I got dispatched to a 'suspicious person' call around 0715 this AM. The complainant stated 'a man on a bicycle was giving drivers nasty looks.' No lie....
So....I find the guy in question and pull in behind him. You guys have seen it before: 'Typical' homeless guy(mid-late 40s) with all his earthly possessions strapped to a broken down bicycle....
I had no more gotten out of my car than he was reaching for his 'papers'. You could see the 'Here we go again...' look in his eyes. I felt ashamed.
I ran his ID(A DoD 214 and hospital discharge papers(some Arkansas Mental Health Facility)was all he had). He came back clear on NCIC.
I asked him where he was coming from and where he was going. He'd started out in Memphis(115 miles away) and was headed to Birmingham, AL(over 200 miles away)....on a 20-inch bicycle.
He had his route all laid out on a scrap piece of map. I informed him how far it was to the US route(US78) he was planning on taking, asked him when he'd last eaten, where he slept, etc....planning on getting him a room and meal voucher. However, he was in a hurry to take advantage of the good weather and wanted to get as far South as he could before the weather changed.
So...I gave him some $$$ and a new pair of 'Day-Glo' insulated traffic gloves I had in the car...and watched him pedal off.
After getting back in my nice, warm car and going '10-8', I called dispatch on my cellphone and told them 'why' he was probably giving folks 'dirty looks'. It was 26* and I can only imagine what the wind blast felt like to him.
If I read the guy's info correctly(it was rather tattered), he was Airborne.

So....I find the guy in question and pull in behind him. You guys have seen it before: 'Typical' homeless guy(mid-late 40s) with all his earthly possessions strapped to a broken down bicycle....
I had no more gotten out of my car than he was reaching for his 'papers'. You could see the 'Here we go again...' look in his eyes. I felt ashamed.
I ran his ID(A DoD 214 and hospital discharge papers(some Arkansas Mental Health Facility)was all he had). He came back clear on NCIC.
I asked him where he was coming from and where he was going. He'd started out in Memphis(115 miles away) and was headed to Birmingham, AL(over 200 miles away)....on a 20-inch bicycle.
He had his route all laid out on a scrap piece of map. I informed him how far it was to the US route(US78) he was planning on taking, asked him when he'd last eaten, where he slept, etc....planning on getting him a room and meal voucher. However, he was in a hurry to take advantage of the good weather and wanted to get as far South as he could before the weather changed.
So...I gave him some $$$ and a new pair of 'Day-Glo' insulated traffic gloves I had in the car...and watched him pedal off.
After getting back in my nice, warm car and going '10-8', I called dispatch on my cellphone and told them 'why' he was probably giving folks 'dirty looks'. It was 26* and I can only imagine what the wind blast felt like to him.
If I read the guy's info correctly(it was rather tattered), he was Airborne.
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