So around 10ish this morning, the phone rings. I leave it for someone else, because I'm still trying to sleep. As expected, the plan works. About 15 minutes later, my dad comes into my room and explains that my best friend has somehow gotten himself into Jail, and that phone call was from him. The entire thing seemed to be a type of collect call, but before anyone could figure out how to accept the call, the line hung up. Nice, isn't it?

Since we're both on break this time of year, the usual plan is for him to leave town with his family until around the 27th or 28th, at which point we get together at my house and play a few LAN games and System Link the Xboxes for awhile. So since the 27 I've been trying to get a hold of my friend to find out when he wants to do that. Back to this morning.

So, my entire family is baffled as to why he's in Jail. He's a great guy. He's quite intelligent, friendly, hasn't ever gotten into any deep trouble, doesn't smoke or use the various illegal substances out there. The few times he's been suspended from school has been because of something really lame that was hardly his fault.

After checking out our city's police website, and looking at the wonderful mugshot and the arrest date (Dec. 27), we get to see the charges. Posession of a Stolen Vehical and Resisting Arrest. Bail is set at 8 grand. 7,500 for Posession of a Stolen Vehical, 500 for Resisting Arrest.

What? That defenately DOES NOT sound like something he'd do at all. The guy is intelligent and had plenty of common sense. He's not going to go steal a car.

So I go dig up the various contact numbers I have for him. His parents are separated, so I have his number, his mom's cell, and his dad's number. Usually all I need is his number, but in the 10 years I've known him, I've needed the others on occasion. We phone his dad, and get his older sister on the line. Apparently what happened is another of his friends came over in the car in question, and offered to take him to the Mall. He accepted. At some point earier, the Cops had been notified, and had been tailing this guy for awhile. My friend's friend was unaware of this apparently. On the way to the Mall, this guy stops at his house, and gets out of the car, leaving my friend in there. The Cops choose that moment to make some form of an arrest.

Now, my friend respects authority. He's proven that time and again when I'm around him. However, when the authority has something wrong, and he tries to provide his side of the story, and that authority fails to seem like they're taking his side into consideration, trouble results. I find that both good and bad. It's good in that he questions authority. Sometimes it's needed. It's bad in that he doesn't know when to let it drop. So my friend was arrested for posessing this car (god only knows how that works if he was in the passenger seat) and the other guy gets away free.

So my friend has been in Jail since the 27th, and, from what we can tell, is to be released on the 10th. Great way to spend the rest of your holiday and new years, isn't it?

From what his sister tells us, he's been calling them almost every day. This morning was apparently the first time he's tried to call here. I'm probably going to call his sister back at some point later today and find out if there's a way I can call him, or what I need to do next time he calls here.

So yeah. I've had a great morning. How about you guys?

Oh man, that sucks bad.

Sorry the cops are morons, it is all kinda thier fault for not letting your friend tell his side.

Hope he gets out fine and doesn't have more trouble.

well thats evil, wouldn't the cops have seen him get in the car, and then the other guy leave it to go in his house?

Something sounds REALLY fishy. I'd suggest you mention to him to press charges on the cops for this. Where is his lawyer in all this?

JediKirby

You're assuming cops are good. I'm not.

Of course it sounds fishy. Of course Phoenix has this all second hand but I doubt it took place as he related it.

Lawyer? He probably has one provided for him by the courts, along with a case worker seeing as how he's not legally an adult yet.

The thought of "guilt by association" has crossed my mind as to why he was arrested. But I'm at a loss to explain why the driver was not arrested. Maybe he was. As someone has pointed out, I'm hearing alot of this second and third hand. The story I've gotten was told by his sister to my mom.

I think alot of you are also assuming that the Cops would be behind them the entire time. I've made the assumption that they'd been following the guy for awhile. This might not have been the case. They might only have found him, and started following him after my friend got in. And even then, they'd more than likely follow at a not so obvious distance. Enough to track the car, but not enough to see what's going on. So by the time the cops arrived at this guys residence, it might have looked as though my friend was the only person in the car.

I dunno, there are way to many unknowns right now. I'm working off second and third hand information, and filling in the rest of the blanks with assumptions.

While I'm not sure, we might not even be able to call him. His calls might be restricted to family only. Seeing as how I'm not that, his call could've been cut for that reason. I CAN write to him and have a letter there in a few days (like 2), but I'm at a total loss of how to even begin a letter considering what's going on.

Bah.

Surely if a car has been stolen, there are signs. Visible signs. Unless this guy stole a car that someone had left running and unlocked. But if that isn't the case... How could someone miss those things or even write them off...

Too many damned unknowns as it's incredibly frustrating and annoying.

What the heck? I totally agree with Kirby - there's something odd about this - it just doesn't seem right. Hope your friend gets out alright and his record gets cleared.

darn it. Your friend got nailed for no reason what so-ever. And yeah, I would press charges against the cops.

Wrongful arrest? Abuse of power? Excessive force? Hell yeah.

I don't see how sittng in the passenger eat of a stolen car can get you arrested for possession. You have to be driving the car. It's also really dumb that the cops wouldn't make their stop when both people are in the car. That's horrible police work.

Assuming he's not guilty of the charges.



Assuming he's not guilty of the charges.



Assuming he's not guilty of the charges.



Phoenix's posts are self-admittedly second to third hand information which makes this all third to forth for us. We'll probably never get the "real" version here because at best Phoenix will be able to relay his friend's version of the event. That certainly wouldn't be impartial.

Yes, but since that is all the info we have to work off of, we are offering suggestions based on that info. I fail to see what you are trying to get at.

They don't read at all like suggestions but more like judgements. I fail to see how you can miss the point that judgements based on an unsubstantiated story is ludicrous and knee-jerk. And I missed any suggestion you may have had on the matter.

I'm with Wookie. It's disturbing how many of you want to punish the police even though you don't know what happened.

When cops find a guy in a stolen car, they are going to arrest him...Simple as that

Kieran and Wookie are right. No one, aside from my friend, really knows exactly what happened.

However, I got an updated and slightly different story this afternoon from his dad.

Apparently this all happened the evening of the 27th. He was already at the mall. It was about 10:30ish, his curfew was at 10. So he was already in trouble with his parents. He ran into this two people he knew, and they offered to give him a ride back. He didn't recognize the car, and nothing seemed overly suspect about it. Half way back, the two guys made a stop and got out, at which point the police showed up. I don't know what happened at this point. Those two guys might have run and lost the cops (quite an embarassment), or something else might have happened. After my friend was taken downtown, his dad came up to the jail, and that's how he found this all out. Most of it by speaking to his son. He couldn't afford to post bail, so he's been stuck there since then. I wasn't clear on if my friend had a lawyer, but his dad had been talking to HIS lawyer. A court appearence is set for the 10th.

Now, while I completely agree with the assement Kieran and Wookie are making based on this, neigher of them knows anything about my friend. I've known this guy for 10 years. He can't drive, and stealing a car is not something he'd do. Not even if he was late. He's been late more times than I can count. The worst that happens is his parents grounding him for a week, and then he usually gets cut some slack about 3 days later and is allowed to get out and do things. Hell, he's never stolen ANYTHING as far as I know. And that knowledge extends quite a bit.

Could he have done this? It's possible. But based upon the length of time I've known him, I have a very, very, VERY hard time believing he would.

All anyone can really do is hope for the best.

**** like this happens all the time. My uncle's friend Moses is in prison for another few years due to a similar situation. Moses' wife's family are big gangstas in Oakland, CA. So they move to Stockton, CA to get away from it. Now Moses' uncle-in-law comes over and they're off to the store. Well, it turns out Moses' uncle-in-law has a dead body in the trunk. They get pulled over and the cops find the body. Moses got some 12 years for accessory to murder. Great country isn't it?

....

Yes... What a lovely country we do live in. I've trying to decide if that comment was directed towards the body in the trunk, Moses getting arrested, or both.

heh i ****ing hate the police. they gave me a ticket when i was doing nothing. well....i went from 0-speed limit when the light turned green and the tires kinda squeeled i guess. and this is at like 11:15 at night when nobody is out because i live in the middle of ****ing amish country. i so felt like saying 'you don't need to see my identification' but had to control myself. $105 for careless driving. next time i'll run over a pregnant man....

"This isn't the stolen car you're looking for" *waves hand*

Right. Smallish update.

I got to talk to him a bunch today. This is the story straight from his mouth, which I have no reason NOT to believe.

Monday night he was up at the mall, already out later than he should be. He runs into two guys he knows who offer him a ride. He accepts and thinks nothing about the car. He had no idea it was stolen. Shortly thereafter, they stop somewhere, the cops come up, and the two guys he knows run for it. He was left behind, and thus arrested.

He's told the cops everything he knows, given them the names of the two guys, etc. There's a bond hearing on the 10th, after which he should hopefully be able to leave and go home.

He's bored out of his mind for the most part. The food is nasty. He tries to keep busy, but he's a pretty physical person, being cooped up in a cell makes that rather difficult. He can grab books from a library, which he's already done. That's his main form of passing time. When ever he's let out, he walks. When he can't get out, he paces the edge of the cell. He has a window that he's claimed is fun to stare out of as there's plenty to see. Sleep is one of his best friends. All in all, jail = not a fun place. A big "no 'duh" for sure, but if you ever needed proof, some is right there.

We talked for about an hour before I got online. Most of that was spent trying to take his mind off of what's going on, at least temporarily. So we talked alot about games and various strategies we need to try in Halo 2 once he's out.

All in all, he's a guy who'd be much happier spending the next few weeks working his *** off then be there. At least if he was doing that, he'd be around people he knows and can talk to, and have substantially more freedom.

FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT THE POOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWEEEEEERRRRRR BROTHERS!!! RAISE HELL! TAKE UP AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARMMMS.

Corrupt police kick ***.

Trust me, I wasn't making any judgments on your friend or the police because I thought the first version was crap. I just thought those who did were very out of place. Now that you seem to have a much more accurate version, one that actually seems plausible and, I believe is much closer to the truth, I would say that. assuming this story is true, both your friend and the police didn't do anything wrong. The police had to charge the guy. He was in possession of a stolen car. Of course the police know that anyone they pick up like that is going to deny wrong doing so they have to charge him. Hopefully he will rat out the true thieves and charges against him will be dropped. Hopefully the real thieves don't get some slimebag lawyer that encourages them to deny the wrong doing and let your friend take the fall for their misdeeds.

having friends go to jail is frustrating, weather thay are guilty of what is charged or not. i'm sorry, just try and be supportive, weathre he is guilty or innisont, dont abandon friends. and take care of yourself. try and stay clearmined about the situation and get some sleep.

He already has ratted them out. He did that right after the arrest. He's told the cops everything about his story. Given names. The whole deal. And yeah, right now, his biggest fear is that the two other guys will try and pin it on him.