Writers Tricks of the Trade VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1 | Page 11

L IFE S TORIES BY K EITH B ETTINGER
T HE N EEDED T HANK Y OU
K EITH B ETTINGER WRITES STORIES THAT TOUCH YOUR HEART .
I
t was February 21, 1991. I could have
retired that day. It was my twentieth
anniversary in law enforcement, but I was
at work. My wife didn't want me to retire
and that made me angry. I was also angry
with the Chief of Patrol, my big boss. He
took the unit I was assigned to out of
plainclothes and assigned us back to
uniform duties to manipulate manpower
shortages and overtime in our precinct.
Here we were back in uniform while we
still carried investigative cases in our
plainclothes unit.
W INTER 2020
I was working the precinct front desk
on a four in the afternoon to midnight
shift. Suddenly the lobby looked like a
Chinese fire drill. People came running in
screaming loudly about a crazy man
crashing his car into other cars. I ran out
of the precinct, got into an unmarked car
with another cop. I apprehended the
driver just down the street from the
precinct. I had to physically force him out
of his car. He continued to resist while I
took him into custody and during the
scuffle I heard my neck pop. Now I had
neck pain from his resistance to go along
with my annoyance and anger.
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W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE