I woke around 7:30 a.m. and went for a walk. I walked back to the steel Derek quarry and got some photos. I also took some photos of our camp. My girlfriend wasn’t feeling that good in the morning so we packed up and drove back to Lowell.
In the afternoon I went to Walmart to fix my bike tire. Since the bike is a hybrid street bike/mountain bike I wasn’t even sure which tire to buy. I looked at the writing on the tire and the inner tube and I made my best guess. After purchasing a new tire and inner tube I drove back to my girlfriend’s apartment.
My car was parked next to the convenience store across the street from my girlfriend’s apartment. A young woman approached me with a crack pipe asking me for a lighter. I asked her if she plans on smoking crack, and she said yes. I told the woman I didn’t feel comfortable giving her a lighter if she was going to use it to smoke crack. The woman walked away from me and was standing on the side of the convenience store. My girlfriend then walked by to go into the convenience store and she asked her the same question. I knew my girlfriend would probably feel bad for her and buy her a lighter. I also felt kind of bad that I was so stern with the woman. I called her back over and I told her that smoking crack is really unhealthy, and I did not approve of her decision, and I implored her to try to make healthier decisions in her life. I gave her a small green lighter that I had in my pocket and told her that I did not want her to feel bad about her circumstances but try to do better for herself.
Suddenly an unmarked cruiser pulled up to where we were standing, lights flashing. A plane closed detective stepped out of the cruiser and approached the girl with the crack pipe. I continued working on my bike, I was now pumping the tire up. The girl with the crack pipe showed the officer what she had, and then he walked over to me. The officer began patting me down. As this was happening my girlfriend walked out of the convenience store, I told her to start recording, which she did. I told the officer to take his hands off of me. The officer said, “what do you got on you?” I said nothing! I said I didn’t do anything and you’re violating my rights. The officer told me to shut up and I put my arms in the air as he began patting me down. He pulled all the items out of my pockets. He pulled out my wallet, my knife, my pepper spray, and my keys. The officer told me that my folding knife was illegal in Lowell, and I said that doesn’t make sense cuz they’re legal in Massachusetts. I asked the officer why he was searching me and he told me that he had seen me hand something to the woman. I then realized that the officer did have probable cause. While the officer was searching me, the new inner tube I’d been inflating exploded and it sounded like a gunshot. I said what the fuck is that! Is somebody shooting? Then it dawned on me, I said oh shit, there goes my new bike tire. The officer told me to sit down on the curb and begin talking on his radio. It was after a few minutes, and my girlfriend was still recording, that the officer told us that we were all set and he jumped in his cruiser and rode off. I was pretty pissed off about the whole ordeal. I even told the officer while he was getting in his cruiser that he’d be hearing from my civil rights attorney. After I calmed down, and had some time to think about it, I realized that he was just doing his job. Technically he had every right to search me because I handed that girl a lighter. Like the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
After the officer left my girlfriend and I went into our apartment. We watched the video of the interaction with the officer. I told her that I was wrong and that he did have probable cause. If I see him again I will apologize to him for my behavior. My girlfriend and I settled in for the night.