"Well, Harry, since you want to be uncooperative, you can sit on the curb while we wait for the tow. Cross your legs and interlock your fingers behind your head." Harrison did not sit. He turned around locking eyes with Miller. "I am not sitting on the curb, Officer Miller.
I am not under arrest." If you are going to arrest me, you will need to tell me exactly what statute I have violated. "Resisting an officer," Miller yelled stepping into Harrison's personal space. "I have complied with every physical command you have given me," Harrison stated smoothly. I am simply declining to humiliate myself for your amusement.
Now, I want you to call your shift supervisor to this scene immediately. "I don't need a supervisor to deal with you," Miller spat, there was a flicker of annoyance crossed his face. This wasn't going the way it usually did. Usually when he raised his voice, people cowered. They apologized.
They begged for a break. This man was staring at him with the cold, detached scrutiny of a predator observing a particularly loud, incompetent prey. The rumble of a heavy diesel engine interrupted the tense silence. A massive flatbed tow truck swung onto Oakwood Lane. The words Ironclad Towing and Recovery emblazoned on the side in bright yellow letters.
The truck backed up toward Harrison's Chevrolet, the air brakes hissing loudly. The driver, a heavyset man in a high-visibility vest named Pete, hopped out of the cab. He walked over to Miller completely ignoring Harrison. "Got a live one, Miller?" Pete asked, chewing on a toothpick.
"Yeah. Hook it up, Pete," Miller said, crossing his arms. Pete walked over to the Chevy. He looked at it, then looked at where it was parked. He scratched his head.
Hey, uh, Miller. Not to tell you how to do your job, but this thing is legally parked and it's a beauty. I hook this up wrong and bend the frame, my boss is going to skin me alive. What's the charge here? "I said hook it up, Pete.
It's evidence," Miller snapped. Pete looked nervously at Harrison. Harrison caught the driver's eye. "Son," Harrison said, his voice cutting through the noise of the idling diesel engine. "If you attach those chains to my vehicle, you will be named as a co-defendant in the civil rights lawsuit that I will be filing first thing Monday morning.
I strongly suggest you wait until this officer's supervisor arrives." Pete froze. He looked from Harrison to Miller. "Uh, Derek, maybe we should wait for a sergeant. Guy sounds serious."