Guess It Was Bound to Happen Sometime

For the first time in my life I was stopped by the Police while in the subway. I just finished closing the bar with Rhea and after walking with her to catch her a cab, I walked over to Han's Deli and got a Snickers Ice Cream bar. As I walk back towards the Bleecker Street Station I see the police pull up to the corner. I don't think anything of it and I walk downstairs to the train station.

As I swipe my Metrocard I hear the police radios as they are coming down the stairs. I'm finishing the ice cream bar and as I am throwing the wrapper in the garbage can I hear "Excuse me sir" being said towards my direction as I am approached by four police officers. One of the officers I recognize from the routine community checks the Police conduct in the neighborhood where the bar is located. One of the other officers asks me "Where are you coming from".

Imagine my surprise, I have four officers standing in a semi-circle around me while I have the remains of a Snickers Ice Cream bar in my mouth. LOL. I mumble out past the caramel, ice cream and peanuts that I just closed the bar on the corner, the Bleecker Street Bar. Then the officer asked me what I do there and I said Assistant Manager/Head of Security (After all, I had to make it sound important). The lead officer asked to see my ID, which I willingly provided and asked if he could check my pockets. I said sure since all I had in there were my keys and some cash. As they were checking my ID, I apologize to the officers for answering their questions with ice cream in my mouth. That got a chuckle out from them. The main officer told me they had gotten a call and that I fit the description. Must have been some handsome dude who stole a pretty lady's heart. LOL. (Ah levity is a beautiful thing).

Once they were satisfied that I wasn't who they were looking for, my ID was returned to me and the officers apologized for stopping me. To which I responded "No Worries". The one officer that I recognized from the community checks nodded to me as she left. I continued to walk down the platform when a young man that was seated on a bench looked up at me and said "They're not supposed to do that" to which I responded "I'm not worried about it, I have nothing to hide".

It is like I tell the people that come to the bar without any form of identification: ALWAYS HAVE YOUR ID. Imagine if I didn't have my ID on me, I would have probably been taken to the Ninth precinct to establish my identity and gotten home really late and super tired. I understand what the young man was telling me about the Police not being allowed to stop me in the manner that they did. In all honesty, I don't have anything to hide. Never had and never will. The way I see it, why should I be hostile to the Police when all they are doing is their jobs. They were polite and never disrespected me while asking their questions and since there weren't any guns drawn I didn't feel threatened in the least. I guess after 37 years of living in New York City, I'd have to get stopped by the Police at least once. LOL.

In the end, I caught the 4:13am train as scheduled and I'm on my way home.

FH