Justice For Eric Kleemeyer

Eric's Story

part nine 

Run for your life

     Eric tried slamming the car into gear but the old auto possessed some idiosyncrasies that he had not yet mastered and all he accomplished was producing a horrible grinding noise. He continued fussing with the gear lever until it finally popped into place. This was it. Eric was about to cross a line here that he may never be able to cross back from. He also knew that he had not drawn that line because he had done nothing by word or deed requiring this level aggression. To Eric that line was drawn by the policeman when he had pulled his weapons demonstrating his intent and willingness to inflict serious harm on the young man.

   The police officer had his gun pointed right at him but Eric thought there was no way a policeman would be able to justify shooting an unarmed kid in the head, at least not over a lapsed registration he couldn’t. Eric took a deep breath, pushed down hard on the accelerator, and roared off down the street.

     The street he was on was only a block long and ended in a T at <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Manchester Avenue where Eric had to go either left or right. To his right, just a hew doors down, was his apartment. He was sure he could make it to there before being caught but what was the advantage of that. Mike was probably home but more than likely probably too drunk or stoned to be of any help as an advocate, witness, or anything else. The idea of Mike talking to the police and anything good or helpful coming out of it was pretty slim.

     What Eric needed was somebody calm and mature to intervene in this mess. He needed someone respectable that the police would listen to, someone who could find out why the police were being so aggressive, or at the very least someone that the\ police would not beat his ass in front of for fear of being brought up on disciplinary charges. He needed somebody that would even out the playing field and make the cops play fair. Eric needed his Mother.

     Eric swung right hard away from his apartment and then he made a quick left onto Washington Street. The Dodge handled surprising well as Eric accelerated through a tricky curve in the road where the fraternity houses from nearby Santa Clara University lined both sides of the street. He checked his rear view mirror trying to gage how much of a lead he had over his pursuer. He could hear the siren and the flashing lights had just came into view when Eric made the left onto Market Street. This road would take him all the way back to his old neighborhood, back to his Mom’s house. He stepped even further down on the gas pedal to get as much speed out of the old car as he could and still maintain control.

     It was a night when most people had work the next morning so there was almost no other traffic to contend with, which was a good thing because Eric had no intention of stopping for anything, including traffic lights until he was home safe and sound. The car was getting up in speed and he checked the mirror again. Obviously the cop had to get back in his car and do something with those weapons before he could start chasing Eric. Combine that with the Dodge’s remarkable performance, thanks to Mr. V.s excellent maintenance over the years, and Eric had a pretty decent head start. He saw the flashing lights come racing onto Market Street a few blocks behind him.

     Suddenly something moved in front and to his left that ripped Eric’s attention away from the rearview mirror.

     There, coming off of Monroe Street, was another SUV, and not one painted black and white like the one behind him with the flashing lights. This one was bigger and even more ominous with its gun metal grey exterior and it came roaring off the side street straight for Eric’s car.

     It seemed at first like they hadn’t seen Eric at all and were crossing the road without ever looking to see if it was safe or not. The move however was more deliberate, even calculated so there was really no doubt that whoever this was they were trying to ram Eric’s car causing him to wreck.

     Eric pushed all the way down on the gas and the old Dodge surprised its assailant with a sudden burst of speed. Eric veered right just missing the front bumper of the larger oncoming vehicle and then he corrected left, steadying the car and continuing down the road.

     That had been a close one. The pristine finish on the vintage Dart had just about gotten ruined with its first dent.  Eric wondered who in the hell was that asshole and why where they trying to hurt him. From his rearview mirror he saw the big grey SUV turn around and after the marked SUV sped past it they fell into place behind it joining the chase. Eric knew now he had to be careful if he wanted to make it all the way to Mom’s because it seemed like all of the lunatics were coming out of the woodwork tonight.     

     Eric had managed a fairly comfortable lead when he turned right onto Los Padres Boulevard. Just a few more blocks to go. The road curved right and the next intersection would be Serra. He was almost home. The last house on the left that sat on the corner of Los Padres and Serra shared a back fence with his Mother’s property located directly behind it facing the opposite direction on the corner of Serra and Clara Vista.

     He prepared to make the left turn onto Serra when suddenly with a jolt his car was struck from behind. Eric gripped the wheel trying to maintain control as he shot past his intended turn. From his rearview mirror he saw bright headlights rapidly approaching his car which lurched as they again made contact.

     There was no way that one of the two units that had been chasing him had caught up this quickly. This had to be somebody new. Who in the hell was this guy then?

   Whoever it was they bumped him again. Eric started to speed up and so did the guy that was banging into him. Eric got going as fast as he possibly could and still be able to try and pull something extremely tricky off. The pursuing unit started going even faster preparing to ram Eric’s car again. Without warning and at the last possible moment prior to impact Eric whipped the wheel of his car to the left and went skidding onto Hart Street.

     Whoever was behind him was still accelerating in order to maximize his next hit. They had absolutely no chance of making the turn and instead went flying right on past it.

     It was only two houses distance to Clara Vista Avenue. Eric turned Left onto the street he had lived on for so many years. For one brief calm moment there was nobody in front of him blocking his way and nobody was chasing him from behind. Eric continued down the street that was illuminated by the houses that still had their Christmas lights on. He could see his Mother’s house up ahead on his left.

     Also up ahead on his left he could hear the sound of approaching sirens wailing ever closer. He knew by the sound that they were so close that they would block him in before he reached home. He didn’t have time to think out a plan but he needed to try something…anything.

     Eric looked wildly around trying to assess his choices and there didn’t seem to be all that many options. The street was deserted except for a lone man out for a walk further up the street. Eric would reach his mother’s house before he would reach that guy and realistically how much help could the stranger be?

      There was an empty driveway with a space vacant in the carport in the house on the corner to his right. Eric of course knew the people who lived here. He thought rather than expose himself by trying to cross Serra andbeing stopped for sure he could pull up in the carport, turn off his lights, ditch the car, and make it across the street on foot after the cops drove past.

     It just might have worked had he only been just a few seconds faster. As Eric approached the corner where Serra crosses Clara the marked Chevy Tahoe SUV came speeding down Serra with the bigger grey DUV right behind it.

     The Tahoe turned onto Clara Vista coming head on at Eric’s car. Eric was blinded by the bright headlights of the larger vehicle as he realized he was now engaged in a deadly game of chicken that surely he would loose. There wasn’t even enough time or room for him to stop so almost by reflex Eric did the only maneuver available to him other than being smashed into head on and just prior to impact he whipped his car into that vacant driveway on his right. The Chevy Tahoe stopped in the road at an angle blocking both the driveway he was in and the street to his mother’s house. The other SUV stopped after positioning itself behind the Chevy Tahoe essentially completing the blockade to Eric’s Mother’s house that sat just beyond the police vehicles, cattycornered across the intersection.

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this