[fabsroman]

Skeet,

I know exactly how LEO's are taught to always be in charge of a situation. One of my friends went to the academy several years ago and graduated about the time I got out of law school.

I arrived a little late to a "friendly" football game and ended up getting burned for a touchdown when the other guy pushed off of me in the end zone. Mind you, I don't take well to losing and I especially don't like getting burned for a touchdown when I am usually the fastest guy on the field.

Anyway, I complained about it (i.e., called the foul) and this guy started yelling at me that they had already agreed that it was okay before I got there and that was that, even though I didn't know about the rule, and the play would stand. So, I asked him if there were any other rules that I should know about, and he said that was it. I might have taken it a little better if he wasn't screaming at me. I knew this guy for 10 years and this was the first time he acted like this to me.

So, on the ensuing kickoff, which I am usually the deep man for, my brother caught the ball a little ahead of me. I ran past him at full speed and knocked the first guy I ran into on his butt. Needless to say, that guy wasn't too happy at that point and he got up swinging. He missed by a mile and I ended up tackling him to the ground because, even though I was mad, my beef wasn't with him. The new LEO came up to me and started screaming again. The only thing I said to him at this point was that he never said it was illegal to block the hell out of somebody, and that I only wished it was him that I ran into. At that point, the game was over.

Everybody on the field told the LEO that he shouldn't have done what he did because my brothers over head it. I also apologized to the guy I blocked the hell out of.

Funny thing is that both of these guys are now my clients and we get along pretty well. The "new" LEO has never acted like that again in my presence.

I also embarrased another "new" LEO at a Christmas Eve dinner because he was bashing on me about being a pig attorney. He started off about how a defense attorney had gotten a criminal off that he had to testify against. I listened and listened to him bash the hell out of attorneys and continue saying that he knew the guy was guilty. I asked him one question that shut him up. Did you actually see the guy commit the crime? If not, you cannot be sure of anything.

My dad and I had just been charged with discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a dwelling and we were both acquitted because out of the 6 guys hunting, 4 of which were charged, he and I were innocent, and I was pretty pissed off with the officer making us both miss a day of work/school. The State's Attorney wanted us to do 40 hours of community service and agree never to hunt on this farm again for a Nolle Prosequi (i.e., dropping the charges) for something we didn't do. I actually thought about it because it would have really looked bad on my bar application to have a guilty finding on that charge. I rolled the dice and plead guilty and the LEO couldn't prove his case, which I knew he would have a hard time doing, but I digress.

Anyway, my next question to him was whether he thought everybody charged with an offense was guilty. He stopped for a real long time to think and that is when I hit him with the above story and said the officer in that case thought my dad and I were guilty too. My dad and I are both thought of as extremely honest by him and his family so he really shut up then.

As far as allowing an officer into my house, that will never happen unless they are a friend or they have a search warrant.

While I realize the job that LEO's do is extremely tought and I thank them for it, I have also had my fair share of run ins with the Know It Alls and Liars and it leaves me a little gun shy. I can live with buying cheap products or services from a person like that, but what I cannot afford is being charged with something and then having to prove my innocence in Court. I have been to criminal Court enough for my clients recently to know that the State's Attorney is not always interested in innocence and guilt.

What is sad is that if I wasn't in law school at the time I was charged with discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a dwelling, both my dad and I would have been cooked or we would have had to pay a lot of money to an attorney to represent us. Even then, I can now think of some things that I could have done better during that trial, but alls well that ends well.

What really ticks me off is that this incident could have had some serious effects on my practicing law, not to mention I missed class that day and my dad missed work because an officer "thought" he was right. On top of that, the LEO probably got paid overtime for coming to Court. All because he did not want to listen to my dad when he was charging us.