Sgt. Sadie back on the force

A couple months ago, I participated in Citizen's Police Academy -- graduating as Sgt. Sadie in November. One requirement of the course was a ride-along. I was unable to do the ride-along during the 7-week course, so I was called for duty last Friday night.

I arrived at the Shelbyville Police Department at 6 p.m., at the start of Nelson's shift. After visiting with the officers while they ate dinner prior to what they anticipated would be a busy night, Nelson, Remy and I were ready to catch the bad guys.

Nelson explained that we'd probably make some D.U.I. arrests, it being a Friday night close to the holidays. Also, Shelbyville had received snow and rain the day before so Nelson predicted people would be out in full force as a result of their restlessness.

As we began our shift, Nelson pointed out that D.U.I. arrests are usually made after normal traffic stops, such as speeding or a non-working headlight. When you think of D.U.I.s you imagine the driver being stopped for swerving all over the road or getting into accidents, or what have you.

Not five minutes after patrolling the streets, we saw a small car driving down Madison Street with a headlight out. Even though I was just observing Nelson, my adrenaline was pumping as we made a quick U-turn, sped up to the vehicle and turned on our blue lights. As it turned out, the nervous driver of the vehicle was only 16 and was not drinking. This stop concluded with the kind officer giving the young man a warning; and the inexperienced young man having a good story to tell his buddies.

Not 30 seconds after we pulled away from the first stop, here came another pick-up truck down Madison Street with a headlight out. We pulled this guy over, too. As Remy and I watched and listened (Nelson wore a microphone so I could hear everything she was saying) from the vehicle, Nelson learned that this gentleman was fully aware of the headlight problem. In fact, he was returning from an auto shop where he had just purchased a new one. Another warning ... darn, she's too nice.

Actually, Nelson has my full respect. She treated everyone Friday night so kindly and fairly, knowing when to give someone a break ... and exactly when to put her foot down.

Later in the evening, around 9 p.m. or so, we pulled over a man who had been speeding. Nelson's radar showed this vehicle going 64 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone. We pulled the man over and I sat back and relaxed, thinking she would write him a ticket and we'd be on our way.

Not so fast, Sgt. Sadie.

Nelson came back to the vehicle to call in the speeder's license number (which came back clean) but something just didn't seem right, she said. She had asked the man if he had been drinking and he said no. She said his eyes were red and he was slurring his words a bit. Nelson decided to give the driver a sobriety test.

As it turned out, the driver failed the sobriety test (quite miserably from my observations). Once out of his vehicle, Nelson and the back-up officers could easily smell alcohol on his breath.

When attempting to complete the field sobriety test, he kept saying he was just nervous, but I can't see how nerves would inhibit someone from counting to ten. One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand seven, one thousand twenty doesn't cut it.

The man was arrested and taken to the station, where I observed as Nelson read him his rights. He refused to take the Breathalyzer test, which was disappointing to me, because I was so curious to see how much he had had to drink, because he denied his guilt the whole time. I also continued to wonder how much nerves do play into one failing a field sobriety test.

In any case, he refused the Breathalyzer, so you can make your own conclusions.

The time flew by Friday night, and before I knew it, it was 11 p.m. and time for me to go home. Saturday morning would come early, and by then, Sgt. Sadie would be converted into Mrs. Claus for the T-G's "Photos with Santa."

-- Sadie Fowler is a staff writer for the Times-Gazette. She can be reached at (931) 684-1200, ext. 214, or by e-mail at sfowler@t-g.com. This column is scheduled to print every Thursday.