The cop who thought he could fly.
Recently in the town of Livingston.....back story needed. Most of the patrol officers in Livingston are very young men. Few have been to the academy, in fact you can serve for 2 years as a police officer before having to go to the academy. These who are hired off the street do not have to know what th 1st or 4th amendment is, or know it exist. They do not have to read the drivers manual or understand the word civil. They are hired, given a gun and told to go. Another feature of the police in Livingston is the mayor will not give proper funding to the chief so he can afford to pay the offices a progressive wage. In nearly all cases once the new kids get some police training they move on to another better paying town. So Livingston police are under trained and under staffed and way under paid, and it shows. So one of our younger officers was having trouble with his patrol car, in fact he had to stop a pursuit due to the issues he felt he had. One his next shift he reported it to his supervisor and his supervisor told him to test it and to hit pursuit speeds. Now this young officer has the night shift and trusted his supervisor so he obeyed his supervisor and took his car to the Livingston airport to hit pursuit speed on the runway.... during a cloud covered night. The runway is designed for AIRPLANES not cars, so there are no stop lights at car level at the end of the runway, and the end of the runway is not an open field but a cliff, over a sub-division. The young officer obeying his more educated supervisor starts at the far end of the runway and takes off, hitting pursuit speeds, at that speed he will need about 1,000 feet to stop...stop...take off. Yes he did, he drove off the end of the runway at full pursuit speed, bounced off Airport Road and plunged 250 feet to the bottom. He lived, he was kept over night for observation, but he walked away with only minor injuries. Now the young officer was a very inexperienced young man, so he could not have seriously thought through what could have happened...but his supervisor...he should have known better. But the accident speaks loudly of the issues between the mayor and the chief and the lack of funds and proper education for the officers. This officer nearly died and in truth if he had the blood would have been on the mayor’s hands.
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AuthorDeWayne Watts: I started out writing short stories and poetry. Some of which was published in the 1980's. I have parts of 5 novels written and have completed 2 novels. I have been married over 25 years and raised 2 wonderful sons who have been a great addition to the human family. Follow me on GOODREADS
The 3 Novels/Books Written By DeWayne Watts
"David's mark"
Click Title to Buy the Book. "The Boy in The Wood"
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December 2022
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