Story Behind Stone Cold
This poem more or less tells the
story itself, the way it happened. However, this poem was one
that almost wrote itself. Another officer, an ahem!, anonymous
source, started telling me this story. As he was telling me the
story, I started writing the poem. I concluded the poem within
seconds of his conclusion of the story. I went back to do an edit
and rewrite and ended up leaving it alone. Total time from start
to finish to write the poem was 12 minutes. I'm quite proud of
it, not only for it being one of the fastest I have done, but,
I think, one of the funniest.
The story was basically a serious
assault had reportedly taken place. There was an allegation made
that the suspect may have raped the victim at gunpoint. The suspect
was reported to be the victims father. Now, obviously with this
serious a situation with a reported gun involved, extra steps
were taken to ensure officer safety. Two dog cars were involved
in an attempt to track the suspect.
Ray Tetzel, was driving past a schoolyard
and saw a human figure in the shadows of the yard. Since it was
only a few blocks from the crime scene, it was a good bet that
the suspect was trying to hide there. Ray started to move in,
and was advised by radio to wait for cover units. A sensible precaution
with a gun involved. Ray had his gun out and pointed at the suspect
waiting for additional units to arrive.
When all were in position, Ray called
for the suspect to surrender. He got no response. This heightened
the tension for everyone. Several more commands were made, but
the suspect ignored them. Eventually Ray, and some cover units
moved forward to take the suspect down. As they got close enough,
their mistake suddenly became apparent. The suspect in the schoolyard
was a life sized stone statue.
Well of course, policemen being
the caring, sympathetic people, towards our own members that we
are, never once teased Ray about the incident.....NOT...
Ray put up with good natured ribbing
for months after this incident, including this poem.