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This is the third and final installment, at least for now, of \u201cTrue Tales of the Mojave Desert\u201d as told to me by Mark A. Ward, who worked as a patrol officer for the Needles PD in 1968-69. Here\u2019s proof:<\/p>\nThis is the third and final installment, at least for now, of \u201cTrue Tales of the Mojave Desert\u201d as told to me by Mark A. Ward, who worked as a patrol officer for the Needles PD in 1968-69. Here\u2019s proof:<\/p>\n
Whatever you do, do not tell Ward he bears a remarkable resemblance to MAD Magazine\u2019s Alfred E. Neuman. He HATES that.<\/p>\n
The Mojave can get quite cold at night in the wintertime. Dry air and sand don\u2019t hold the daytime heat through the long night. So that January dawn in 1969 was downright frosty when 21-year-old Officer Ward, working the graveyard shift, responded to a domestic dispute in a residential neighborhood. He found a modest desert hacienda with a wooden fence around the backyard and a California Highway Patrol unit parked in front.<\/p>\n
Ward unholstered his .357 magnum as he hurried toward the sound of angry voices from the backyard. At 6\u20194\u201d he didn\u2019t need to stand on tiptoe to survey the scene.<\/p>\n
What he saw was a white male \u2013 5\u20199\u201d, 150 lbs., late 20\u2019s \u2013 swearing a blue streak and brandishing a double barrel twelve-gauge shotgun, double cocked for immediate action. On the far side of the yard, behind the fence, was a young CHP officer brandishing only a sixgun.<\/p>\n
The white male was directing his curses at a blowsy woman in her late 30\u2019s who returned the favor from a back window. She appeared unarmed. From their back\u2019n\u2019forth Ward determined that they were a one-night-stand gone wrong.<\/p>\n
Both Ward and the Chippie continued chanting, \u201cDrop the weapon, drop the weapon,\u201d without success.<\/p>\n
At one point the guy whirled and pointed his shotgun at Ward\u2019s face. Ward, a rookie at the time, hesitated an instant though he was within his rights to pump all six rounds into the guy.<\/p>\n
A good thing he did because NPD patrolman Bruce Weekly, who arrived to provide backup and would later become Chief of Police, chose that moment to step into Ward\u2019s line of fire. Weekly had gotten inside the backyard fence and approached the shotgun-wielding guy, apparently unaware that Ward, behind him, was a breath away from opening fire.<\/p>\n
The white male seemed to run out of steam once the cops had him triangulated. He dropped the shotgun and got cuffed without a struggle, saying, \u201cAw shit, I shouldn\u2019t never drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
They placed him in the back of Ward\u2019s squad car and all three cops drove separately to the Needles Police Department as pink dawn crept over the horizon.<\/p>\n
When Ward opened the back seat outside the booking station the suspect, whom Ward described as \u201ca scrappy, hard-muscled railroad bo,\u201d was curled into a tight ball against the far door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the face of the devil for the first time that morning,\u201d says Ward. \u201cAll three of us stood at the open door as this guy lowered his voice like Linda Blair in The Exorcist and hissed, \u2018You\u2019ll never get me out of the car<\/em>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n And it took three cops, all of whom were considerably larger than the handcuffed suspect, a good fifteen minutes to extricate him from the back seat.<\/p>\n The cops booked him and placed him in a holding cell. The man was lethargic during this process, presumably exhausted from his long night. But Ward didn\u2019t take any chances and shoved the prisoner into a cell with his hands still cuffed behind his back.<\/p>\n \u201cWard, you know the rules, no cuffs inside a cell, \u201csaid Weekly.<\/p>\n The prisoner put his hands through the server hole and Ward reluctantly uncuffed him. The two cops walked halfway down the hall toward the parking lot when they heard an ENORMOUS explosion.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought a plane had hit the building,\u201d says Ward.<\/p>\n In fact the prisoner \u2013 5\u201d9\u2018, 150 lbs. \u2013 had ripped the one-piece porcelain sink and toilet out of the wall and thrown it against the cell bars where it shattered into a million pieces.<\/p>\n After they recovered from the shock, Weekly told the rookie cop, \u201cGet back in there and cuff the prisoner!\u201d<\/p>\n Ward says it was only time he ever disobeyed a direct order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the third and final installment, at least for now, of \u201cTrue Tales of the Mojave Desert\u201d as told to me by Mark A.…<\/p>\n