Cop Shooting Continued

          Now, to continue where I left off in my previous post.

           On this particular occasion, one of the guys had knocked on the door and ran away. My mother and I became became quite frightened. That is when my mother went to her room and got her .25 caliber hand gun to protect us. She had said to me, “I have had enough of these guys getting away with this crap. Let’s go outside and wait for them to come up again. We will hold them until the cops get here.” We stepped out on the front porch and moved over in front of her car parked in the driveway just a few feet away. We noticed a vehicle pull up in front of a house several doors down with the lights off, just like Russell and Gilbert had done earlier. We were kneeling down in front of my mother’s car when we saw someone walking up into our yard towards our door.

            As we stood up, a shot rang out that deafened my right ear. I was standing next to my mother and we were both blinded by a bright light in our eyes. I could barely hear out of my right ear but heard very clearly out of the other. Someone telling my mother, “Put the gun down or I am going to shoot.” She replied, “You have done this for the last time. The cops are on the way. You are finished messing with me and my family.”

            The light that had been in aimed in our direction had moved just enough for me to see that it wasn’t Russell or Gilbert, but was a police officer instead. I had also noticed that the voice I heard was not theirs either.  Again, I heard, “Lady, lower your weapon or I’ll shoot.” I said to my mother, “Mom, that’s not Russell. Put your gun down.” She was threatening to shoot again and the officer was threatening to shoot if she didn’t put her gun down. I just knew that we were going to be shot. I finally convinced Mom that it was a cop and she slowly moved towards the front door, all the while the officer saying he was going to shoot if she took another step. I was scared to death to move.

            Once Mom put her gun down, the officer immediately called on his hand-held radio for back-up and said, “Officer down, officer down,” That is when I realized my mother had actually shot him. In a matter of just a minute or two, there were nine police cars and an ambulance in front of my house. They took my mother to one side of the yard and took me to another. I explained to the officer asking questions just what had led up to her firing her gun at the officer.

            The Captain of the officers came to our house and questioned my mother and then questioned the officer she shot. I was told that she shot the officer in the ear. The Captain told one of the officers to take her handcuffs off. She wasn’t going to hurt anyone now. They put her in a police car and took her to jail. The Captain then told me, “I wouldn’t be taking your mother to jail if she hadn’t shot the officer.”

            My mother was out of jail a few hours later. When she went to court, the judge asked her about that night and why she shot the officer. Then the judge asked me what happened. Once we both explained about the endless phone calls, things thrown at the house, knocking on the door and running away, and the police being called on numerous occasions, he wanted to talk to the officer that she had shot. He wasn’t in court that day. He was suspended, I don’t know for how long, because he got out of his car without his uniform hat, didn’t identify himself as an officer, and hadn’t called for back-up on a prowler call.

            The judge was ready to sentence my mother.  Before he did, he asked me to stand. “Young lady, I hope you have learned what NOT to do if you are ever in this type of situation again.” I said, “Yes, sir. I have. Never take the law into your own hands. But, your Honor, my mother taught me, no matter what, you always protect your family. That’s exactly what she did.” After several more minutes of contemplation, the judge asked my mother to stand to be sentenced. She stood and the judge said, “I sentence you to two years of probation, with one stipulation. You are not allowed to possess a hand gun within that two years.”

            That night, back in 1976, was incredibly scary but also taught me about the type of person I wanted to be. I wanted to be just like my mother. She was a strong, God fearing woman who raised three children almost on her own. She taught us to be honest, strong, treat others how we want to be treated, and to protect our family at all costs. I believe that is the type of person I have become.