spencer at work and the first thing he told me was "Dude! I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYBODY RUN SO FAST IN MY LIFE" and we both just laughed about it. he told me that he saw a hiding spot and hid there. he ended up falling asleep in the hiding spot and got woken up when the sun came out the next morning. I asked him what happened to Rudy and he said the police took him home and talked to his parents. That was it.
In conclusion, it was a crazy night. Everybody was safe and home at the end of the night. But it's definitely a story I will remember for the rest of my life.
Five years ago I worked at the Pizza Hut on Ironwood. I really liked working there because the people there were super easy to get along with. I remember it was a Friday night and my coworker Spencer (let's just say that was his name to protect his identity) came up to me and invited me to a party at his house. Spencer was 16 years old and was more open with me because I was the closest to his age of all our other co workers. He was telling me that his parents were gone for the weekend and that he was going to have drinks and a few friends over and wanted me to come. So I accepted the invite and told him that I would need to go home and change but I'd be there. Since I was a cook, showering immediately after work was mandatory. I don't like cheese and that's all I smelled like after work. After work I went home and showered and put on some clean clothes and headed to his house. It was about 1am.
As soon as I got to his house (he lived on Climbing Rose) I could see a few cars parked out front so I decided to park a few houses down. Walking up to his house I saw Spencer sitting on the curb smoking a cigarette. He finished his cigarette and welcomed me into his house. The second we were about to walk inside everybody was coming out of the house and saying their goodbyes to him. I even saw a few people being dragged out or carried. That's when I started to think "Wow, they've only been drinking for an hour or two and they're already shitfaced. Damn 16 year olds are lightweights." After he said goodbye to all his guests we went inside his house to see if there were any survivors and any sort of alcohol left. Once inside we saw that his friend "Rudy" (lets just say that was his name) was still there. At this point I decided that I wasn't going to drink because it was late anyway and I had to drive home. As soon as we sat down the house phone rang. Spencer picked it up. As soon as he said "hello" the expression on his face COMPLETELY changed. He just answered every question with "ok." Once he hung up the phone Rudy asked him "Your parents are coming back right now aren't they?" Spencer just shook his head. We started to clean up a little bit to try and make it look like nothing ever happened. As soon as we cleaned up Spencer decided that we needed to leave the house so his parents wouldn't see him drunk. He suggested we go to the mountain behind his house and just hang there and converse or something. We all agreed and made our way out the door.
If you know where Climbing Rose Ave is in Moreno Valley then you know that it runs along the base of Box Springs Mountain. There is also this little section of the street where there are no houses and the mountain is exposed. We followed a small trail that led behind his neighbor's houses and eventually up the mountain. As we were climbing we noticed that Rudy was getting more and more drunk. The alcohol really began to take a hold of this poor guy, so we helped him the rest of the way up. We walked for about ten minutes when we finally passed everybody's backyards and got to a view point where we could see the city. As soon as we got there Rudy said excitedly "Look what I brought!" He pulled out a bottle of vodka that he had hidden in his pant leg. He wore really baggy jeans so we didn't notice it at all. We were all so captivated by the view that we didn't really pay attention to what Rudy was doing. I had gotten a text from my friend Taco (that's his nickname but YES that's what we call him) who was at a Kansas concert at Casino Morongo. Once I text him back and put my phone away I looked for Rudy because he had stumbled away for a bit. I found him a few feet away trying to spark his lighter. Once he got his lighter to spark, a giant circle of flames surrounded him. I didn't realize that he poured out the remaining vodka around him to make a perfect circle then he LIT IT ON FIRE. As soon as the circle of flames was on fire he stood up and started to dance! He did the Beavis and Butthead laugh and said "look guys, I'm dancing in a ring of fire!"
I know what you're thinking... this guy is crazy. Trust me, I thought the EXACT same thing. Alcohol makes you do crazy things.
As soon as he said that we started to kick dirt on the flames to put the fire out. Right as we finished putting the flames out, the ghettobird (police helicopter) shined its lights on us. A voice came out of the speaker and said "Freeze! Do not move from where you are!"
Spencer then yelled "RUN!" I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think it twice and started running. I don't think I've ever ran so fast in my life. During the period when this happened I was in my high school's cross country team, and I was in peak running form. I remember looking back and leaving Spencer and Rudy way behind me. The trail that took about 10 minutes to walk felt like it took 5 second to run back, and as soon as we got back to the street, there were two cop cars parked there waiting for us. I remember seeing them from far away and thinking "This is so crazy, I was never so scared before in my life. The police are going to think we are arsonists. They are going to smell the alcohol on Spencer and Rudy's breath and blame me for it because I was older." So many thoughts ran through my head as I approached the waiting officers. As soon as I got close to them I remember I started to run even faster and ran right between the two officers. I could almost swear that they grabbed my shirt but couldn't get a grip on it. I didn't care, I just ran because it felt like my life depended on it.
As soon as I passed the officers, they started to chase me. At first I could hear their footsteps and then they started going in the opposite direction. I looked back only to see Rudy stumbling down the trail and falling down right in front of the officers. I didn't see Spencer so I assumed he found a good spot and stayed hidden in the mountain. I kept running and right when I thought I was in the clear the ghettobird focused its lights back on me. I stopped in the middle of the street and started running a different direction. the lights lost their focus on me so I took full advantage of that and hid the only place I thought I could, under someone's truck in their driveway. I saw a small Tacoma parked in a driveway and ran and laid under it. From under there I could see all the officers running by trying to find me. I could hear the ghettobird's propeller and the speaker telling the police that they lost the visual. I hid under that truck for about 30 minutes when I saw the officers walking back from the direction they were running. I could overhear them talking "Damn that kid was fast. It's alright though, we got the other one."
As a precaution I laid under that truck for about 3 hours after I heard all the commotion stop. During that time I called my friend Taco to see where he was and then my friend Justin who I worked with at my prior Pizza Hut. Taco was still at the concert but Justin said he was in town and on his way over. I told him where exactly I was at and came and got me. As soon as he pulled up, he parked in the driveway and I got out from under the truck and jumped in his van and we drove to Starbucks on Day St to let a little bit of time slide and so he could drive me back to my van so I could go home, finally. At Starbucks i explained everything that happened and we both just laughed. I felt good that I could finally laugh about it all. Eventually we drove back to my van and I drove home.
A few days later I saw Spencer at work and the first thing he told me was "Dude! I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYBODY RUN SO FAST IN MY LIFE" and we both just laughed about it. he told me that he saw a hiding spot and hid there. he ended up falling asleep in the hiding spot and got woken up when the sun came out the next morning. I asked him what happened to Rudy and he said the police took him home and talked to his parents. That was it.
In conclusion, it was a crazy night. Everybody was safe and home at the end of the night. But it's definitely a story I will remember for the rest of my life.
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