MorganWritten by Ray Shay

Being father's day yesterday, I could not help but think of, "Morgan". Due to privacy and security reasons, I will not share his last name or the last name of his uncle, "Albert". I would be surprised to hear Morgan is still alive.

There are countless homes in San Diego and elsewhere that Father's Day was not a priority and it was not celebrated. In both poor and rich communities we frequently saw children of some fathers who were in desperate situations. Police officers do not talk about it much, but I think most of us felt if we could just move those children to a better environment, we could actually save them.;

If only there was a special bus we could call when we found a child who was abused, uncared for, or simply unimportant. We could just, "load em up". The children would get hot showers, a square meal, and clean, warm clothes. I love the thought of kids pulling on thick, clean cotton sweatshirts over their freshly washed hair. No more nasty, painful bugs or days old layers of dirt. The kids would be safe. They could start to smile again. The bus would then accelerate out of the area leaving behind a gritty cloud of poverty and lack of parental leadership, falling like unwanted dust onto those old, empty sidewalks. 

My path to meeting Morgan was as strange as it gets.  My patrol beat partner was Joel Bryden.  Joel was ultimately promoted to Assistant Chief of San Diego Police Department.   He is currently the Chief of Walnut Creek Police Department.   Don't tell anyone, but before Joel had all that brass hanging off his uniform, he was a pretty good street cop.  In private conversations among police officers being a, "good street cop" is held in higher esteem than formal signs of rank including stripes, bars, or even stars on your uniform.  Being a cop first was at the core of a person.

Joel would usually drive and I would be the passenger officer.  Joel wrote great reports and I hate to admit it, he was a better driver.   I pushed the limits of the equipment and environment too far.  Not necessarily a good combination.   We also joked frequently about who was faster.  I know in a strange way, I enjoyed foot pursuits.  I think like most police officers, we were both adrenaline junkies.  Looking back, some of those foot chases and other events, could have easily ended in tragedy. 

So many years ago on that warm summer night in Logan Heights, I was driving our marked police unit when our vehicle headlights washed over two parolees carrying a television down a dirt alley near 2900 Imperial Ave.  Being about two in the morning, even a rookie cop would have recognized something was amiss.

We saw the bottom of their shoes as the television hit the ground and they took off running.   I remember braking hard and we were both in foot pursuit as the police radio crackled our emergency call for assistance.   As I recall, I got my, "rabbit" but Joel ended up empty handed.  Not that I teased him, just one, two, three or more times....

We ultimately found where they had stolen the television.  When we knocked on the door on the duplex, the next door neighbor pulled back the drapes and looked out.  It was none other than the second parolee who had escaped from the alley.  We promptly arrested him as Albert opened the door to his adjoining home.

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