All about the Crab Legs
One day while I was doing traffic stops in a pretty busy area, a small red car went flying by me. I couldn’t see how many people were in it or even whether a man or woman was behind the wheel. The only thing I was certain of was their speed and that was way above the speed limit. I caught up to the car and put on my blue lights. The red car slowed down but didn’t come to a complete stop. They then slowly turned into a very large apartment complex. This got my adrenaline level just a little bit up. From my experience, when drivers behave in this manner, they are usually trying to hide a wrong by getting into their house. That something wrong could be as simple as driving with an expired registration or a more serious offense such as being in possession of drugs. I have seen both and many other things in between. Not wanting the driver to get into their assumed place of residence, I turned on my siren and immediately called for backup. The car eventually abruptly stopped and I prepared myself for anything to follow next.
I walked up to the car and saw that a woman was driving and that a man was in the passenger seat. Both of them looked to be pretty young. The man seemed relaxed, but the woman on the other hand looked upset. The car also smelled like two things; marijuana and crabs. I politely introduced myself and before I could tell her the reason for the stop the woman yelled “Why did you stop me!” “Well, ma’am” I calmly continued, you were speeding,”
“I don’t care!” She said, “I’m on the way to eat my lunch so hurry up.” I sighed and said, “Let me have your license please.” With an annoyed huff, she said “I don’t have one.” I looked at her bewildered and asked “Like you don’t have it on you or you don’t have one in general?” “I. don’t. have. one.” She said again but this time slowly as though she perceived me to be hard of hearing. “What’s your name?” I proceeded to ask. She told me her name was Ariel and I went to check that in my system. Sure enough, her license was suspended. I asked the male for his license. When I checked it I saw that his name was Eric and that it was actually only an ID.
Eventually, my backup officer arrived. I told Ariel to exit the vehicle. “Ma’am you are going to jail for driving on a suspended license,” I said and “Whatever” was Ariel’s reply. She turned around and I put her in handcuffs without any resistance. “Let’s go to my car,” I said to her. Ariel didn’t move and said, “I am not going anywhere without my crab legs.” “What?” I asked again in an incredulous manner. “ I just bought some crab legs. Take them with me to jail so I can eat them.” I tried not to laugh at something so silly out of respect. “Ma’am they aren’t going to let you eat that in jail” I explained to her. “Fine. Take me out of handcuffs so I can eat them. I am not going anywhere until I do.” “Ariel. Walk over to my car before I move you.” I said. “ I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY CRAB LEGS.” she shouted. I reached for Ariel’s arm to guide her to my car but she jerked away from me and just began to scream. Not the kinda scream when one is scared but an angry one. I just stood there and took a deep breath. I glanced over at Eric and he seemed mortified. He tried to get Ariel to calm down but she just kept on screaming. I walked up to Ariel and picked her up like a sack of potatoes even though she kept screaming and tried kicking her way out of my grip. It didn’t work. My backup opened the door to my car and I tossed her in the back seat. “My crab legs!” Was the last thing I heard as I shut the door of the carl.
As I walked to continue my job, Eric just said “Sorry man.” “It’s ok,” I responded. I searched the car and found two things. Marijuana in Ariel’s purse and crab legs. After that it was finally time to drive Ariel to jail. Ariel grumbled about her crab legs for a while but all of a sudden stopped. “Turn around and get my purse. You said that you would bring it with me, she muttered.” I thought about it for a moment and she was right; I did say that. But that was well before she began to scream and kick at everyone and everything she saw. Acting the fool made me forget about the purse. “Sorry about that but we are almost at the jail so we are not going back.” “Go ahead and turn this car around,” Ariel said. I didn’t respond. Ariel cleared her throat ahem “I said go ahead and turn this car around. Get my purse and my crab legs.” “Ma’am you must have forgotten the situation you are in. You are under arrest. You don’t give the orders.” For whatever reason she just grumbled something but stayed quiet.
I got to the jail and finished some paperwork. While I was doing that, I let Ariel call her mother and she immediately started insulting me. She told her mom how I was an awful person. All of a sudden I could hear Ariel’s mom yell; “Shut up girl!” She then continued “You did all of that and this officer didn’t rough you up and still let you call me?. Stop talking and tell him thank you.” I was stunned and apparently so was Ariel. She didn’t say a thing. Then her mom yelled again “I SAID TELL HIM THANK YOU!” Ariel quietly said, “Thank you, Officer.” Somehow without laughing, I managed to say you’re welcome. Ariel’s mom then thanked me herself. Ariel was dead silent the rest of the time while she was in custody.
Later that day, I told my friend what happened and she said “I would have reacted the same way if someone stopped me from eating my crab legs.” Now I know what to do if ever in the same situation again.
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