Carl Levitian
September 11, 2009, 03:54 PM
In the mid 70's I had the chance to become a police officer for a while, untill a prior service injury made me realize I was not up to it and handed in my badge. I went through a very comprehensive training program run by The Colorado Law Enforcement Training Acadamy out of the Pueblo PD. Our chief training officer was a very street wise vetern cop named Ralph Smith. He oversaw all our training to make sure it was up to C.L.E.T.A. standards.
One of the training programs that really stuck in my mind was the unarmed 'somebody got the jump on ya' thing. For some reason, if you couldn't get your service weapon out, there was some nasty little things to do. One of them involved the Cross pen.
They taught us to love our Cross pen, and how it would stand up to being poked into some very vulnerable areas. Sgt. Smith, and the red headed Capt. Stuart, and a Sgt. named Tony that I can't quite recall his last name at the moment, all were very enthusiastic training personal, and exellent teachers.
Fast forward a year, and we're all out on the streets of Trinidad Colorado in our navy blue PD uniforms. Fellow officer Connor Britton, who went through Ralph Smiths training with me, was on patrol duty, when this guy blows a red light right in front of him. Lights on, he pulls him over, calling it in as he does so. Connor gets his drivers licence and car registration, politly dealing with the verbal abuse that the guy is dishing out. Connor warns him to be quiet, and watch his language. Back at the cruiser, Connor makes out the ticket, and starts walking back up to the offenders car when the guy gets out and runs at Connor and tackles him. It happened so fast, Connor never got a chance to draw his revolver or mace. Guy waited till connor was almost at his drivers door. Rolling around on the ground in a good old fashioned donnybrook, Connor somehow ends up with his Cross pen in his hand. He has no memory of how it got there, as he had a plain old Bic stick pen in his hand for the guy to sign the ticket with, and it and the ticket book went flying.
The guy is bigger than Connor, and he finds out stronger when the guy has his hand on Connor's revolver and is trying to yank it out of the holster. Connor stabs with the Cross, and it goes right through the throat. The guy starts gaging, coughing up blood, rolling around on the ground holding his throat with both hands. Back up gets there, and an ambulance, and idiot guy goes to ER to have the pen removed from his windpipe, and then off to jail. Guess he wanted to be charged with felony assault on a police officer rather than get a 50 dollar ticket. Near choked to death on his own blood. Connor said it was like stabbing through a cardboard tube surrounded by a thin layer of meat.
I haven't thought of that in years, but the recent posts about someone going to D.C. and worrying about being unarmed brought it to mind. I guess it's surprising on what it dosen't take to put the human body out of action. Maybe with a Cross pen, an AA minimag, and a stout walking stick, your not as helpless as you think.
One of the training programs that really stuck in my mind was the unarmed 'somebody got the jump on ya' thing. For some reason, if you couldn't get your service weapon out, there was some nasty little things to do. One of them involved the Cross pen.
They taught us to love our Cross pen, and how it would stand up to being poked into some very vulnerable areas. Sgt. Smith, and the red headed Capt. Stuart, and a Sgt. named Tony that I can't quite recall his last name at the moment, all were very enthusiastic training personal, and exellent teachers.
Fast forward a year, and we're all out on the streets of Trinidad Colorado in our navy blue PD uniforms. Fellow officer Connor Britton, who went through Ralph Smiths training with me, was on patrol duty, when this guy blows a red light right in front of him. Lights on, he pulls him over, calling it in as he does so. Connor gets his drivers licence and car registration, politly dealing with the verbal abuse that the guy is dishing out. Connor warns him to be quiet, and watch his language. Back at the cruiser, Connor makes out the ticket, and starts walking back up to the offenders car when the guy gets out and runs at Connor and tackles him. It happened so fast, Connor never got a chance to draw his revolver or mace. Guy waited till connor was almost at his drivers door. Rolling around on the ground in a good old fashioned donnybrook, Connor somehow ends up with his Cross pen in his hand. He has no memory of how it got there, as he had a plain old Bic stick pen in his hand for the guy to sign the ticket with, and it and the ticket book went flying.
The guy is bigger than Connor, and he finds out stronger when the guy has his hand on Connor's revolver and is trying to yank it out of the holster. Connor stabs with the Cross, and it goes right through the throat. The guy starts gaging, coughing up blood, rolling around on the ground holding his throat with both hands. Back up gets there, and an ambulance, and idiot guy goes to ER to have the pen removed from his windpipe, and then off to jail. Guess he wanted to be charged with felony assault on a police officer rather than get a 50 dollar ticket. Near choked to death on his own blood. Connor said it was like stabbing through a cardboard tube surrounded by a thin layer of meat.
I haven't thought of that in years, but the recent posts about someone going to D.C. and worrying about being unarmed brought it to mind. I guess it's surprising on what it dosen't take to put the human body out of action. Maybe with a Cross pen, an AA minimag, and a stout walking stick, your not as helpless as you think.
