CHP MEMORIES

My recollection of this story goes back to the couple of years that I worked in the Santa Cruz Office, and it occurred in 1974. In trying to keep these memories in a yearly, chronological order, I knew there would be times when the remembrance of an incident would pop up, where I would have to go back to a point in time that I had already passed by. This is one of those times.

I was working the swing shift, and had cleared the scene of an injury accident that occurred in the southbound lanes of State Hwy 1. There were a couple of injured victims who were taken to Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, but before I followed up with their statements, I had the name of an individual who left his name & address with one of the other drivers. Apparently, this witness to the accident wasn't able, or didn't want to wait at the scene, but at least he left his name & number. I had the dispatcher call the phone number (no cell phones in those days), to see if this witness was available, and indeed he was. His address was only a few miles from where the accident occurred, so I drove there to get his statement.

The address was a two story apartment complex, and the witness's address was on the ground floor. As I approached the door, I noticed an adult German Shepherd dog nearby. When I knocked on the door, this dog came up beside me, and seemed quite friendly. As I waited for the door to be answered, I gave the dog a few pets on the head, and it was next to me when the witness opened the door. I don't remember the witness's name, but he was an older gentleman, and he wasn't surprised to see me. The dispatcher probably told him that I would be stopping by to get his statement.

After telling this witness why I was there, he invited me inside. As I entered the apartment, the dog came in with me, with nothing being said by the witness. I naturally assumed that the dog belonged to this individual, and it was simply going back inside where it lived. Nothing unusual up to this point, but it's what happened next that could be classified as a little bit on the strange side. This guy had his TV on, and on the coffee table in front of the couch, he had a McDonald's bag with a hamburger & fries that were only partially consumed. Before I could ask him what he saw, in regard to the accident, the dog went right up to the coffee table, and started to eat the hamburger. At this point, I'm thinking that this is definitely a little bit strange, especially when the guy just allows the dog to eat the rest of his hamburger, and doesn't say a word. A few seconds pass by before I couldn't help myself, and I had to ask the guy if his dog was always allowed to eat what looked like part of his meal?

At that point, the guy stood up and his words will be imprinted in my brain for eternity. He said "my dog, I thought it was your dog!" By then, the rest of the hamburger was gone, and the dog was working on the fries. In an instant, my thought that the dog belonged to the witness, and his thought that this was my police dog, changed in a heartbeat. When we were both on the same page that this dog didn't belong to either one of us, the door was reopened, and it went quietly back out into the night.

I couldn't help but ask why he didn't protest when the dog began his larcenous behavior. His reply was similar to what was going through my mind when the dog started to eat the hamburger. He was flabbergasted that I wasn't controlling what he thought was MY dog, as I was similarly amazed that HIS dog was allowed to eat the hamburger. For a few seconds, both of us were speechless while this dog dined on a golden arch meal.

After obtaining an eyewitness statement regarding the traffic accident, we both had a good laugh and bid each other a good evening. The chances of something like that happening again, have to be 1 in a bizillion!