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The Ultimate Nightmare for a New Yorker |
September 16, 2000 |
| Val and I arranged to meet in Santa Monica - a nice beach
community, right on the Pacific Ocean. I was a few minutes early and was
walking through this outdoor farmer's market. I had a couple of fresh avocados
and some peaches and wasn't paying much attention to anything. At the
corner of 2nd Street and Arizona, I briefly looked up and saw no traffic
in either direction. I sauntered across the street, imagining the
guacamole I was going to make with the new avocados.
Out of nowhere, a guy on a motorcycle shot out at me. I jumped onto the curb to avoid what I thought was going to be an attempt at a motorcycle drive by. The guy stopped short right next to me and turned out to be a cop. He jumped off his bike and asked if I had any identification with me. I handed over my New York state driver's license and he looked me up and down, "Do you know why I've asked you to stop?" Had I been given incorrect change for my avocado and not returned the extra quarter? Had I forgot to put enough change in the meter the first time and feeding it is illegal? I didn't have a clue, so I replied quite simply, "I don't have any idea, officer. Why did you stop me?" He pointed up to the street light and informed me that I had walked across the street when the light was red. He was actually talking about jay-walking! I wasn't sure how to handle this, so I figured I'd play ignorance - after all, could anyone really take jay-walking seriously as a first offense? "I'm sorry officer, I've never been in Santa Monica before. It's pretty much standard where I come from." Officer Enriquez couldn't have cared less. He told me that it's state law all over California (he was holding my New York license in his hand, I'm not sure why he thought it mattered that the entire state of California mattered to me). He wrote up a ticket and started to go through the explanation, but I was stunned. I made him read it so many times that he finally put it down on the gas tank of his motorcycle and told me to read it myself. I couldn't believe that I had actually just gotten a jay walking ticket. The only question of substance I had for him that he had indicated it to be 'traffic' incident and I didn't see a car on the street for blocks. I wanted to know how it related to traffic. He didn't catch on real quick, so I asked him to give me an example of a non-traffic related offense for which he'd use this form. With a completely disgusted look, he replied, "petty theft." I believe I lost all hope of leniency when I looked him in the eye and asked, "So, this is a pretty quiet town, not much for you to normally do, eh?" OK, perhaps insulting police officers isn't the best thing to do, but come on, I was getting a ticket for crossing a deserted street on a Saturday morning. It's not like I was interrupting the flow of traffic on a busy work day or something! |
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