Talk about how to ruin a nice night of pool in one easy lesson…
I went down to RG’s, the local bar, for my usual Friday night pool playing last Friday. As usual my brother met me there and we had some good games, with him continuing his generosity of leaving me a shot for the eight ball. Our father also came in to try his luck on the table. Things were going great and we were having a couple drinks and playing some good pool. The next thing I know two guys have this other guy by the arms and they are hustling him into the bathroom. What the…??? A minute or two later out they come and throw the guy on the floor and handcuff his hands behind his back. Oh, this must be some kind of drug bust. They then grab another guy and throw him against the wall and start going through his pockets. Mind you, these are two guys in plain clothes who have shown no ID. Over comes the bartender, a skinny little lady who weighs 80 pounds soaking wet. She says something to the cops and the yelling starts. One of the cops starts yelling at the top of his lungs about how the people in this bar are all a–holes and they let this drug dealing go on and what the hell is the matter with everybody in here…. He starts pushing people around and down goes the bartender to the floor right at my feet. She’s slow getting up so I help her to her feet. The other cop starts in with his rant- “Who else wants to say something…come on, let’s hear it! who else has something to say… blah, blah, blah…” Man, these guys are just out of control yelling and screaming at the whole bar and everyone in it. This goes on for a few minutes and then the bartender must have something else because I hear “Lock her up too! We’re closing this place down! Everybody out!” Blue lights start flashing in the windows as police cars pull up to the bar and more cops pile in. The bartender is bent over the pool table I was just playing on getting handcuffs put on her. It is a very ugly scene. I turn to my father and brother and tell them that I have seen enough to be thoroughly digusted and I am out of here. They leave right behind me.
I tell you, that crazy scene looked like something out of a bad movie. The cops had their man on the floor handcuffed and ready to go. It should have ended there, but no, they had to get into the whole tough guy thug routine and terrorize the whole bar. It was truly disrespectful of everyone in the place and a very, very ugly display of the abuse of police power. I always heard the universal police motto was “To protect and serve.” Someone needs to remind these rogue officers of that motto so they can do their jobs with a lot more class and professionalism.
Wake up Haverhill, Massachusetts police. This is not the way it should be done.
