Monday, February 07, 2005

don't let the man ruin your day

Friends have commented to me that the cops in downtown Los Angeles seem to turn a blind eye to things that would definitely get you stopped on the westside. I was walking back home from Pete's Cafe about a month ago and I saw this guy drinking a Mickey's Big Mouth walking past me. He didn't have it in a discreet brown paper bag, he was waving it around drunkenly and bellowing about the cops for everyone to hear. A police car rolled past us and I saw the cop sitting in the passenger side glance at the both of us. They stopped at the corner of 5th and Spring, but only because the light was red. The guy with the open container didn't pipe down, he only got louder. As he approached the corner, he threw the bottle at the police car's tires and glass and liquid flew everywhere. The cops didn't even blink, as soon as the light turned green, they took off down the street. My friends had a point.

So you can imagine my surprise this past weekend when I was walking home from Pete's Cafe and I saw a motorcycle cop stop a guy who was crossing the street against the light, with no oncoming traffic in sight. The cop started writing the guy up, I assume it was for jaywalking. Minutes later and further down the block, I saw the same motorcycle cop writing up another pedestrian. For what, I have no idea. But this guy had a boom box on the ground. Even though the cop was writing him up, this pedestrian wasn't going to let that get him down. As the music blasted from his boom box, he just kept dancing. As I walked past, I waved and pumped my fist in the air for solidarity. He pumped his fist right back at me and kept on dancing. What a great attitude, I need to remember that the next time I get upset about something stupid.

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