Watering hole

Another story about that protest. I parked my police motorcycle in the right turn lane to protect the idiots who decided to sit in the middle of the entrance to this business with their hands and arms encased in pvc and steel tubes.

Needless to say, LAPD blue, ballistic vest, motor boots, and helmet don't go well with very warm weather. I'm one of those types that keeps my helmet on while in the roadway just in case some idiot motorists decides to make me a hood ornament. This is just my way of doing business whether on a traffic stop, vehicle collision scene or protest.

I feel the small inconvenience is nothing compared to being some brain mush body on a ventilator lying on a hospital bed for years when there is no hope for any quality of life.

So yes it did get warm, very warm, in fact it was just plain hot. I'm up and around the corner from the main body of protesters and where all the attention was from the road sitters.

While I stood there I noticed several protesters walk up, set up a folding table with coffee and juice. They also had a cooler full of ice and bottled water. One of our beat officers was just down the road from me. He looked as uncomfortable as I was standing on the hot asphalt roadway.

I used my NEXTEL and asked him if he wanted a cold bottle of water. He looked toward me and asked me where I had the water at. I told him it was in the cooler on the sidewalk where the protesters had set it up. He laughed and said "no".

"To hell with that" I told him. There were about four protesters present getting coffee and water. Much to the surprise of these protesters I walked up, opened the cooler and grabbed four bottles of water. They looked very surprised and said nothing (not that it would have changed things anyways).

I made the short walk down the roadway and handed the other officer two of the bottles. He began laughing saying he couldn't believe that I would take their water. Of course I played it off and told him I thought they were being very kind and considerate to bring a cooler full of cold bottled water for us.

Yeah he mentioned "No wonder you 'motor guys' are always in the shit."