Last night, my brother got into a small fender bender in his Jeep. It happened on 896 just before the intersection of Rt.40 turning left onto Rt.40 N/E. Guy in front of him stopped quickly and my brother swerved to the left but caught the rear corner of the guys SUV. Tore the passenger side fenders and rear bumper on the Jeep and also flattened the front PS tire. They called 911 and waited for DSP to arrive. In the meantime, he called me to bring over his HiLift jack so that we could change the tire. Don't know why he doesn't keep it in the Jeep....
By the time I arrived, DSP was already on the scene. I pulled up in the median behind the officer leaving a good 2 car lengths between us, hit my flashers and then grabbed the jack out of my vehicle. I walked up on the driver's side of the officer's SUV keeping about 10 feet of distance from him. He greeted me and I told him who I was and why I was there. He told me he was still writing up the report and that it was ok to go ahead and start working on getting the tire changed. He glanced down at my sidearm while we were talking but didn't say anything. After about 10 minutes, we had the tire changed out and were hanging out talking. The officer talked to the other driver and then came up to talk to my brother. He gave my brother the whole spiel as he handed him his info and the ticket. We joked around a bit and the officer then asked what I was carrying. I told him and we talked for a bit about open carry. My brother had informed him that he was CC and the officer just said, "Okay, nice to know." He was a great guy and very personable... not nervous or edgy at all around us or our sidearms. He was just coming on duty so he didn't mind chatting with us a bit. We thanked him for his help, shook hands and went on our way.
Complete polar opposite of the DSP officer I encountered Saturday afternoon. So far all of my LEO encounters have been pretty good ones. Kinda boosts your confidence in carrying a little more each time.
By the time I arrived, DSP was already on the scene. I pulled up in the median behind the officer leaving a good 2 car lengths between us, hit my flashers and then grabbed the jack out of my vehicle. I walked up on the driver's side of the officer's SUV keeping about 10 feet of distance from him. He greeted me and I told him who I was and why I was there. He told me he was still writing up the report and that it was ok to go ahead and start working on getting the tire changed. He glanced down at my sidearm while we were talking but didn't say anything. After about 10 minutes, we had the tire changed out and were hanging out talking. The officer talked to the other driver and then came up to talk to my brother. He gave my brother the whole spiel as he handed him his info and the ticket. We joked around a bit and the officer then asked what I was carrying. I told him and we talked for a bit about open carry. My brother had informed him that he was CC and the officer just said, "Okay, nice to know." He was a great guy and very personable... not nervous or edgy at all around us or our sidearms. He was just coming on duty so he didn't mind chatting with us a bit. We thanked him for his help, shook hands and went on our way.
Complete polar opposite of the DSP officer I encountered Saturday afternoon. So far all of my LEO encounters have been pretty good ones. Kinda boosts your confidence in carrying a little more each time.
Your life is made up of 2 dates and a dash... make the most of the dash!