Police Perspective

Police Perspective

Is it possible to truly understand the inherent difficulties and dangers of police work without looking at it through the eyes of those who wear a badge? ...
C. Mitchell Shaw

In 1992, patrolman John Slater of the Henrico County, Virginia, Police Department was working a midnight shift when he made a traffic stop in the city of Richmond. In the car were two men. Something in their behavior seemed suspicious, so after writing the driver a ticket, Slater asked for permission to search the car. The driver said it would be all right. As Slater’s backup approached the passenger side door, Slater looked up just for a moment. As he looked back into the car, his flashlight illuminated the passenger reaching under his shirt for a gun.

Slater instinctively drew his sidearm. As he did, the passenger pulled the gearshift into drive and yelled for the driver to go. With his left hand, which was still holding the flashlight, Slater reached into the car and pushed the gearshift back into park. But the driver and passenger both put their weight into pulling the gearshift back into drive, trapping Slater’s hand. As the car pulled onto the road and began to accelerate, Slater was snatched off his feet and found himself being dragged beside the car.

It had only been a split second since he had looked up at his backup. In that split second, everything had changed. What began as a routine traffic stop was now a life-and-death struggle as Slater was pulled along beside the car for 150 feet. Because both the driver and the passenger were holding his hand against the gearshift, Slater could not pull free as the car continued to speed up. Over and over, he yelled for the driver to stop. As he told The New American, “Fortunately, there were no cars on the opposite side of the road. If that had been the case, it would have sheared me off.”

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