11-8-16

https://youtu.be/goW05hNlilk  Strange drug bust indeed

https://youtu.be/M6EkTW6_7So  Question it yourself

https://youtu.be/Wh3u2_Vx9Vo    CCPD – try and obey the law

https://youtu.be/31llo-4h_8o  Last one

The last few days you got to see some of the stuff that my homeless friends deal with on a regular basis.

Many of these guys have stories about why they wound up on the street- these are not ‘made up’ because they tell them after I’ve known them for years.

Recently- one of the guys I’ve known for a while was telling me how he and his wife bought a new car many years ago.

[We were talking cars]

And how he was making lots of money at the time- and could afford it [BMW].

Then- his wife died [I never knew his story before- but it was not unique- I have found out the same thing has happened to others].

He went on- after his wife died- he had the expensive car in the driveway for a few months- but never drove it.

One day- he called his brother and told him ‘if you want to take the car [and pick up the payments] then do it now- because I’m going to ‘torch’ it in 15 minutes’.

It reminded him of his wife.

He told me his brother said wait- he’ll be over as fast as he can.

My friend told me he had already poured gas on the car- and his brother got there just in time.

Now- I didn’t ask him ‘is that when you went downhill’.

But I realized it probably was- he has been on the streets for years- and in prison.

This is just one of the many stories of why some people wind up on the street.

They are not all like this- but some are.

Another friend told me one day ‘John- so and so used to have a good job [not the same person mind you] and after his wife died- he threw it all away and is now a drunk on the street’.

I actually saw this friend yesterday when I was trying to find a cop at the Bluff station.

I just dropped off Crow at the hospital- Claire- who is his girlfriend- almost died.

She has been in the hospital for about a week- her stomach ‘blew up’.

She has been drinking for years- but recently was put on medicine for another problem- and it irritated her ulcers- and she almost bled to death.

Ok- I’m not making excuses for any of these people.

But just add to that- the daily fear of them not knowing if they lie down and try to sleep- because they are homeless- that in itself is considered a crime [criminal trespass].

The Salvation Army and other shelters cannot accommodate all of the homeless- they simply can’t do it.

Some are trying to rent places [another one today was hoping to rent a room- and the deal fell thru].

Some are trying- some work- most deal with substance abuse- and some with mental health issues.

Some have had ‘normal families’ in the past- and every now and then their older kids come to see them.

For all the problems they have-

The last thing these people need is for the cops- some- not all- to see them as animals.

To know that they can get away with telling them ‘Il put you in jail for a week because I can’.

And some indeed do this- and break the law by filling out false police reports.

It’s not a game- and those in charge [police chiefs] should discipline the cops that do this.

On the videos the last few days I told the case of ALLEN- who was arrested for criminal trespass because he ‘smelled like shit’.

When the judge saw this- she rebuked that cop- and said it was disgraceful that he would treat a human like that.

Yet- some go out and do it again- because they can.

I have had some of the homeless tell me they learned to keep their head down- and when an officer would say something to them [at times derogatory] that he told them as long  as they ‘keep their head down- and don’t look’- they will survive.

That’s scandalous!

That’s oppressive- that’s what you call ‘criminal behavior’.

Yet- cops do this.

So- hopefully you got a glimpse into the other side-

It’s not always what you think.