Here he comes to save the day!

[White Warlock]

That was a line my little sister used to love to toss out, when describing me to her friends. Those of you who don't know it, it's from a cartoon called Underdog, about a caped dog that pretty much acts like Superman... except he's a dog, going out with a dog... defending dogs... in a dog world.

 

Anyway, the subject title was just to drag you in here.

 

This friday, me... the inobtrusive boring citizen, once again helped put someone behind bars. Now, you could be going, "what is this?! Looking for people to pat you on the back?" Well, maybe... but also because i wanted to bring up this interesting topic... and what better way than to do so by starting out by talking about how i had yet another opportunity to apply my martial arts skills in a real-life situation:

• 11:30pm and i'm about to drive out of the movie/mall parking lot, when i see a security guard on his spoofed up golf cart, high beaming these two guys behind the building, then noticed a police car shoot into the lot to the site. As the police car stopped, the two guys took off running. Conveniently, the larger and faster was running toward my car, so i threw my car in park, pulled out my keys (effectively turning off the car), tossed them in the back (where i have tons of junk for them to get lost in) and stepped out and to the front of my car.
   
  The guy running toward me saw what i was up to and said, "Don't even think about it man!" At which point my sarcasm slipped out and i responded with a short, "Too late."
   
  Maybe it was my sarcasm, my determined stance as i sat on my hood, or the mere fact he was looking for the path of least resistance, but the guy decided to change directions and head to his right... to the main road. A little annoyed that he wasn't going to make it too easy, i used my hood as footing to jump in his direction, took a few steps, grabbed him, swung him around and put him face first into a nice patch of grass that served as the mall's garden perimeter. Without much thinking about it, i parked my knee in his lower back and had his arm casually twisted up in the air near my side. Can't even recall what hold i had on him, only that he didn't even try to resist at that point, and that i wasn't putting any degree of pain on him.
   
  Maybe it was my sarcasm, my determined knee on his back, or the mere fact that i threw him around and into the ground with far too much ease (sounds like i'm exagerrating, but it really was far too easy), but he merely begged me to let him go. Of course, when the cop started running over, his begs turned into defeated curses, but yet... he still did not test my hold.
   
  And so i watched as the cop performed a very rude and not necessarily skilled arm lock on the poor guy, then proceeded to cuff him. I walked back to my car, with the cop not saying anything to me. I then hunted for my keys and found them. I poked myself out of the car again so i could get comfortably into the front seat, and the cop, towing the suspect along, was walking up to my car. He asked me why i took the suspect down.
   
  For a second there i was stumped, but then confusedly responded, "because he was running from you." At which point the cop said, "okay" and that was that. The cop walked off with his suspect and I drove off in my car, perplexed.

It's been 3 days, and i'm still scratching my head.

 

Not a thanks, no respect or courtesy whatsoever from the cop, and... i'm left wondering if his lack of talk to me was done as a means to protect me from opening up my mouth and saying something that could possibly provide this suspect something to target later. Then again, maybe he was just one helluva rude cop. It's just that, usually when i help out the local authorities, they at the very least thank me and then toss in a reminder that i should be careful.

 

And so... i continue to scratch my head.

[Ironberg]

Personally, you did your community a service apprehending a possible theif, mugger, drug dealer, or whatever scum-bucket that he was. It doesn't matter whether the cop was rude to you or not, you know in your own heart that you stepped outside your own comfort zone to do something out of the ordinary (you didn't cowwer inside your car). You should feel pretty good inside - and feeling good inside doesn't require a pat on the back.

 

Now I'm not saying that you wanted the recognition or pat on the back - that is for you to determine and judge your own motives.

[Jiyn]

i agree with ironberg that you shou8ldent need a pat on the back because you should feel good about what you have done.

[Sasori_Te]

You probably made the cop feel fairly inadequate. A lot of the cops that I know have a bit of a "Rambo/Robocop" attitude. You took the glory away from him and did it easily where as he may have had to work harder for it. Good job, even if it was a bit ill thought out.

[delta1]

Good job!

 

The officer should have got your particulars and a statement, since you got involved, even if he did neglect to say thanks. Doesn't sound like he was much of a cop all around. Maybe you should consider a career change?

 

One thing, though...

it's from a cartoon called Underdog, about a caped dog that pretty much acts like Superman... except he's a dog,

 

I thought that line was from Mighty Mouse, a cartoon about a mouse that wore a cape and pretty much acted like Supermand, except that he was a mouse, and went around saving mices.

 

Underdogs famouse line was "You knew the job was dangerouse when you took it, Fred!" No, wait,... that was Superchicken- a cartoon about a chicken that wore a cape and pretty much acted like Superman, except ...

[WolverineGuy]

I thought it was mighty mouse as well. Nice job though.

[kotegashiNeo]

yes mighty mouse for sure

[White Warlock]

Ah yes, you're right. It was Mighty Mouse. Dang... it's been so long since i watched cartoons.

You should feel pretty good inside - and feeling good inside doesn't require a pat on the back.

 

Now I'm not saying that you wanted the recognition or pat on the back - that is for you to determine and judge your own motives.

Agreed, it does not. However, it does, on occasion, help to obtain affirmation of your actions or deeds from others. Regardless, much of the reason i posted about this was not about attempting to obtain a 'pat on the back,' either from the cop or from this community. Such was posed mostly in jest.

 

What really encouraged me to post about it was that the cop left me pondering as to just what purpose i had served there. Had i captured the suspect of a crime, or grabbed a guy that just-so-happened to choose that particular moment to practice his running skills? Did i unwittingly provide unnecessary paperwork for the cop, or did I offend this cop by me being so uber and him being so lame? Was my assistance appreciated by that cop in particular, but some sort of policy exists within the local department that states not to encourage community assistance? Did he not detain me because he hoped not to include me in his report... to brush it under the table, as it were... thereby relieving me of immediate, or possibly even future burdens? Etc etc etc...

 

Let's face it... i'm a heavy thinker. *scratch* *scratch*

Good job, even if it was a bit ill thought out.

Hehe... i'm glad someone noted this. I did spend a microsecond or so to examine the situation and made the determination this person didn't have any hidden weapons. But, i could have been wrong... and thus slated for the morgue. I wasn't, so should i pat myself on the back for being able to accurately assess the situation... or should i toss it to luck? I'm inclined to do the former, but do see the logic in considering it the latter.

 

Granted, all of this is after-the-fact, but i've always considered it important to review such events.

[Red J]

Most of the super-heroes I know choose to be anonymous. In this case the officer probably did you a favor. If you had injured the guy, and he knew who you were, you could have your day in court.

 

...and so Mr. Warlock, why exactly did you pounce from the hood of your car onto the neck of my client...how did you determine how much force to use...are you some kind of vigilante...etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.

 

You get my point. Of course it all could of been about the paperwork and being rude. I just think that anonymity works better for you in this instance than does fame or noteriety.

[gheinisch]

First Warlock let me say that you did a great job and your community a service with your action. Secondly I'm glad everything went well and you didn't get hurt in any way. As far as the unappreciative policeman that could be any of those things that you mentioned. One thing you said that I find intresting is the response the gentleman had during your brief conversation with him, "Don't even think about it man!" At which point my sarcasm slipped out and i responded with a short, "Too late." He could have changed direction for any of those reasons given but let me add one. Our Hanshi used to do some bouncing and body guarding and often had to put himself into bad situations. In one incidence a guy told him that "He was going to beat the living expletive out of him" Our Hanshi simply asked "Have you ever beat the living expletive out of me before and if not what makes you think you can do it now?" At that moment he placed doubt into the aggressors mind and turned the advantage in his favor. The guy soon backed down and left without any further problems. So long story short, your guy might have seen your confidence and from your comment to him may have put doubt in his mind. Advantage to you! My two cents! Congrats on a job well done!!