Kudos to the Saint Paul, MN Police Department

[MineralMan]

At 3:30 A.M. this morning, I was sleeping off the tryptophan from Thanksgiving turkey dinner, when I awoke to someone pounding on the kitchen door of our Eastside house. After a moment to collect myself, and to check with the main guard cat in the house, who was standing at high attention on the bed, I got up to see what the heck was going on. I grabbed my shotgun on the way.

I yelled at the door, "Who's there?" The guy yelled, "Hurry Up!" I asked again for some identification from the door-banger. In rather slurred words, he gave me some initials. Well, nobody I know would be drunk at my back door at 3:30 A.M., so I yelled at the guy that he had the wrong house and suggested that he move along.

No luck. He kept banging on the door. I explained that I was armed. No effect. So, I picked up the phone and called 911, and told the operator what was going on. I'm not about to confront a drunk guy at that hour. I announced that I had called 911. The drunk guy kept banging on the door.

The 911 operator said that she was sending two cars out. I told her I had my shotgun in hand and said that the guy just seemed to be a drunk, and that I didn't expect any real problem. I also told her that as soon as the patrol cars arrived, I'd stow the firearm safely away.

Well, it took less than five minutes for the police to show up. After a couple of minutes, they knocked on the door and stepped inside. The drunk guy was sitting on the ground. The officers complimented me on my garish Christmas display and weren't concerned with my being armed earlier. They opined that the drunk guy had gotten on the wrong street in his stumble towards a friend's house. His "buddy" apparently lived one street over, but in the same block.

As I looked out the front window, the other two officers were leading the man, who wasn't cuffed, to the patrol car, and the incident was over. I'm not sure where they took him, but I'd like to think they dropped him off at his intended destination.

During the whole encounter, all of the officers were very professional and respectful of everyone involved in the incident, including the drunk guy. It's a pleasure to live in a city with that kind of police force. Thanks, officers!

[MyNameGoesHere]

1. Do burgulars usually knock and make a ruckus?

Don't know never been in that situation.

[Marrah_G]

24. Nope, but crazy drunk violent people might !

[MyNameGoesHere]

30. Or mentally sick people that are just itching to get blasted with a shotgun.

Don't forget about them.

[Fla Dem]

2. Glad you're safe and the situation was not more serious.

Still must have been tense moments for you. Kudos for keeping your head.

[Crazy Dave]

3. Lucky you

And congrats to the officers.

In my town you can order a pizza and call the cops for an emergency like yours and the pizza will get there about 30 minutes sooner than the cops. The cops here are also famous for taking people's seats at sporting events and their assigned parking while visiting their mistresses at apartments and getting them (the people) arrested if they complain.

I've even seen them throw an elderly, intoxicated, homeless man on the floor of a Burger King because he wasn't answering their (4 of them) questions fast enough.

[Snotcicles]

4. I wonder if any of them were in on the arrest of Amy Goodwin during the rethug convention. nt

[Robbien]

5. Their thuggish actions during the convention was my first thought also

St Paul and their Policemen are not good guys in my book.

But I am glad the Mineralman got a good response from them to his crisis.

[MineralMan]

6. I have no way of knowing that.

I'm glad that they showed up at my house, though. What was your point?

[Snotcicles]

12. They showed up at houses during the conventions also.

Showing up at your house was doing their job. Showing up at houses to intimidate protesters was doing their job a little to good.
Don't you think? or were you ok with that?
I was a big thing around here while it was happening.

[MineralMan]

16. I live in Saint Paul,

so I was certainly aware of what went on during the Convention. In fact, I was there on the scene part of the time and saw some of it happening. I was not pleased at all with what happened.

Those cases are proceeding in the courts. I do not know which LEOs acted badly, and that is not the point of my post. I'm following the Convention issues, just like everyone else here.

Those were two different situations. I'm commenting on just one of them in this thread.

[EFerrari]

7. In a city, the response from the same department can be really different

station to station. That was my first thought too -- are these the thugs that arrested Amy and her producers?

We used to live in a different district and were more afraid of the local station than of just about anything that would cause us to call them. They were aggressive and mean and sloppy as hell. People got shot all the time. It was a working class neighborhood a lot like this one only across town. In the years we lived there, I never seemed to meet one cop that liked his job.

The station local to us now might as well be a whole different department. They take mentally ill people to the hospital, not to jail, they build relationships in the community, and I'm not afraid to call them if there's a problem. The other night, I called them about these kids that were dealing in the street and our cops were here in five minutes. They spent a long time on the call and those kids have not been back. Thanks, Taraval!

[gratuitous]

8. The first and rightest thing I think you did

When you called 9-1-1, it sounds like you were calm, and gave a good thumbnail sketch of the situation. In drunk guy's defense, it's possible he either didn't hear you or didn't understand you through the door. I'm glad nobody had to get hurt to resolve the situation, and you should take about 95% of the credit for that with your level-headed report to the 9-1-1 operator. The cops get most of the rest, and even drunk guy gets a smidgen of credit for being just drunk and stupid, not drunk and violent.

[MineralMan]

10. Thanks.

Yeah, being calm when you talk to the 911 operator goes a long way towards getting a good response. The two other times I've had to call the police were handled the same way.

It's always best, too, to let them know that you're armed in your house and that you will secure the firearms when they show up. That's information they definitely want to know.

The guy heard me OK. We exchanged words more than once, on opposite sides of the door. I wasn't that worried about him being violent, but I also wasn't about to open the door to some guy who was drunk as a skunk. Best to let the cops handle that situation. Drunks are unpredictable.

As for the Repug Convention connection, as I said, I have no idea what these four cops were doing during that. There were so many agencies here during the convention. I live here. It's how the local police deal with issues in my city on a regular basis that interests me.

I emailed the Chief of Police about this incident and commended the four officers who showed up. I expect he'll let them know about that email.

I refuse to be in an adversarial relationship with the cops in my own city. It's a stupid thing to do. What happened at the Convention will be presented in court.

[KitchenWitch]

9. Whooooo boy.

Glad you had a good outcome with the St.Paul police.

It has been no secret for the past 25 or so years that St. Paul's police department has been in a lot of trouble for police brutality, not just the RNC, but countless other incidents. It is a shame that being a cop seems to attract people who want to wield power over people.

And I must add the :popcorn: to this thread. Because I have a feeling this will be good.

[rucky]

11. Does your home look anything like a Wal-Mart? n/t

[MineralMan]

13. Sorta...See for Yourself...

:party:

[rucky]

15. You Got the Big Bass Santa!

Sweet.

[MineralMan]

17. Yowza! Maybe that's

what attracted the drunk guy. Ya think?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. It's a sad environmental statement

when Santa needs a boat to fish at the North Pole.

He should just need a shanty and an auger (and a bottle of schnapps).

Dang global warming.

Merry Christmas!

:hi:

[MineralMan]

22. Yup. Before long,

I'll have to sell my snowblower to someone in Canada and plant palm trees in the yard. :bounce:

[annabanana]

27. Whew! . . .That guy must've been REALLY REALLY hammered...

You'd think your exuberant decorations would have tipped him off that it wasn't his friend's house. . or is this unremarkable in your neighborhood?

[MineralMan]

29. You'd think so...

Maybe the guy was "blind" drunk. Or maybe he hadn't been to his buddy's house for a while.

[madokie]

14. Good on you and good on them

maybe the tone in this country is part of the change Obama is giving us.

[crispini]

18. I am glad you were cool enough to handle the situation appropriately.

A similar thing happened in my neighborhood. However, the homeowner decided to "fire a warning shot over the guy's head." It killed the guy, who was not a burglar or any kind of bad person but a much-loved local musician, just inebriated and confused.

[MineralMan]

19. I would never

fire at anyone unless I was under an immediate threat, and never through a door. That's nuts. Gunshots are a final resort. I hope such a situation never occurs.

The shotgun was there just in case the situation changed. Of course, I probably looked pretty funny, standing there in my jocky shorts and t-shirt. I did get my pants on before the cops showed up, though. :dunce:

My wife slept through almost the whole thing, including the shouting through the door.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. I was on the receiving end of a "come pick this guy up, we have him in custody" call last week.

Similar situation. The kid was a friend of my neighbor's on his way over for a 4 am "after bar" party. He ended up two streets over pounding on an old lady's door - scared the shit out of her, according to the cops. The Chicago police were kind enough to call his friend (my neighbor) to come get him at the scene. My neighbor was smart enough to wake me as he was drunk as a skunk too (he says he almost drove).........smart kid. The cops might have given up and thrown a net over the two of them. The first kid is REALLY lucky he didn't get his head busted or spend the night in the tank.

[MineralMan]

23. Yeah, that stuff happens...

everywhere. Lucky for that guy that you were willing to drive in and pick him up. I hope he didn't barf in your car. That's what always happens to me when I drive a drunk home. Uff da!

[aikoaiko]

25. Shotgun make, ammo type, and how many in the tube if there was a tube?

Details man. Details.

[MineralMan]

26. Gun porn, eh?

It's a Reminton 870. Five in the tube. I don't keep a round in the magazine, but have the action just released, with safety on, since I keep the thing in the closet. I want the sound of the action to be heard by whomever needs to hear it.

Loads are #4 shot, rather than any buckshot size. They're goose or turkey rounds.

It's a long barreled gun, since it also serves as a tool for hunting.

Nothing special.

[aikoaiko]

28. Glad it all worked out ok.

I won't go any smaller than #4 buck for self-defense, but we all make compromises when it comes to self-defense.