My Night With the California Highway Patrol

Hours of routine, moments of terror

A large part of my career as an author involves doing research.  I do a lot of it.  This week I had the privilege of working the 2 - 10 pm shift with California Highway Patrol officer Hernandez.   To say that I respect these men and women is a gross understatement.  It is impossible to know what they face on a daily basis without actually experiencing it.  Between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., we responded to two fatal accidents.  There is a world of difference between rubbernecking by an accident on the freeway and actually standing at the scene with glass crunching under your boots, and a close-up look at the carnage.  Inexplicably, the thirty-something woman had run into the back of a big rig at a high rate of speed, causing her Jeep to overturn.  There was the dark humor among officers at the scene, and there was the human element of items spilled on the road.  Everyday things, like tissue boxes, baby blankets, Starbuck's  cups.  The driver was dead and she had no more use for those mundane things.  From there it was on to a motorcycle fatality on Angeles Crest, but we were a half-hour away, so by the time we arrived, the deceased man was gone and the motorcycle was just being towed away on a flatbed.  I thought those events would be very upsetting to me, but they took on the quality of a job to be done, a situation to be dealt with, and in that environment, there wasn’t time to spare on hand-wringing emotion.  There were tire skids to be measured, debris to clean off the road, and a lot of paperwork to be done.

Hernandez then worked radar on the 14 until 5 p.m.  I got out of the car with him at each traffic stop and watched traffic, and the drivers he stopped.  It was loud.  Traffic roaring by was dirty, deafening and more than a little bit scary.  After several stops, and a plethora of excuses by the drivers, the sun was low in the sky.  We took a dinner break.  Hernandez knew the waiters at the Mexican restaurant and he definitely got us the best food and service in the Antelope Valley.   I was surprised by how dark it got while we'd been at dinner.  Hernandez said I could holster my gun and wear it, and I did so. We entered the 14 and immediately noted a Chevy Cobalt, weaving, cutting other drivers off, and speeding.  We got into a short pursuit at 100+ miles per hour, and the guy tried to ditch us by exiting the freeway and scooting into a McDonald's parking lot.  It didn’t work.  Hernandez did a double-take, asked me where he’d gone, and I told him, “McDonald’s!”  Hernandez hemmed the driver in, placing the front of the patrol car near the driver’s door of the Cobalt.  There was that heart-stopping moment, when we could not see the driver’s hands, and Hernandez exited the patrol car with his gun out.  But then the driver gave up and looked like he was going to cry. He was embarrassed, and said he was sorry for running away.  I was standing next to Hernandez, and the child driver, and the kid just kept saying, “I’m sorry, man.  I didn’t mean to run.”  He was 20 years old.  And he had a good reason to be running.  His rap sheet for traffic violations filled up the entire screen on Hernandez’s computer. 

After stopping several more speeders and zany drivers on the 14 - in complete pitch darkness - I began to appreciate the presence of my gun.  There's always that question:  why are they driving like such a******s?  You never know who they are or what they’ve done.  And most of the time, in our case, back-up was at least 20 minutes away. 

Finally, it was back to the station at 10, where Hernandez downloaded the information regarding the day's work onto the CHP computer from his thumb drive.  I got to tour the station, ask any questions, and be escorted back to my BMW.  I locked my gun back up in its case, and by the time I made the 50 mile drive back to Newhall, I was pretty tired.  And very knowledgeable about how to do traffic stops.

I am a writer.  I am nosey.  And I will never stop doing research, no matter what it involves.  I may have to board a submarine next, and go to Washington D.C.  I try never to write about anything I haven't done or any place I have not visited.  The next half of my life will hold adventure.  From young mom of three, timid and cautious, to cliff climbing, shooting ranges, riding with the CHP and beyond - Life is a constant learning experience.  My book is due out this summer.  "God's Sparrow" is a suspense and crime novel, and I have high  hopes for this one. 

To all in law enforcement:  I salute you, and thank you. 

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Carole]

This is very interesting. So are you a cop or did you just go along for the research end of things so you could write about this? They will allow that? Wow...this was another great story. Full of information. Life in the Cali. P.D. You did a great job explaining the night. Excellent. I feel like I was in the back seat. :-)

[Wanda S. Paryla]

This is an excellent account of your time with CHP. I found your take on the "mundane" items lying around and how, indeed, the woman would not longer need these; however, sad to know there was a baby blanket among these items. Perhaps now, there's a child with no mommy, and the dead woman is actually humanized. Your book is sounds very interesting to me. I like the way you write (all your writing), you're very professional.