The Dog Would 'er Done Got Ya

I did a second ride along with the Maryland State Police, this time at "W" Barracks, which is in Garrett County. The Trooper I rode with was a native of Alleganny County, and was a eight year veteran of the department. He was an excellent Trooper to ride with, he kept quizing me on where we were, what the speed limit was along the road we were traveling on, what the lookout is for that was just broadcast on the radio. The first thing we did was pull over a car traveling on US 219 South near Northern High School. He was traveling 71 in a 55 zone. However, we let him go with just a verbal warning, because we got dispatched to a domestic dispute in Friendsville. We were the first unit to show up on the scene. The woman was injured, and the Trooper asked for an ambulance to transport her to a hospital. The the Garrett County sheriff's office responded to the call, and took over from there. The gentleman who assaulted the woman came back to the scene and was arrested. This incident made the local radio station this morning, which was kinda a surprise to me. Then we ran some more traffic stops using moving radar in the cruiser. What is interesting about that is the fact that the radar can get a clock in about half a second, which would make a radar detector useless. Then we stopped and ate dinner, which was obtained from the drive thru at the Burger King on US 219 and I-68 in Grantsville. Then we rode down to MD 495 (not the Beltway) and ran more radar with a canine Trooper. The first thing I noticed is that the Trooper looked a lot like K9 John. That was interesting to say the least. Then the second thing is his dog was verbal. We clocked a car traveling 93 MPH in a 50 MPH zone, and the Canine Trooper went after them. We followed suit, because it could have been a chase in the making. About a mile down the road, the man driving the car lost control and went into a ditch. Both the driver and passanger were not injured, but the car was probably totaled, even though the body of the vehicle looked fine, the undercarriage had a lot of damage. The driver of the car asked about if the dog was trained to sniff for drugs, and the Trooper I was riding with responded. "Nope, that dog is for if you ran in the woods, the dog would `er done got ya." That's probably the most notable quote I have ever taken from a ride along. Then we finished the tour of duty running more radar, and then entering traffic stop stats into the state police database. Overall this ride along was one of the best I have ever been on. The ride along I did last week (which I did not blog about) was an excellent one too.

Virginia decided that they prefered Democrat Tim Kaine over Republican Jerry Killgore. Jerry Killgore spoke at my niece's high school graduation back in June. I was not impressed with him at all then, and as the campaign geared up, the negative tone turned off a lot of voters, resulting in a Democrat winning office. Virginia is a very conservative state, and this win might signal what could happen next year in other states.

Well, I'm enjoying Garrett County. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekends.