Thursday, July 23, 2020

Run-in with the Law back in the States back in the day

Reading today what to say if one is being dragged off the street into an unmarked vehicle by guys with no identifying uniforms or explanation. That reminded me of some responses I've given to police in less threatening situations. Once I was stopped at the road going over the hill from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. I was coming from Muir Beach on the way to Bolinas returning Liz Tuomi's harpsicord to her. It had been at Sam and Jan Keen's in Muir Beach for a while so Liz and Jan could play - Jan the flute. They were both excellent. I was there when they first played. "What do you do when you make a mistake?" Jan asked. "I don't make mistakes," Liz said. "I don't either," said Jan. I was driving the Keen's Volkswagon bus. A highway patrolman stopped me right by what people in the area called Four Corners - the road from Mill Valley coming up and going down to Muir Woods and the road over the hill from Highway 1 back to Highway 1. There was no tag on the liscense plate. I told the officer I was just doing a friend a favor, that it was his vehicle. Officer said that didn't matter, that the driver got the ticket. I said, "Tell you what. Sam lives right back down there in Muir Beach. Follow me, I'll get him down into the vehicle and if he fights the ticket, I'll turn state's evidence." That made him laugh pretty hard and he waved me on. 

1 comment:

  1. What year was that? Not much different from my experiences with "the law" 50 (and more) years ago. Here in Italy it's like California back then, civil and rational. Tonight I played soccer with Carabinieri and am still amazed that they are actually part of the community,not "us vs them". The US is in very, very bad shape.

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