I was a young university police officer and working a night shift when I was dispatched to a report of a person trespassing in the basement of the Natural Science building. Now, while the university is not private property, the buildings and grounds are governed by the Board of Trustees and are restricted from access in certain places and at certain times. It was near midnight, and the building had been closed and locked since about 9 PM. The dispatcher gave me a description of the person and let myself in with a key and walked down the stairs to the basement.
At the near end of the hallway, I saw a woman, wearing clothing that matched the description, standing there and sweeping with a broom. Oh, I thought, the grad student that reported this just mistook a custodian as a trespasser. That’s easy to fix. I approached the woman and asked if I could see her university ID really quick so that I could confirm that she belonged in the building.
“No, you cannot.”
Oh. Now I’m confused. “Do you have a university ID?” I asked.
“No, I don’t need one. This is a public place.”
Ahhh. Okay. Something is wrong here. A young man emerged from an office at the end of the hall. I pointed to the woman sweeping and he nodded and gave me a thumbs up, then returned to his haven.
I tried to explain to the woman that the building was closed and that she needed to leave. This is an element to trespassing in California. Most of the time, you must be asked to leave by the property owner or someone acting on behalf of the property owner, like the police, before you can be arrested for trespassing. So, anyway, I explained several times that the building was closed and that she needed to leave.
“I will not leave. I have work to do,” she told me, still sweeping.
“Okay,” I asked. “Do you have any ID on you?”
“No.” Sweep, sweep, sweep.
“Could I get your name and date of birth, please?”
“No.” Sweep, sweep, sweep.
I called for another officer to respond to assist and then made my move.
“Ma’am, you’re under arrest for trespassing.”
“No,” she shouted at me. “You’re under arrest.”
I put a hand on her wrist in order to place her in handcuffs and the fight was on.
Aside: Most people have never been in a knock down, drag out fight with another person, yet they are certain that they could overpower and subdue someone better than the cops in the videos on the news and on the internet. They are mistaken. People fight hard. They believe they are fighting for their lives. And we can’t do things that would injure them unreasonably. If you have ever watched a judo or wrestling match where both opponents are on the ground, unmoving, they are not resting. They are both exerting equally massive force against the other, force that can break bones, that could cause death. That is what a fight is like. For minutes that feel like hours.
So, for a small, mentally ill, homeless woman, she fought hard and I was unable to get control of her as she screamed “Help! Police!” over and over again.
I kept trying to tell her that I was the police, but she kept telling me that I wasn’t and that I was under arrest and that I was going to be in trouble when the real police arrived. Could the issue be that we had not converted to blue uniforms yet and were still in tan, like the highway patrol? I don’t know. Another officer arrived and she flipped out more, screaming for the police to save her.
The sergeant arrived on scene and helped us get her under control and handcuffed. We walked her out of the building, while my backup officer went and got a statement from the grad student I had seen earlier and who had, in fact, called us about the woman. By the way, he had a pass to be in the building.
Once we got her to the car, we realized that we had handcuffed her in a way that we couldn’t get her backpack off of her. We unhandcuffed her and removed the backpack, and then put the handcuffs back on put her in the car.
A couple of weeks later, I was notified that I was expected in court in the next two hours. Our trespasser was refusing to waive her right to a speedy trial and was acting as her own attorney, so her trial was immediately scheduled to prevent a violation of her rights.
I testified, my backup officer testified, my sergeant testified, and the grad student testified. Finally, the trespasser testified. She explained that she was never in Natural Science building. She said that she was nearby and that she saw us bring another woman out of the building, but that for some reason, we unhandcuffed that woman and let her go. Then our trespasser testified that we grabbed her and arrested her instead.
“Why?” she asked. “Would the police do something so ludicrous and awful as to let the guilty person go and then arrest an innocent person in their place?” And I think at that moment, we all realized what had happened. Our trespasser, among her other mental health issues, suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder, or something similar (I’m no psychiatrist, just guessing).
The woman was found guilty, placed on probation with time served, and ordered to stay away from the university. After the trespasser had left, the judge smiled at us and asked us if it was standard policy for the police to allow the guilty person to go free and then arrest a random innocent person in their place.
The other officers laughed. I didn’t. With a straight face, I said, “Ever since the grassy knoll in Dallas, your honor.”