Oceanside Chronicles – PD: Season 5, Episode 6

May 13, 2016
When Max and JP plan a nice day off together with a special spring event in the works, they don’t expect to have their day interrupted by a hit and run near fatal accident. The rest of the squad watches the Candlelight Vigil together.

Max slowly woke up as the sunlight streamed through the curtains of his master bedroom window.  Normally he’d have put the blinds down too, but on his days off he liked to wake up to the sunlight.  Waking up with JP snuggled in his bed beside him only made the day start better.  Thanks to rotating shifts, it was a rare occasion that they had a day off together, but this May spring day happened to be one of them.  Max rolled over to look at JP as she slept but found her eyes open and staring at him.  “Good morning,” he said with a smile.

“Good morning, yourself,” JP replied with a smile of her own.  Max started to reach for her but she rolled away and jumped out of bed.  While Max was disappointed that he didn’t get to keep her in bed, he couldn’t complain about the entertaining site as she grabbed her nightshirt to pull on.  “Come on, sleepy head,” she said with a grin. “Roll out and I’ll start making breakfast.”

The grumbling in Max’s stomach told him that breakfast was a good idea, and he turned to roll out of bed as quickly as JP had.  The sharp stab of discomfort in his side reminded him that he wasn’t one hundred percent yet.  Although his leg seemed healed and he had no pain in his thigh anymore, the abdominal injury was taking longer to heal completely.  The staples had been removed and he was able to do some exercise, but he had to be careful or the wound reminded him that he was still healing.

Pulling on his own pajamas, Max joined JP in the kitchen where she’d already started the coffee brewing and had pulled out the makings for pancakes, bacon and eggs. They got their lazy day started, both of them looking forward to the afternoon.  Max belonged to a jeep club that was participating in an event for the local AAA baseball team’s opening day ceremonies.  The team was the Oceanside Oysters and they played in the mid-Atlantic league.  Their opening game was against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs – a team from just a couple hours north of Oceanside.

Max’s jeep club had been contacted by the general manager of the Oysters and asked if they could participate by delivering team members from both teams onto the field as part of the opening day ceremony.  With almost two thousand jeeps in the club and only about sixty needed, the jeep club was more than happy to be involved. The only challenge was that shifting gears caused Max the occasional jolt of discomfort in his left side, where his wound was still healing.  So, for the sake of his comfort, they’d planned on JP driving his jeep while he would take her Challenger.  It almost seemed silly to take two vehicles, but the weather prognosticators were calling for a chance of rain and while Max didn’t much care about his jeep getting wet, he didn’t want to ride almost an hour home from the stadium in the rain with no doors or top.  He was taking JP’s Challenger just in case they needed the dry ride home and he’d make arrangements to go get his jeep the next day if need be.

The morning passed slowly as they enjoyed their breakfast in a leisurely fashion, followed by some light exercise and then showers.  By lunch time they were hungry and sleepy from the way the morning was going. After lunch they actually napped, snuggled together on the sofa.  It promised to be a relaxing day, start to finish.

 - - - - - - - - - -

At his house, Eddie and his wife Ann were preparing to host the rest of the squad.  Eddie knew Max wasn’t coming and, although he had actually been looking forward to seeing JP as well, he knew what Max was doing.  Participating in the opening day ceremonies for a ball game was a lot more fun and less somber than what the rest of the squad would be doing.

In his living room, Eddie had connected his laptop computer to his big screen television.  The squad was coming over for dinner and then they were all going to watch the annual Candlelight Vigil that was held by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and livestreamed online by Officer.com. The Vigil was an emotionally moving event and it wasn’t uncommon for various members of the squad to shed a tear while watching it.

Eddie thought about the experience as he made sure everything was ready for his guests.  It was hard to articulate how the vigil affected him.  On the one hand it was very sad and he felt the loss of every officer honored even though he hadn’t personally known a single one of them.  He viewed every officer as a brother-in-blue and he felt the loss of each one, as their name was read, as if he’d lost a member of his family.  It was hard NOT to cry during moments and emotions like those.

That understood, it was also a very rejuvenating experience.  With well over thirty thousand officers, deputies and agents traveling into Washington DC to attend the vigil and take part in all of the events around National Police Week, it was like a recharge to his personal emotional battery. He couldn’t put his finger on it, or explain it if he was asked to, but sharing the vigil experience with all of those “family” members made him feel…  “new” was the best word he could come up with.  It restored his faith in and bond with his brothers and sisters who wore the badge.

Ann helped get everything ready as well and didn’t feel inconvenienced or put out by it in the least. She’d been a police officer’s wife for Eddie’s entire career, having married him when he was still a Marine, and she understood the importance of such events to he and his squad members. She knew they’d all try to put on a good face through much of the vigil, but she also knew that at some point that evening, Eddie’d get quiet and he’d cry… and there’d be no shame in it. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be the man she’d fallen in love with, married and emotionally supported through the often trying career he’d had as a police officer and now sergeant.

With those thoughts filling their heads, Eddie and Ann prepared the kitchen, family room and patio.  If the weather held, they’d grill part of dinner and enjoy the day.  To some extent it was like a family reunion and they’d enjoy it as much as they could.

- - - - - - - - - -

Following a little bit of an afternoon nap, Max and JP were up, dressed and ready to head to the ball game.  JP had helped Max take the doors off his jeep along with the windows, and they’d folded back to bikini top.  Whatever ball player would be delivered to the field could stand up on the passenger side, hold onto the top of the windshield and be able to wave to the crowd as he was driven onto the field.  It was about an hour drive to the stadium, north and then west and they pulled out of Max’s apartment parking lot with him leading the way in her Challenger.

As they traveled north on the main highway, JP hung back a few car lengths and usually was in the same lane as Max.  During the ride, Max noticed a blue Toyota pickup truck that wasn’t keeping a steady speed and seemed to be swerving slightly in the lane.  It switched lanes several times, but no matter which lane it was in it couldn’t seem to stay centered in the lane and its speed fluctuated from as much as ten miles an hour below the speed limit to ten miles an hour over the speed limit.  Max kept an eye on the truck in an attempt to see if the driver was drunk – although it was awfully early in the day for that – or if he was driving distracted… maybe texting while driving or something else.

About ten miles up the road, Max noticed that the truck had actually adopted a steady speed, about five miles per hour over the posted fifty-five MPH limit and was seemingly stable in the fast lane.  The highway was two lanes going northbound and Max was behind the truck in the fast lane.  He checked his rearview mirror and saw that JP was in the slow lane and several car lengths back.  Right after checking his mirror, Max looked at the truck again.  What happened next Max could only articulate in hindsight; the pieces falling together only as he remembered them.

The truck seemed to accelerate and change lanes, but not all the way.  In the slow lane, just in front of the truck, was an older blue Camaro and the truck never got over all the way behind it.  Instead, the truck continued to accelerate and hit the Camaro in the left side of its rear bumper; the impact on the truck being the right side of its front bumper.  The Camaro’s back end slewed left with the impact and the driver did what s/he was supposed to do: counter-steered into the slide.  The driver also likely, out of instinct, hit the brakes causing the back tires to all but lock up while the heavy front end almost became an anchor point because of the weight of the engine. The back end of the Camaro whipped around to the right, starting to spin the car sideways, but the car slid off the road at the same time and hit the end of the guard rail side-on, bouncing off to spin the other way before coming to a stop, half in the roadway / slow lane, and half on the shoulder.

Max gave a quick glance in his rear view mirror and saw that JP was already slowing and pulling over.  He also saw, ahead of him, that the Toyota truck wasn’t stopping at all.  In fact, it was speeding up.  Driving JP’s Challenger he knew he’d have no problem keeping up with it and grabbed his cell phone with his left hand, keeping his right hand on the wheel.  He dialed 9-1-1 and hit the call button as he accelerated to keep up with the truck.

“Nine one one, what is your emergency?” came the operator’s voice.

“This is Oceanside Police Department ID # 1095,” said Max into the phone. “I’m following the striking vehicle for a hit-and-run accident that just occurred on Route One northbound, just outside the Oceanside city limits.”

There was a very brief pause before the operator said, “Yes, we’re getting calls for that accident now with another off-duty officer reported on the scene.  Can you describe the striking vehicle?”

“It’s a blue Toyota pick-up truck with a white cap,” said Max. “When I get closer I’ll get you the tag.”

“Okay,” replied the operator, and Max could hear her typing in the background. At least she didn’t preach about obeying traffic laws or being safe while he tried to catch up.  As Max watched and quickly caught up to the fleeing pick-up truck, he saw it go through an intersection, and the light immediately turned yellow. Max knew he wasn’t going to get through the light before it turned red and he wasn’t about to run it at the speed he was going.  “Damn it!” he cursed under his breath, not thinking about the operator being able to hear him or the fact that the call was being recorded.

“What’s wrong?” asked the operator.

“Nothing, ma’am,” Max replied.  “Challenges in keeping him in sight is all.”  He stopped at the intersection for the red light, looked around and realized that no one else was proceeding into the intersection.  The turn lane across from him had the green light and no one was in that lane.  Max tromped on the gas and went through the intersection against the red light, silently hoping that there were no red light cameras.  “Oops,” he said, once again forgetting the phone.

“Oops?” asked the operator.  “What oops?”

“Nothing, ma’am,” Max replied. “I forgot I was on the phone.”

The operator could hear the growl of the Challenger’s engine as Max pushed hard on the gas, accelerating to get caught up with the truck once again.  As he watched, it turned right onto Civil Street, which ironically would take it right past the county Sheriff’s office.  Not two car lengths behind the truck was a deputy and Max had no way of signaling him to stop the Toyota pick-up.

“He’s just turned onto Civil Street,” Max told the operator.  “There’s a deputy two cars behind him.”

“Understood,” came her terse reply.  The pick-up traveled down Civil Street to Militia Avenue where it stopped for the stop sign behind another car.  Max was five cars back and the deputy had turned off to go into the Sheriff’s headquarters parking lot.

“He’s at the stop sign waiting to turn onto Militia Avenue,” Max told the operator.  “I’m several cars back and might lose sight of him.”

“Can you read the tag?” asked the operator.

“No, ma’am,” replied Max.  “I can’t see it because of the other cars and the distance.”  The truck had gotten up to the stop sign and was making a left hand turn.  “Wait… he’s turning left onto Militia… and…”  He waited to see if the truck would make any other turns.  “It looks like he’s staying on Militia going north,” said Max.

“So he’s heading back toward Route one?” the operator asked.

Max thought quickly about Militia Avenue and where it ended up. “Yes, ma’am,” Max replied. “Unless he makes any other turns.”

The traffic on Militia Avenue had thinned out and all of the cars behind the pick-up truck also made the turn, allowing Max to pull up to the intersection.  He could just see the pick-up truck on Militia and was able to make the turn before any other traffic showed up.  As he once again tromped on the gas, he saw the truck turning into a shopping center parking lot.  “Okay,” Max said into his phone, “he’s turning into Atlantic Village shopping center…” He paused as he watched truck and turned in behind it.  “And he’s turning left into the parking lot.  It looks like he’s heading for the carwash.”

Sure enough, the truck pulled into one of the self-wash bays of the Atlantic Village Car Wash.  Max stopped at one end of the car wash so that he wasn’t committed to following the truck, nor to blocking the truck, but kept his options open.  In his rearview mirror he saw a deputy pull into the lot.  Switching hands so that the phone was in his right, he put down his window and gestured out of it with his left hand, waving the deputy toward the carwash.  The deputy saw his gesture and pulled up beside him, paralleling him down to the carwash.  As the deputy went to the back, where people pull in, Max went to the front where people pull out.  When they got to the bay where the pick-up truck had pulled in, Max blocked the front with the Challenger and the deputy pulled up behind the truck.

Max put the car in park, put on the emergency flashers and then got out.  If the driver in the truck decided to try to ram his way out of the carwash bay, Max didn’t want to be in the car when it happened.  He never gave a thought to the fact that it was JP’s car until after everything was done.

The driver of the truck didn’t see the deputy but he saw Max. Getting out of his truck and not seeing the deputy who was walking up behind him, the man confronted Max. “What do you want?” he asked in an aggressive voice.  Max just smiled and said, “I want you to keep your hands out of your pockets and talk to that deputy.”  He pointed to the deputy behind the man as he spoke.  The man turned and looked behind him only to see the deputy just a few feet away.

Aware that he was caught and not able to escape because of his position, the man’s entire demeanor changed.  He went from aggressive and “puffed up” to completely defeated in a half-second.  Hanging his head, his shoulders slumped, his entire body gave off the impression of, “Darn. I’ve been caught.”

More police and deputy’s vehicles pulled in.  Max found out that there were two state troopers and several deputies with JP at the scene of the accident.  He showed his credentials to an investigator who had showed up and wrote a statement for the trooper who would ultimately end up handling the accident investigation.  He learned that the driver of the Camaro was a woman and she had been badly injured. JP had been able to help a nurse who also showed up on the scene with bandaging some of the worst wounds the woman had received.  When the first ambulance showed up JP helped with extracting the woman and getting her on the backboard for the flight out… and a helicopter had been called for transport.

With their “duties” handled as far as the hit and run accident was concerned, Max and JP finished their drive over to the ballfield.  JP put Max’s jeep in line to pick up and deliver the ball players.  Max had his ticket, leaving JP’s with her, and went to find their seats, getting hotdogs, a bag of peanuts and two beers along the way.  He enjoyed watching as the line of jeeps was announced, one at a time, along with the ball player they were carrying.  Each jeep entered the stadium, drove around the outer edge of the field and dropped off the player it was carrying at the appropriate dugout.  Then it continued on around the outer edge and went back out the same entrance it had come in.  Max watched his jeep enter, drive around, pause to let out a ball player and then continue around to exit again. About ten minutes later JP found her way to the seat next to him and took her share of the food.

By the time the game was over, night had fallen, the Oysters had won and it was time to head home. The rain had held off so JP got to drive Max’s jeep home, complaining about how chilly the ride was once they got back to his place.  Snuggling solved the problem though and they fell asleep, both regretting that the alarm was set for oh-dark-thirty the next morning to wake both of them up for work.

- - - - - - - - - -

At Eddie’s it had been an enjoyable day.  Food had been eaten, drinks had been consumed.  The squad mates in attendance had gotten quiet and kind of reserved as the Candlelight Vigil played on the big screen.  By the time it was over and the names had been read, everyone felt both sad and recharged.  Hugs and handshakes were given all around as they all said good night.

Eddie and Ann headed to bed, his alarm set to the same time as Max’s – oh dark thirty.  Tomorrow as a new day and the job remained the same.

Discuss Episode 5:6 (this episode) on our forums

Editor’s Notes & Officer Survival Concerns

Episode 5:6 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:6:

Police Week is an important part of the law enforcement family experience.  If you’ve never gone to the National Law Enforcement Memorial, you should make the time to go visit.  It’s an energy filled place and, especially this week while you can visit with tens of thousands of your Thin Blue Line family members, it can truly move you.

Thank you to Elbeco Uniforms for sponsoring this episode.

Episode 5:5 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:5:

We often don’t pay attention but uniform comfort can play a big role in how efficiently we do our jobs.  Elbeco makes a wide variety of uniform designs to fit every need.

Episode 5:4 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:4:

We’d like to thank our sponsor, Elbeco, for supporting this on-going fiction crime-drama.  Check out their full line of uniforms and apparel on their website.

Episode 5:3 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:3:

With the end of spring and launch of summer there are usually a lot of bar openings, special events on beaches, etc.  They all bring with them particular risks and threats that we can only avoid or minimize so much.  Temptation grows to play hero, lone gunman, whatever.  Remember the Ten Deadly Errors and stay on your guard. The imperative is going home whole and healthy at the end of your shift.

Episode 5:2 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:2:

No officer survival comments on this one except this: We ALL have emotional turmoil that enters our life. It IS very distracting. We can’t safely work distracted like that. Talk to someone if that’s where you are in your head. Get it sorted out. DO NOT go to work that distracted and unfocused.  It can get you killed.

Episode 5:1 forum link

Officer Survival & other comments on Episode 5:1:

Few outside our profession can relate to the fears and complications associated with any shooting situation.  They’re not usually aware of how politics can impact police work in all the wrong ways.  As we can see in this story, the significant other (JP) of an injured officer (Max) is having her doubts about the relationship due to her own fears of lost stability. We also get to listen in on the conversation between the Mayor and the Chief and see how their concerns are different.  Be that as it may, the Mayor’s concerns WILL impact how the Chief acts or reacts because ultimately he answers to the Mayor. Please remember to visit our supporter for this episode: Elbeco Uniforms. Great products to cover you in all your uniform needs. 

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