Non-Arrests

 

West 155 St. and Amsterdam Ave. At this location two non-arrest situations occurred.





First, my partner and I responded to a fight which involved a man with a large machete. He was threatening another neighbor over some family matter. I told him to drop the knife and he did not comply. As he was distracted by my partner, I struck his wrist with my nightstick. After settling the argument he asked if he could have the knife back. I told him I’ll give you the knife if you want to be arrested.

Second, as I was on routine patrol, I saw an elderly male Black with a gun in his waistband. As I exited the RMP (Radio Motor Petrol), I said, "Sir can I have a word with you." Before he could answer I grabbed the gun which I knew was a WW2 Walther P-38. He told me that he was a combat WW2 veteran and had been in many battles including the Battle of the Bulge. He further stated that he had taken the pistol off a captured German soldier.

He said he now felt threatened in his own community. I said, "go home sir, the war is over" and I would not arrest him but rather voucher the weapon as found property instead of arrest. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. A famous U.S. Supreme Court justice once said, “that the law is often what the local police officer says it is”.

On Friday and Saturday nights we often had to go into the Inwood section of the 34th Pct. to break up the large so-called Irish bar fights. They were like hockey fights and often they would say, “hit me over the head with your nightstick, but don’t put me in jail."

In those days you put the bubble light on and hit the siren, there may have been a few heads cracked but usually no arrests effected. Just like in a hockey fight they don’t hit the refs. I think the only time I used my nightstick was to disarm that machete wielding person. After me he probably would have been shot.

Handling emotional disturbed persons is one of the most challenging assignments for any police officers, usually the taser has little effect and the department experimented with a large fork. About a month after the Elinor Bumpers shooting, me and my partner experienced a similar situation of a knife wielding female, this time emergency service members disarmed her with thankful different results. Note we were trained that an armed person with a knife can close the distance from about seven feet before you can draw your revolver.

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First Gun Arrest

 

Usually I was assigned to a foot patrol but on the day of my first gun collar I was assigned to an RMP (Radio Motor Patrol).  We received a call 10-30, Robbery in progress, man with a gun w143 st. and Broadway, liquor store. As we were a block away we pulled up and surprised the young robber. Before we cuffed him, he handed me his jacket in which later I recovered the pistol. His mother went to the precinct and said her son was innocent and that I had planted the gun on him. I told her I’ll see you in court tomorrow. 

 

Well in those days if you didn’t get a ride you took the iron horse downtown. On the train I met the mother and she says she heard that things are bad at Rikers. Is there anything I could do? I told her I would talk to the Assistant District Attorney as this was his first offense. The judge released him into her recognition. As we walked out of court, she thanked me. I learned that no child is ever guilty in a mother’s eyes.

I then went across the street to the famous bar, Marofi’s for a pastrami on rye from the Hawk. The court house was located in lower Manhattan, 100 Centre street, the infamous Tombs. Marofi was a bar behind the court house where Judges, ADAs, and defense attorneys settled a lot of cases over pastrami and rye and of course a pint of suds.

In my ten years I effected 22 arrests, mainly because my other assignments would soon take me off the streets. In a new assignment I would become the Station house officer, a position held by Lieutenants for more than 100 prior years. The
Police Department was evolving at a very fast rate as society was.

Maybe I should have prefaced that never in my career did I fire my revolver, but I was prepared to do so.To this day I thank the Lord.


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