Buy a cop a cup of coffee; he’s earned it

It is Monday morning at 3:45 in the neighborhood of Watson’s Riverside in Socastee. I head out of my house for my morning walk before going to work, something I do everyday. This morning I notice there are three Horry County police cars located at the entrance of Smith Boulevard due to the flooding to prevent anyone from driving into that area.

As I am returning to my house, I hear sirens coming in my direction and immediately assume that they must have gotten a call. I move over to the left side of the road to make sure I am out of the way. As the first car rounds the corner toward me, I realize it is not a police car and he has lost control of the vehicle and is headed in my direction.

I immediately start running to prevent being hit and, fortunately, the vehicle ends up in a ditch and comes to an abrupt stop. Immediately, there are three cruisers right behind him that come to a stop. They approach the car with flashlights and guns drawn, ordering the driver to exit vehicle.

Let me note that this vehicle had run through the traffic stop, causing the pursuit.

Windows up in car and the doors are locked. Occupants of the vehicle are not responding to his commands. He repeats to the driver numerous times, “Don’t move I will shoot you.”

The driver still makes no effort to respond to his demand. Three more cruisers have arrived and they have the vehicle basically surrounded, but occupants still won’t respond to his orders. At this point, I have no idea what color any of the occupants of the vehicle or and don’t really care.

The officer ends up breaking the car window before ever being able to get the occupants out. The only thing I am not sure of is I think there was a weapon in the car, but I might have misunderstood what they were saying.

Every night we go home and turn on the TV and have to hear that Black Lives Matter when it should be All Lives Matter, and I am here to tell you that Police Lives Matter. None of us in normal life would ever want to have to go through what these go through almost daily. They put their lives on the line every day to protect people who have no respect for them or the law.

People need to learn to respect the authority of officers and do as you are told, and life will go on.

After watching this firsthand, the next time you see an officer, let him know you care, buy him a cup of coffee, or give him just a simple hello. These guys are just like us and want to go home to their families everyday.

We don’t have a problem with police in this country; what we have is a behavior issue among its citizens.

Thanks you, Horry County police, for being there.

The writer lives in Myrtle Beach.

This story was originally published November 13, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Buy a cop a cup of coffee; he’s earned it."