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Apr 26 2011

Damn Cops!

categories The Subway Diaries - Adventures of a Subway Musician | | comments Comments (9)

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Seriously – there’s other stuff to do down there in the trains than mess w/ me to save your job!!!

Damn Cops! Ticket – summons – court! All surpassed the ridiculous tonight. This cop passed by me, listed for over 45 minutes, smiled and said nothing, not a thing, nada! Then, out of the blue he comes up behind me & says “Ummmm…do you have an ID? I’m sorry but I’m gonna have to write you a ticket, you’re gonna get a summons & you’ll have to go in front of the judge, but it’s all bullshit so he’ll dismiss it.By the way, are there any warrants out for your arrest? Tell me, honestly, ’cause if you  don’t I’ll get in trouble”
“No, no warrants Officer Chin” I answered, grabbing his name from his badge and name tag
“You’re sure, right? I mean everyone says that but you’re  sure  there are no warrants out for you?”
“As far as I know, nothing” I bit  my  tongue at this  point as I was itching to sing as me and the audience were having a very good night underground
“Ok, well, I ‘ll go on your word ’cause I don’t want to go back up there and see  my supervisor to run your ID through the system.  So, here’s the deal, once I”be given you the ticket, you can keep on playing. I just have to show my supervisor that I”m doing something or else I get fired. See, there was apparently this guy with a gun that we were looking for and because I did not find him  my  supervisor thinks I’ve not been  doing anything. So, I’m gonna have to write you up so it looks like I’ve done something, otherwise I’ll get in trouble.”
wtf!!!
“Really? I can  keep singing even  after you’ve  given me a summons? But what about your  supervisor?”
“Oh, she’s super lazy, she’ll never  come  down here, believe me. She never  does  anything but  sit up there”  and he  pointed up to the landing above me where I guess the ‘grand mistress’ that is  the new female “Lazy Lieutenant’ resided
As officer Chin wrote the ticket he  kept chatting saying; “Yeah, I told the Lieutenant I was doing my job, I was down here, right? You saw me right? I was doing my job. But she saw me resting once and said “What are you doing, go do something useful” So, yeah, now I have to write  you up or I’ll get fired.”
“So, why me, and not the guy playing piano across the platform?
“Oh, he’s just lucky. I just saw you first. But don’t worry, it’s all bullshit. Hmmmm…I don’t even know what to write this up for. I guess I’ll just put that you’re blocking traffic”
Blocking traffic? Blocking traffic? Seriously? God – where was my tape recorder!!! I mean the entire conversation was beyond absurd!!!It was eight thirty at  night on he Downtown A,C,E Port  Authority and barely an audience member around. Although the few people sitting on the bench watching this  whole thing in awe  had  been  a fabulous audience just a few minutes prior and for that I was supremely  grateful.
Anyway, as  rediculous as this act was on the cop’s part, now I’m ‘on record’ which means if another cop  decides to save his or her ass at my expense before the court date of July 11th, 2011,   I go to jail. Seriously, you couldn’t make this stuff up….it’s beyond absurd &  I  don’t wanna play this game…& need to busk. I need to make a living.
God, I’m just trying to earn the cash to eat & finish my album! ‘leavemealonenypd’…..this was  harassment!
PS the gunman…he’s still out there ‘sans’  summons

9 Responses to “Damn Cops!”

  1. The Persecution and Prosecution of Musicians in Central Park « 12401 says:
    June 12, 2011 at 7:43 pm

    […] received a comment from Heidi linking to an eye-opening post describing what may just be the most ridiculous interaction with a police officer I have ever heard of.  If this doesn’t convince you that there’s something seriously […]

    Reply
  2. Eddie Porter says:
    May 3, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Great article on more abuses bythe NYPD.

    BTW, Please spell ridiculous correctly!!

    Heidi Reply:
    May 3rd, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    Thnx Eddie for the kind words – will repair “ridiculous’ asap 🙂 I’m good at a lot of stuff – spelling’s…not one of them! Thnx for the ‘spell check’!

    Reply
  3. Sebastian says:
    April 28, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    Yeah, I hope it changes again.. don’t really want to live in a world where nobody cares about personal freedom anymore.

    Anyways: Another point on my “why I don’t want to go to the USA”-list 🙂

    Good to know how things are going over there!

    Heidi Reply:
    April 28th, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Yeah – life has definitely changed here & continues to on a daily basis & rapidly. Things are changing so fast & I don’t know how many people really see it happening right before their eyes. The media plays such a huge role in the ‘smoke and mirrors’ ‘bait & switch’ game going on here by diverting people’s attention away from the economy, unemployment, shrinking freedoms, wars, natural disasters etc with coverage instead of Charlie Sheen, Donald Trump & his hair, the royal wedding etc etc…And the unfortunate part is the majority of the public falls for it. They remain dazed and captivated by the trivial & unimportant. Remaining in the exact lulled, lazy state the government wishes them in. Me, I continue to pray for a major shift & soon……..& in the meanwhile I sing & rack up tickets for doing so….Thanks for your comments Sebastian!

    Reply
  4. Sebastian says:
    April 28, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    I don’t know in which country you’re living, but I’m happy that in my country, I could file a complaint against the officer 😀

    Although I’d be quite shocked in that moment, I’d go to a police station and complain afterwards. Wouldn’t give them a chance to mess with my personal record, just because some boss has a bad day o.O

    Heidi Reply:
    April 28th, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    Hi Sebastian,
    Yea, I wish it were the case here in NYC. However ever since Homeland Security was instituted our rights as musicians and citizens have been sharply curtailed. This is but one example of that. If I go to the cops it would only get me further into the mess. It’s dis-empowering for sure and the entire ‘system’ now goes against my entire nature of freedom and what used to constitute being an American. Thanks for your comment though – perhaps there will be change down the road…

    Reply
  5. Jennie says:
    April 26, 2011 at 11:47 pm

    Sounds like a chapter in the Subway Diaries 2

    Heidi Reply:
    April 26th, 2011 at 11:53 pm

    Don’t it now 🙂

    Reply

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