Rick Minerd - Life Is A Jukebox

Several years ago while working as a third shift patrolman in Obetz, I noticed a known village hell-raiser and his buddy acting strangely in the parking lot of a gas station.  By all appearances both were drunk.

This guy had been a pain in my ass for several months previously, including having had to arrest him for domestic violence and discharging a firearm within city limits.  That last charge would have been comical had it not been such a serious offense.

He claimed he shot at his girl friends feet as she chased him into his house, after chasing him in her car for several miles. He stated he fired at her because she threatened to  "beat his ass" if she caught him. This from a man who claimed to be a former Navy Seal. 

But back to the night  WCMH  television Meteorologist Jym Ganahl helped me nail him for reckless operation of a motor vehicle. I couldn't make the charge of driving drunk because I didn't catch him behind the wheel so I settled for what I could get.  He was slick, but not slick enough to get away completely.

After watching these birds play leap-frog in the snow as both sang Christmas Carols off key, I watched as they got into their car to leave. Having spotted me they quickly got out and sat on the hood hoping to wait me out.

After about a half hour I pulled my cruiser off the lot and behind an adjacent business figuring that they would think I left.  They did and as they peeled out of the gas station I gave chase.

The weather that night wasn't conducive for a high speed car chase but that didn't bother them, they blacked out and lost me in a residential area not far from the drivers home. 

Knowing his address I proceeded there and sure enough I found his car crashed into  the fence that surrounded his yard.  Steam was pouring from under the hood and he had left the headlights on,  as well as a blinking turn signal.

I followed the foot prints in the snow from his car to his back door and I  knocked several times.

Naturally there was no response. So after several minutes of being ignored I went back to my cruiser where I proceeded to write several tickets to be served on him later.

A few days later he came to the police station and filed a police harassment complaint against me.  In his complaint he stated that I woke his sick mother when I pounded on his door, and that I lied about his driving dangerously. In part he stated there wasn't any ice or snow on the ground so there was no way I could have followed his tracks in the snow as I had written in my report.

After hearing of his complaint against me I sent an e-mail to Jym Ganahl at channel 4 asking if he could provide me with the weather conditions of that particular evening  and he  wrote back stating that we had received two inches of snow that night.  Of course by the time the complaint was filed it had melted.

So armed with Jym's assurance that it did indeed snow at that time I took my "evidence" to  our prosecutor who agreed that if anyone would know Jym Ganahl would. 

So with his help I  got a conviction,  and because of Sergeant  Jim Triplett's thorough investigation of the complaint against me I was cleared of any police misconduct.  Sometimes things just seem to work out.        Rick

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