POLICE CAR HIT WITH GOLF BALL In the spring of 1964, I was patrolling in my assigned area of Westville. I was driving my fairly new 1963 black Chevy Biscayne police car designated car 21. It was equipped with the more modern “gum ball” type emergency light on top that revolved 360 degrees, making it a lot safer when responding to emergency calls. My old 1961 Chevy Biscayne had a stationary front and rear red light that just blinked on and off. This afternoon I decided to drive up to the Yale Golf Course which was part of my assigned patrol area and check out the buildings. We were getting complaints of minor thefts of some of the equipment. As I was getting ready to cross one of the golf greens on a dirt road, I looked both ways. I saw nothing in the distance so I slowing crossed. Half way, I heard a terrible noise coming from the top of my police car. Pieces of red and white plastic came raining down off the windshield. I stopped. I opened the driver’s door and looked at my gum ball machine. It was shattered and in pieces. The red and white sealed beam bulbs were intact but the round plastic cover was shattered. What the h*ll happened? 3 men ran over to my police car. One apologizing for hitting my car with his golf ball. What? How did that happen? He explained that as he hit his ball, suddenly my police car appeared. They all thought the ball would go over my car. Nope? A perfect hit. I took the names of the men and assured them that it was my fault. Besides. There is no law about striking a police car with a golf ball on the books, anywhere in this country. I then proceeded to 710 Sherman Parkway, the police maintenance garage. I drove my car right into the garage. I told the mechanic the truth as he looked at the top of my car with his mouth open but Sergeant Nick O’Brien came out of his office and was not happy. What is this BS I heard? You got hit with a golf ball, Bob? Yes, Nick. I have him the names of the men playing golf. Some more swear words came out of his mouth. It’s a brand new car, a new revolving emergency light. Where am I going to find and replace that light? Huh? I don’t know Nick. I’m sorry. Leave your car here, Nick said. You can’t drive it like that. Nick gave me the oldest spare police car he could find behind the fence. Here take that one. I was lucky the car even started. It happened exactly as I told this story. Hard to believe but true. It took a good 2 weeks to locate and install a revolving emergency light on my 1963 Chevy. Nick got over it but occasionally I still heard about that emergency light.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 18:57:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015