Lesson Learned

Narrative Essay

 

                It was 2:30am on a Tuesday morning nearing the end of summer. I was driving home after leaving a friend’s house on the south side of LaCrosse. There weren’t many people on the road as I made my way to the north side.  I remember listening to my favorite song, Disclosure by Majestic.  I had made it to the intersection passing the Boys and Girls Club and I noticed a car stopped at the red, blinking light.  At first, I hadn’t recognized what kind of car it was but then I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the car was right on my bumper. It was a cop.

                That Monday night, I was with my friends at a party on the south side.  We had all been drinking except for one person, Mark.  He had agreed to give us rides home but when it came time to leave, he decided he didn’t want to drive all the way to French Island.  In a way, I was relieved because I had to work in the morning and I needed my car to get there.  None of us were thinking straight and that’s when I came up with the brilliant idea to drive myself home that night.

I know that I had not been swerving because I was paying extra attention to what I was doing.  When I saw the flashing lights behind me I immediately started panicking.  My heart began to race, hands and legs shaking, and my stomach dropped.  I don’t like having cop cars behind for the simple reason that cops scare me, especially since I had been drinking, so I put on my left blinker.  I turned down Sill St. and noticed the cop had followed behind.  I didn’t know what else to do so I turned right onto Charles St., stopped at the stop sign, and pulled up to the curb and parked.  After turning my car off, I saw the cop car stop at the stop sign behind me and wait about a minute or two.  At this point, I was freaking out so I called my friend Taylor.  I briefly explained to him what had just happened and he said, “Where are you? I’m coming to get you.” It took Taylor five minutes or so to get to me and by the time he got there I had already spoke to the police officer and he had asked me, “Where are you coming from tonight? What were you and your friends doing? Why are you out driving this late? Can I see your License? Have you been drinking tonight?”  I answered all his questions but I had made up a few lies because I thought it would help me out but, it didn’t.  I said I had come from my house on French Island and I was on the way to my friend’s house.  He asked me if I was on my way to my friend’s why I stopped and parked on a random street.  I began to tell him I had never been there before so I couldn’t find it and that my friend was coming to get me, that’s where Taylor comes into play.

                After lying to the cop about what I had to drink he asked me to step out of the car.  Taylor pulls up at this time and asks the officer if he can talk to me but the officer replies with a no.  Getting out of the car, it hit me.  “There’s a pretty good chance I would be sitting in jail tonight.” I remember thinking to myself, I snap back to reality and I’m standing on the sidewalk as neighbors come out of their houses to see what’s going on.  Embarrassed and nervous I do the first test, walk in a straight line heel to toe and turn around. My heart began to race even faster and I my stomach started to feel sick.  Next the officer asks, “Have you graduated high school?” I say, ”Yes.” and he goes on by asking if I know my ABC’s and to begin saying them. Trying to regain my confidence, I complete the task without trouble.  Next test I had to do was stand on my left foot, this is not my dominant side, and count… 1 1,000, 2 1,000 3 1,000… and so on. I reached 36 1,000 when he told me to stop.  The last test was the Breathalyzer.

                By this time a second police officer has pulled up to help.  Immediately after blowing a .076 I was patted down, handcuffed, and put in the back of the SUV cop car.  I told the cop I needed my purse and phone which were on the passenger seat.  He grabbed both items, came back, and opened my car door to ask if he could secure my car by locking my doors and rolling up my windows so I told him he could.  As I watch both officers go back to my car, I see them start to search it.  I know some laws and I know it was against the law for them to search my center counsel and front compartment but they did it anyway.  They finished searching and both get into their separate cars. It sank in, I’m not on my way home anymore, I’m on my way to jail.

It took an hour and a half for the police officer to give me three more Breathalyzers and fill out all the paper work.  Finally another officer comes in and asks if I know who Taylor is because he’s here to get me. Before responding, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” goes off in my head, Taylor saved me from calling my sister or even worse, my mom.  I was released into Taylor’s custody and I instantly began to tell him how thankful I was for him. 

The days following my arrest, I came to the conclusion that I really needed to do some growing up.  I had turned 18 and now have expensive tickets, classes, and licenses to pay for.  This was my responsibility and I wasn’t not being very responsible.  It took me until a couple of days before my court date to tell my mom and sister what I had done.  If I could go back to August 27^th I would’ve just stayed home but it’s safe to say I learned my lesson.