I was working 3rd watch on Christmas eve in the early 80’s in Mission Beach. It was a very busy night. Alot of party calls and other holiday related alcohol fueled incidents. I was driving N/B on Mission Blvd when a small truck made a “u” turn in front of me and caused me to hit the brakes. Normally when I’m driving fast or doing some police enforcement drving, I don’t get upset when I get cut off by another driver. I figure that the price of doing police business. Not in this case. I was just driving along miding my own business. I stopped the truck and of course the driver was drunk. There were four other males in the truck. Including the drivers twin brother. I had done all of the field tests out of view of the four males and I had cuffed the driver and put him in my back seat before I went back to the truck. When I told them he was under arrest all four got out of the truck. One of them said; “We could just take him from you”. I was at the bottom of the division and if I called for cover it wouldn’t get to me in time to stop these guys. Now I was 24 at the time and 6’2 and 255 lbs. I just looked at them and said: “Well, I have all kinds of weapons on my belt and the first two of you to step up are going to the hospital”. I told them he would be out in about 6 hours and they decided to just pick him up from jail in the morning. That was a close call.
The beach again on 3rd watch. I stop a guy for some violation and he ahd been drinking. He was about 15 years older that me and he was a hard type. I found out later he had done time in prison. He was one of those guys that make store owners nervous when they walk in. He was as tall as me, but he was thicker in the chest and shoulders. I got done with the tests and I told him he was under arrest for drunk driving. He looked at me and said:”Drunk diving, I should just kick your ass”. I told him it was no big deal and he would be out in 6 to 8 hours. He said:’ 8 hours, I could do that on my head” . He turned around and I handcuffed him. Another close call.
I was working Eastern in about 2008 on graves and i was S/B on I-805 from I-52. I vehicle entered the freeway in front of me and the driver started to speed up. I followed him and we got up to over 100 mph. I put on my lights and siren and he finally stopped. The driver got out before I got to his car and he staggered into the traffci lanes. I quicky grabbed him and cuffed him. He was so drunk he could barely stand. I was sure he was going to get run over right before my eyes.
Gary Hill Cop Stories 