i'm giving this kid a pass as his crime is mostly stupidity and negligence and the penalties against him would be draconian
here is the deal. he is on probation for some sort aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. it appears that this was some sort of what we would have called back in teh day (at the risk of being not PC here) a "latin" thing. as a first offender, he could plead guilty for it and get probation, so that is what he did. now if i stick him with hit and run, we are looking at 5 years in the pokey . if it were 30 days in teh hole, maybe i'd just send him there, but this is 5 years in the big house. and what was his crime? ok, he and his illegal buddy decide that it would be interesting to drive hid dad's work van backwards around the neighborhood. only this is harder than it looks as it's a pretty curvy hilly neighborhood and lots of cars are parked on the narrow street. so they come around a turn and lose it right into my 300TD. what he needed to do at that point is call the cops and say he accidently backed into this car. then they'd come out and file a police report and give him a 75 dollar ticket. but instead, on accoujnt of fear, he and his friend decided to back teh car into the woods and run. so now he is screwed with a hit and run and his probation becomes prison time. he is 19 years old and going to college. what does anyone gain by putting him away for 5 years? he and his dad came over a few minutes ago. his dad is a hard working colombian immigrant who is losing his kids to the american life. unfortunately , this is heavy gang country here (i've mentioned previously that i used to hand out with indian and pakistani gang bangers, many of whose parents were also decent law abiding people who have lost control of their kids) and it is very easy for young people to get involved in very stupid stuff. dad is plenty pissed off at him and thinks that he should "pay" for what he did. I say i agree, but 5 years in prison is not payment for what he did. plus, upon his release he will not just be a stupid kid, but a hard man who is a criminal. there is no benefit to punishment. my suggestion is that the kid goes to disappear for a couple of weeks (i thought miami was a good idea as he is fluent in spanish) until everything is settled up and to just stay far away from the situation and let me and dad sort it out. so, you see, i am a real old school seventies bleeding heart liberal despite all my john birch and neo-confederate leaning. in the end, unlike most of our so called leftists, i am walking the george mcgovern walk. what is consistent from before is that my encounter with the perps is much more pleasant and rational than my encounter with the police. the initial office to respond demanded my license and proof of insurance and spent about 20 minutes looking around my property and taking notes. he ran every one of my license plates. after i obliged him in this gestapo approach, i asked him if he might now want to go look for hte van, to which he told me he had no interest in the van and continued to look about my property taking notes. he speaks to me this whole time with disdain and anger. when he refuses to look for the van, i tell him that i will go look for the van myself and report back to him if he is still there. i find the van and return and he is still there running tags and taking notes looking to "get" me on something. i tell him i found the van. he tells me he saw that van before and that it doesn't look like it's been moved in a while. i tell him i examined the van and the evidence is there. he reluctantly goes to look at the van. i know i've hit paydirt when the entire armada of police come down to the "crime scene". must have been 5 cars show up. one of the cops drives by and tells me that the car is registered and has insurance and i should be able to have a police report by next tuesday or wednesday. he is a friendly cop. i tell him that is a long time so can he give me the address of the perp so i can get teh information sooner. so he gives me their address. i wait for all the cops to leave and then get a sandwich and stake out the perps house. a woman pulls up in a yellow late mode suv and goes into the house. i figure now is a good time for an interview. so i ring the bell and start asking about insurance information. withing moments the driver of hte car shows up on foot. seems he too has been staking out the house. he start lying ot me about how he didn't have anything to do with hitting the car, but quickly makes a mistake by overplaying his hand. he "knows" his van didn't do it because he "saw" the car that did. poor fella is just dead now and it is only a matter of moments until i obtain a full confession. (i always knew that watching the wire was a practical education!) i think explain to him that i'm not interested in getting anyone in trouble, but it's just business and i have to get paid on this. i'd rather do it without involving the police, but if forced to call them, i will. then i get sympathetic (sincerely, actually, as i did feel bad for the kid) and say "look, obviously you are in some trouble with the law or you wouldn't have run. you say you were in the van, my car has your van's paint on it and the van has my car's paint on it. i don't like the police any more than you do and have no desire to involve them . let's just be straight with each other and figure this all out" so he tells me the truth and explains how his friend is an illegal and he is in 5 years probation, so they just ran. he offers to give me his car in exchange. he suggests that he pay me over time. i suggest that i've done enough for him and really am not going to put him on a credit plan. i tell him that when his dad comes home, the two of them should come visit me, which is were this post starts. so today i function as attorney, detective and priest. i think i did a great job, no? and at the end of the day, i will get paid by dad's insurance, will have the gang kid "owing me one" and will probably get his dad to start cutting my lawn at deep discount. sometimes i can still be fond of the american way of life. On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 7:35 PM, Tom Hargrave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The hood ornaments were stolen off three Mercedes in my driveway one > Friday > night. > > We were heading out the next Saturday morning, I discovered the "damage" > and > my youngest Son found a drivers license in the front yard. > > When I got back home, I called the police then I looked up the phone > number > that belonged to the address on the license. I called the number & asked > for > the name on the license. His father woke him up (at 11:30 AM) and I > explained to him that three hood ornaments were missing off three of my > Mercedes and I found his license in the front yard and the police were on > their way over to my house. > > He stammered & then stated that he misplaced his license the day before & > he > did not know how it ended up in my front yard. > > When the police stopped by, I handed over the license and told them that I > had called the kid. They grinned and one said "I know, he called us to > explain that he was no-where near your house last night and we have two > officers over there right now". > > They completed the investigation at my house then went over to the kid's > house. > > I received a call 45 minutes later - one of the officers explained that > the > two had confessed (the license owner and a neighbor), that he had all > three > hood ornaments lying on the table in front of him and wanted to know if I > wanted to press charges. Then he said "Wait second, something else has > developed - I'll call you back" > > He called a few minutes later to explain that an entire box of hood > ornaments was brought out of the kid's room and that the decision to press > charges was no longer in my hands. > > I received a call one week later from the case investigator. He explained > that the parents had come in and literally cried all over his desk. He > asked > if I wanted to press charges. He suggested strongly that I did not press > charges because neither had gotten in trouble in the past, providing I had > them replace all three hood ornaments. I asked him how many hood ornaments > were in the box and he stated "lots" but would not give a number. He also > explained that he had to make the same call to the other Mercedes owners. > > I gave him the models of all three Mercedes, 1972 289SEL 4.5, 1975 240D, > 1986 300E and two weeks later the parents & both "kids" came over with > three > very expensive hood ornaments, purchased from the local Stealership. Both > "kids" were trembling. > > I found out later that the "kids" were 21 & 22 years old - hardly kids at > all. I should have looked closer at the license and should have pressed > charges. > > Thanks, > Tom Hargrave > www.kegkits.com > 256-656-1924 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Gary Hurst > Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 5:59 PM > To: Banned List; Mercedes Discussion List > Subject: [MBZ] my 81 300TD smashed today in hit and run > > i've spent the afternoon tracking down the cultprits. turns out to be > just > stupid kids doing stupid things, so it seems i will spare them the wrath > of > the criminal justice system and left their house with "have your dad call > me > when gets home" > > more details to follow later. it has been an interesting afternoon and > one > pretty consistent with what we were talking about before. > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ > For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.22.3/1354 - Release Date: 4/1/2008 > 5:38 AM > > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.22.3/1354 - Release Date: 4/1/2008 > 5:38 AM > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ > For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
