Incident Report

Three out of four agree with my New Year's Eve post. My thanks to Bill for commenting that he's interested in knowing everything about me :-)

I spent six years as a Certified Peace Officer for the State of Colorado by serving on the Edgewater Police and Jefferson County Sheriff's Departments. A large part of that experience involved report writing. We were taught at the academy that law enforcement officers are at the top of the list when it comes to work-related writing, and in retrospect I think that my ability in this respect contributed significantly toward graduating at the top of my class.

So, it occurs to me that I can convey this most embarrassing moment from the third person as if it were one of the hundreds of such reports I have had to write:

Background: Perpetrator was in the Washington, D.C. area with his family to attend Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" on 10/30/10. Perpetrator arrived at BWI on 10/28/10. On 10/29/10 perpetrator arrived by train in Washington, D.C. at approximately 1200 hours.

Occurrence: Perpetrator entered the Library of Congress security screening area at approximately 1515, emptying his pockets of their contents in addition to his watch, cell phone, hat and sunglasses and placing them on the x-ray conveyor. The perpetrator was then instructed to walk through the magnetometer, at which time he pointed to his left knee to alert security personnel to a prosthetic replacement. When the alarm sounded the perpetrator was instructed by an officer to walk back through the magnetometer at which time the alarm sounded a second time. The perpetrator was instructed to submit to verbal questioning by the officer at the x-ray station for the purpose of determining if there were still articles on his person. The perpetrator again stated that he had a knee replacement and was instructed to pass through the magnetometer a third time. A security officer approached the perpetrator and ordered him to spread his arms and legs for a wand inspection. The perpetrator complied but angered the officer by assuming the position for arrest. The officer then informed the perpetrator that he would do exactly as he was ordered or he would be charged with criminal trespass. When the perpetrator questioned the validity of the order, the officer attempted to escort the perpetrator from the premises. The perpetrator then protested the officer's authority to evict him, at which time the officer placed him under arrest. The United States Capitol Police proceeded to lock down the Library of Congress and had the handcuffed perpetrator face the wall for approximately one hour while transportation to the detention facility was arranged. Upon transport to said facility the perpetrator was booked, handcuffed to the interview room wall for approximately four hours, charged with unlawful entry and unlawful conduct, and released on his own recognizance with a citation to appear in court on 11/18/10.

I would like to be able to tell you that this was the end of it, but the D.C. court has appointed an attorney to represent me at my February 8 arraignment. I have been advised that my failure to appear will result in a warrant for my arrest, and that if found guilty I could face a year's jail time. The only word that truly describes my feelings about this whole matter is 'incredulous'! I maintained a spotless record for nearly sixty-one years until this arthritic, leukemic old man protested his treatment by an immature, poorly-trained "officer" of small stature (you always want to watch out for the short ones), and ended up guilty-until-proven-innocent of a criminally bad attitude.