Kidnapping With a Happy Ending

So there I was…


It had been a relatively quiet night as far as the ghetto goes, so I was 
driving around looking to catch a drunk driver.  I had seen three already, 
but each time I saw them I was en route to another more important call for 
service.


Suddenly, the dispatcher sent me to a domestic disturbance only a few blocks 
from the substation.  She sent a Sergeant as my cover.  Normally Sergeants 
don’t get dispatched to calls, but there wasn’t anyone else to do the job.


So, being too far away, I drove too fast.  That’s the good thing about 
working midnights ­ I can put to use all that high performance driving 
training they gave me.  Anyway, I pulled up to the house and the victim’s 
daughter ran outside screaming hysterically.  She told me her mom had driven 
away and her stepfather was walking around the neighborhood looking for her. 
  She said that the stepfather threatened to “slice her up” when he found 
her, too.


She was on the phone with her mother at the time, and suddenly freaked out 
even worse than she had been.  She started screaming, “He’s got her!  He’s 
got her by the 7-11!”  She thrust the phone up to my ear and I could hear 
some hysterical woman screaming at the other end, but I couldn’t tell what 
she was saying.


I ran back to my cruiser and ­ much to my own dismay ­ tossed the brand new 
piping hot cup of coffee out the window.  I’ve learned from past 
experiences, you know.  Anyway, I drove too fast once again to the nearest 
7-11 (Jet Wing Dr. and Fountain Blvd.), which was only about two blocks 
away.  I figured since the guy had been walking around the neighborhood they 
couldn’t have gone far.


Just as I pulled into the area, my SGT radioed that he spotted the vehicle.  
I saw him jet past me and followed him, and we initiated a felony stop (guns 
drawn, ordering passengers out one at a time, etc.  You’ve seen it on TV).  
The suspect was in the driver’s seat and the victim in the passenger’s seat, 
which told me right away he had forced his way into the car because she had 
been driving, and he walking.


Of course, he refused to obey our commands, and I saw him reach over and 
grab his wife’s face, then pull her towards him.  “Oh crap,” I thought, 
“we’re going to have a hostage situation.”  From my angle, I couldn’t get a 
shot at him without risking her life, because her body was between he and I. 
  My SGT had a shot, though.  However, since we didn’t see any weapons he 
didn’t fire.  Instead we abandoned the felony stop and rushed the car.  I 
opened the passenger door and yanked the victim out, then moved her to 
safety while keeping my gun trained on the bad guy.  Once she was safe, my 
SGT holstered his gun (mine was still pointed at the suspect) and forcibly 
removed him.  We then handcuffed him.


It turns out that he had seen his wife driving and rushed up to the car with 
a huge boulder in his hands, smashed out the window, and forced his way into 
the car.  He then shoved her over to the passenger seat against her will and 
drove away against her will.  The whole against her will part meant that 
according to the law, he had kidnapped her.


The rock he used was still sitting on the driver’s seat when we stopped 
them, as was a big kitchen knife.  Based on his stepdaughter’s statement 
that he had threatened to “slice her up,” I have no doubt in my mind that 
this whacko’s intention was to murder his wife with the knife.  Her offense? 
  She had caught him cheating and was angry about it.  How dare she????  I’m 
sure you can smell the sarcasm in that last statement.


In any event, I got to arrest a super dirtbag and we caught him before he 
could hurt his wife ­ something that happens only very rarely.  The end has 
a happy ending, so DOOM ON YOU, DIRTBAG!