Compromise.

One time while patrolling the highways on a dark winter night, I began to hear truck driver's complaining on the citizens band radio that a car with a spotlight on the roof of the car was flashing it at drivers as they went by the opposite direction.

I intently began to search for the vehicle causing the problem as I patrolled until suddenly I had an untra bright spotlight shine into my face, blinding me for a second. As soon as I recovered my sight sufficiently I turned my car around and pursued the vehicle with the spotlight with the intent of stopping it.

I closed the distance between myself and the vehicle which was an older brown in color Jeep Waggoneer contained two passengers both in the front seat. I turned on my overhead red lights and the vehicle pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. I exited my vehicle with a ticket book in one hand and night stick in the other, not sure what kind of attitude I was going to face with the occupants.

When I aproached the driver's side window, it was rolled down and I saw there a shoddily dressed elderly man behind the wheel of the car and a woman of a similar age as the driver in the passenger seat. I immediately asked the driver to present his drivers license and registrations, and he says, "Why in the hell are you stoppin' me, I aint done nothin' wrong, why aint ya stoppin' them other fellers who aint dimming their headlights?"

Immediately I discerned the problem and told the man that the reason I had stopped him was because he was flashing his spotlight in driver's eyes, and it was blinding them, and that he made the mistake of flashing his light into my face and I was going to write him a citation for unauthorized use of emergency equipment.

From the passenger side of the car I heard the woman reply to my statement, "Serves ya right ya dumb SOB, that'll teach ya not ta dim yer headlights!" I then thought to myself, "These folks need an objective lesson, so I asked the driver to turn on the spotlight that was mounted on the roof of his car. He did so and I then took my night stick and broke the lense of the spotlight with the tip of the stick, and said, "There...that solves the problem.!"

I then issued the driver a citation for the unauthorized use of emergency equipment, and had him sign it, all the while they both were fuming and sulking in the front seat, greatly perturbed that I had broken the light.

I immediately forgot the incident and went home feeling very satisfied with how I had dealt with the problem. The next morning I received a call from my division Sergeant who told me that I was to report to the Office of the County Prosecuting Attorney at 10:00 a.m. that day.

I arrived at the Prosecutor's Office at the specified time and immagine my surprise when I stepped into his office to find that my spotlight flashing couple from the night before were sitting in his office with very smug looks on their faces. The Prosecuting Attorney immediately told me that the couple had come to him wishing to file charges against me for breaking their spot light, and he seemed to have a little smile on his face when he said it. I stated that I thought that was fair, but I proposed a deal. I stated that I would drop my citation for their misuse of the light, if they would not file misdemeanor charges against me for breaking their light.

Things brightened right up in the room upon my announcement, and the man stood up and shook my hand fervently like I was his best friend. The Prosecuting Attorney agreed to the terms and the slate was wiped clean. The couple promised me that they would never shine a spotlight in anyones eyes again, and we parted friends. A little compromise at times is all that is needed to find common ground.