Handcuffs and handguns?!?

This weekend overall wasn't bad, but I'd venture that Saturday was one of the weirdest and worst days of my life.

Saturday started with me making a really tough decision; one that I still am mentally debating. Did I choose right? I'm not sure there was a correct solution, and maybe it was more of which choice would do less damage. I don't know...either way was not good. But I made a choice and now have to live with whatever consequences might develop and only time will tell.

Later, I went to work and almost got arrested. No, that's not a typo. I almost got arrested for assault. What do I mean by 'almost?' Well, I was so sure I was going to get locked up, that I took off my radio & handed it to one of the other bouncers and gave him other stuff I didn't want to risk losing. I was convinced I was getting arrested. And why? Because an off-duty police officer thought he was invincible and after watching him shove two women to the ground (granted, they approached him & started arguing--not excusable at all, but not just something out of the blue), I pulled him off them and pushed him into a fence. I held him against the fence while uniformed police arrived and he was amazed I was treating him like I was.

Somehow, in the midst of everything, the off-duty cop cut his lip. This, of course, turned into the accusation that I sucker punched him. Right. Like I would punch someone and they would end up with something that looks like a paper cut. That's almost believable.

If the guy hadn't been a cop, I wouldn't have even been faced with the possibility of going to jail. But since he had identified himself as a cop prior to me pushing him against the fence, it was simple assault.

That's bullshit, and it pissed me off (though at the time, I was resigned to whatever fate might come). To make matters worse, the cops friends (who also were off-duty cops) came running out and kept instigating myself and other people. I don't care who you are. You can be a cop. You can be a celebrity. You can be the pope. You can be any damn person imaginable. I know my job and I'm going to do it. You're not above the law.

No disrespect to the good cops out there. I have a lot of respect for police officers and was even saved from arrest by another officer that was there who convinced the sergeant that I didn't do what I was accused of because he had seen me working before & saw how I handle situations. But I have no respect for cops who think that since they are a cop, they can do whatever they want. Bullshit to that.

Now, if that was the end of the night, that woulda been a bad night. But it gets even better. As we were closing, a fight broke out in front of the club and one guy reached for his hip. Yes, he reached for his hip. And no, I don't mean the actual bone of his hip, but what he was carrying on his hip, which is commonly referred to as a firearm. Some asshole reached for a gun. Luckily another off-duty cop (a decent and respected one) was there & stopped the guy. The guy had a license to carry from 2 states, but regardless--it's scary as hell to realize that the guy was reaching for his gun. Do I think he would have used it? I don't know--I wouldn't have pegged him as having a gun in the first place and think he might have had the balls to reach for his hip, but not sure if he woulda had the balls to pull it out or use it.

The problem is that if he reached for it, who else might have had a gun and saw him. They would pull theirs thinking he was pulling his and who knows what might have happened. Additionally, if the guy truly thought his life was in jeopardy (yes, the fight was basically started when someone tried to grab jewelry off someone else and rob them and the guy with the gun said "I wasn't going to die for this") then who knows what he might have done.

Overall, a very sombering and difficult day. It's not every day that you make an extremely difficult decision, almost get arrested, and see someone reach for a gun.

Confused and worried...