Do What The Cop Says

    When I was a young buck with raging hormones, I spent most of my spare time looking for trouble.

    My dad, a Marine during World War II, would let me have my head most of the time, but always with the caveat that if I ever got in trouble to “do what the police tell you.”

    That’s why I find it so difficult to comprehend the abuse that some of my motorcycle officers tell me that endure from the general public. Some drivers, believe it or not, will cuss a police officer with words that would make a sailor blush.

    I would never, ever think of backtalking a police officer. Remember, they carry weapons.

    Why in the hell someone would challenge a lawman is beyond me.

Now come news reports from television (http://www.kcbd.com/global/Story.asp?s=11568428) and the Avalanche-Journal (http://lubbockonline.com/stories/112409/loc_528543612.shtml) that a young smart-alec student, who acknowledges mouthing off to the Texas Tech University chief of police, is accusing the chief of running him down while he was illegally riding his skateboard on a campus street.

    I doubt we’ll ever know what really happened, but you can bet that the chief will be catching hell from the students about his perceived actions. If the chief did what he is being accused of, he should be fired.

    The student, though, needs to have his mouth washed out with soap by his mother and be thankful that falling off the skateboard was the worst thing that happened to him.