Wrong Place, Wrong Time

“There he is, get him,” he heard a low voice call out. Before he can register what was happening, his purchase of wrenches from the hardware store was knocked out of his hands, and he felt handcuffs around his arms. He found his nose touching the cement on the sidewalk. Instinct told him to struggle so he did. But pain shot through his arms as the policeman pushed his arms into his back.   

            “You have to right to remain silent-“ The cop rambled on about Jonah’s rights, but Jonah wasn’t paying attention. He was still trying to figure out why he was on the ground with a police sitting on top of him. Questions floated around in his head, but he wasn’t able to pin an exact one, things were going to fast. Why am I on the ground? What just happened? What’s going on? How did this happen?

Eventually the police finished his speech and dragged him into standing position. He began to inspect his situation. From a glimpse, he saw that he had stumbled upon a crime scene. Caution tape was tied from one oak to the next, and there were several police cars littering in the street.

            “Why are you arresting me? Jonah asked cautiously looking back at the tall lean policeman. “What’s going on?” The policeman didn’t answer him. Instead, with his fair hands still blood-draining tight on Jonah’s darker ones, he took out his walkie talkie and began talking to someone on the other side.         

            As he talked, a chubby policeman comes over and sneered as he gave Jonah the once over. Jonah began to feel dread in his stomach. His lungs began to contract, and his breath began coming in short and fast.

            “It wasn’t me, whoever you’re looking for, it wasn’t me!” Jonah began to say. “I just came out of the shop, I don’t know what’s going on, but it wasn’t me!” The chubby police man stands besides Jonah and scoffed.

            “I promise. I swear, it wasn’t me! Jonah continued saying, feeling the panic in his thoat. “I had to get a wrench because I didn’t have one to fix my-“

            “Save it,” the tall and lean policeman that was still holding Jonah by the arm said.

            “Why are you arresting me?” Jonah said hysterically, continuing to struggle. “STOP ARRESTING ME!” he shouted. But they didn’t even look at him. Instead Jonah was roughly pushed into the police car. As the door closed, he continued shouting at the policeman. He banged on the window and shouted, but none of the police paid any attention to him. After a while, Jonah began to calm down and accept his ill-gotten fate. His face relaxed from his crazed look to a more alert look, taking in everything that was happening outside.

 When the policemen got into the car, they found a still man in the backseat.

“Hey what’s up with him, why’s he not talkin’?” the tall lean policeman said to his partner.

“Stirring up trouble back there?” the chubby one said gruffly. They laughed as he started the car. As they drove away, Jonah’s mind was as blank as a white sheet of paper.  Here he was, in a police car and he didn’t know why. What should I do? Jonah asks himself. But no words or answers came into his head. It was like his system was on lockdown.

Instead, he reasoned with himself to keep himself calm. I’m a good guy. I have a decent job, don’t do drugs, don’t disobey the laws, follow the norm. Why was I arrested then?

As he continued to think about the situation he was in, he realized that he’d just have to wait until they get to the police station so that this situation could settle. Maybe he’ll get to call his family and have them pick him up from the police station, hopefully they won’t ask too many questions. But knowing his mom, she’ll probably burst into tears when he says the word police. She was always telling him to do some good with his life and not be like her in her when she was young. But that’ll only happen assuming the police realizes that they got the wrong person. From the looks of what had just happened a couple minute ago, they seemed to really think that they caught the guy.

            “Man, you’re in some serious trouble,” the tall lean policeman eventually said to Jonah.

            “For sure. Possession of an illegal weapon, breaking and entering, and stealin’ money and jewelry from that jewelry shop. You’ve got a lot against you,” the chubby man chimed.

            “Well, people like you are always causing trouble. That’s what pays our bills,” the tall policeman added and he and the chubby policemen shared a laugh.

            For a brief second, the comment stung and woke Jonah up a little bit from his trance. People like me, is he judging me on my appearance? But only for a second. The situation he was in was so extreme that his mind was still trying to gather all the facts and besides, these were policemen. If he started fighting back, it’ll just show to them that they were correct and then he’ll actually have something charged against him.

            No, Jonah thought. I’ll just sit here and hopefully things will clear up when we get the station. The police will see that they caught the wrong person and let me go. I’ll just keep quiet now and everything will be OK.  Jonah began reasoning with himself again, trying to calm himself down and get ready for what he was about to face at the police station.

            Turning his face towards the window, he realized they had arrived at the police station. As the car slowed down into the parking lot, Jonah came to a conclusion, This all happened just because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.