By Ed Meckle, Retired LAPD
Vignettes—are they funny, bizarre, ironic, poignant or maybe horrific? Why do some stories stay so vivid in our memories?
Here’s another that won’t go away…
I am the day watch commander at Wilshire division, a fairly busy house and a good place to work. A “little old lady” has called the desk officer to report a suspicious vehicle parked down the street. She was sure the occupant was watching her house.
Would we please check it out? I had the area car call in and gave it to him. I asked for a call back with the disposition so I could calm “little old lady” down.
Twenty minutes later, the patrol officer called and said he had found the car.
“Yes, and there was a man behind the wheel just like the lol said.”
“Yes, and—”
“Well lieutenant, he is dead.”
When the detective came back from the scene he told me he figured the body had been there about 48 hours or so. The death seemed like a “natural” but the unusual thing was there were two parking tickets on the windshield and the body was very probably there when both were written.
I asked the traffic control officer (civilian) about it and she replied she never made eye contact with any occupants to avoid confrontation. Ok, but how about ticket number two (both written by her)?
She said she never noticed him.
I guess we can’t all be detectives—
FYI: Just the Facts, Ma’am will be on hiatus through the holidays until January 15th, 2017. Can it already be 2017?? Look for Hal’s next installment on that Sunday and Ed will resume his stories January 18th, 2017. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa and a blessed New Year to you all–whatever you celebrate.
