Faulkner
Member
Been a while since I've had such an entertaining event occur while on duty, but this one occurred at the final football game of two local rival high schools in the county. The rival teams are from two small towns with each having a population of about 5,000 and they are located across the county from one another. Both towns have a small police force, but since this game typically has a big crowd the sheriff's office usually sends over a couple of deputies to help support the local officers with traffic and such, and this year it was my turn to go.
It was like old home week for me at the game since I know a lot of people from both communities as well as all the officers from both sides. Several used to work for me at the sheriff's office, in fact both police chiefs used to work for me at the SO before they accepted opportunities to lead these small town PDs. This is one of those local crowd drawing events where anybody who wants to mingle with the voters shows up. I visited with a couple of state representatives, the county judge, several city councilmen from both towns and the mayors. The state senator and I are hunting buddies and we planned a squirrel hunting trip for next weekend.
Come half time I was standing on the sideline at about the 30 yard line talking with the home team's police chief. The visiting team's marching band was certainly cutting a rug with an excellent performance that I'm sure they've been working on for months, and it showed. With the band out on the field marching around in formation and the flag wavers and baton twirlers doing their thing I caught a glimpse of something out of place in the far end zone.
The chief must have caught my stare because he stopped in the middle of a story he was telling me and asked, "is that part of the show?"
"I don't know, but I don't think so."
It was the horse head that first caught my attention. It was someone running out of the far end zone onto the field wearing a horse head Halloween mask. He ran right through the middle of the marching band and as he approached the 50 yard line I could see that he was wearing shin high buckskin boots with the horse head mask . . . and nothing else. At this point the crowd on both sides jumped to their feet and started cheering, I'm sure the band director was proud thinking all these accolades was for the still performing marching band.
As the runner ran out the other side of the band formation and cut across where the chief and I was standing, he continued towards the near end zone. The chief calmly commented, "I thought streaking went out of style about 30 years ago."
"This is a first for me," I replied as we watched him continue his dash across the field.
"Boy, I hope that's not a kid from our school."
The streaker ran through the end zone, crossed the track, and dashed another 30 yards to a chain link fence. Poor fellow must have been worn out by then because when he tried to vault over the fence he didn't make it and was slung back and onto the ground. I noticed several other officers from both side lines running over to catch him. The streaker got up, successfully vaulted over the fence and landing in a ditch. He climbed up out of the ditch, had to climb over another fence, and dashed into the parking lot with two city officers in pursuit about 50 yards behind.
I jogged down the sideline to a gate that was at the end of the field where the EMTs and an ambulance was staged in case of any injuries to the players. I could vaguely see one of the officer's flashlight beam bobbing around the parking lot as he was still in pursuit so I started walking in that direction.
It was then I heard a voice behind me, "hey Faulkner!"
I turned and stepped out of the way of a big Ford 4WD pickup easing along in the parking lot and as it pulled up saw that it was one of my neighbors and his wife. He stuck his head out the window and asked, "you need a ride?"
"Hey Chuck, as a matter of fact I do!!" I stepped up on the running board of his truck and grabbed a hold. "Go up there and hang a left and take me to the far end of the parking lot by the gym."
"Okay, hang on," and off we went.
I was perched up on the running board of the 4WD truck and I could see over the tops of cars in the parking lot and saw that the officer in pursuit appeared to be gaining on the streaker as they approaching the back side of the high school gym. I pointed for Chuck to take me to the other side of the gym and as he pulled up and slowed I jumped off and ran to the corner of the building and stopped.
Just as I expected, a moment later the streaker rounded the corner of the gym and headed straight towards me with the officer no more than about 15 paces behind him. It was pretty dark so when he got to within about 10 yards of me I turned on my flashlight and said, "Sheriff's Office - STOP!" .
Immediately the streaker stopped and leaned up against the wall, then slid down to a sitting position on the ground. The officer ran up to him and stopped and leaned against the wall as well, both were gasping for breath after their run. I walked up and pulled the horse head mask off the streaker and shined my light in his face but I didn't recognize him.
The officer looked over at me and said, "Faulkner . . . you're not even . . . breathing hard."
"Well, I guess I'm in better shape than you are," I answered deadpan as I slapped him on the back.
After they both caught their breath we stood the young man up and asked him his name and how old he was. He obviously didn't have an ID on him. We found out he was a 17 year old senior from the visiting school. I could see some cuts and scraps on him from his run in with the fence and falling in the ditch so I radioed for the EMT's to bring the ambulance over to our location by the gym so they could check him out and wrap a blanket around him. I turned over the horse head mask to the officer for evidence.
After the EMTs checked him out he was cuffed and transported to the PD but last I heard they were going to turn him over to his parents and handle it as a school matter since it was a school event. One thing is for sure, as good a job as the marching band did I doubt it will be their performance that'll be remembered at their 10 year reunion.
It was like old home week for me at the game since I know a lot of people from both communities as well as all the officers from both sides. Several used to work for me at the sheriff's office, in fact both police chiefs used to work for me at the SO before they accepted opportunities to lead these small town PDs. This is one of those local crowd drawing events where anybody who wants to mingle with the voters shows up. I visited with a couple of state representatives, the county judge, several city councilmen from both towns and the mayors. The state senator and I are hunting buddies and we planned a squirrel hunting trip for next weekend.
Come half time I was standing on the sideline at about the 30 yard line talking with the home team's police chief. The visiting team's marching band was certainly cutting a rug with an excellent performance that I'm sure they've been working on for months, and it showed. With the band out on the field marching around in formation and the flag wavers and baton twirlers doing their thing I caught a glimpse of something out of place in the far end zone.
The chief must have caught my stare because he stopped in the middle of a story he was telling me and asked, "is that part of the show?"
"I don't know, but I don't think so."
It was the horse head that first caught my attention. It was someone running out of the far end zone onto the field wearing a horse head Halloween mask. He ran right through the middle of the marching band and as he approached the 50 yard line I could see that he was wearing shin high buckskin boots with the horse head mask . . . and nothing else. At this point the crowd on both sides jumped to their feet and started cheering, I'm sure the band director was proud thinking all these accolades was for the still performing marching band.
As the runner ran out the other side of the band formation and cut across where the chief and I was standing, he continued towards the near end zone. The chief calmly commented, "I thought streaking went out of style about 30 years ago."
"This is a first for me," I replied as we watched him continue his dash across the field.
"Boy, I hope that's not a kid from our school."
The streaker ran through the end zone, crossed the track, and dashed another 30 yards to a chain link fence. Poor fellow must have been worn out by then because when he tried to vault over the fence he didn't make it and was slung back and onto the ground. I noticed several other officers from both side lines running over to catch him. The streaker got up, successfully vaulted over the fence and landing in a ditch. He climbed up out of the ditch, had to climb over another fence, and dashed into the parking lot with two city officers in pursuit about 50 yards behind.
I jogged down the sideline to a gate that was at the end of the field where the EMTs and an ambulance was staged in case of any injuries to the players. I could vaguely see one of the officer's flashlight beam bobbing around the parking lot as he was still in pursuit so I started walking in that direction.
It was then I heard a voice behind me, "hey Faulkner!"
I turned and stepped out of the way of a big Ford 4WD pickup easing along in the parking lot and as it pulled up saw that it was one of my neighbors and his wife. He stuck his head out the window and asked, "you need a ride?"
"Hey Chuck, as a matter of fact I do!!" I stepped up on the running board of his truck and grabbed a hold. "Go up there and hang a left and take me to the far end of the parking lot by the gym."
"Okay, hang on," and off we went.
I was perched up on the running board of the 4WD truck and I could see over the tops of cars in the parking lot and saw that the officer in pursuit appeared to be gaining on the streaker as they approaching the back side of the high school gym. I pointed for Chuck to take me to the other side of the gym and as he pulled up and slowed I jumped off and ran to the corner of the building and stopped.
Just as I expected, a moment later the streaker rounded the corner of the gym and headed straight towards me with the officer no more than about 15 paces behind him. It was pretty dark so when he got to within about 10 yards of me I turned on my flashlight and said, "Sheriff's Office - STOP!" .
Immediately the streaker stopped and leaned up against the wall, then slid down to a sitting position on the ground. The officer ran up to him and stopped and leaned against the wall as well, both were gasping for breath after their run. I walked up and pulled the horse head mask off the streaker and shined my light in his face but I didn't recognize him.
The officer looked over at me and said, "Faulkner . . . you're not even . . . breathing hard."
"Well, I guess I'm in better shape than you are," I answered deadpan as I slapped him on the back.
After they both caught their breath we stood the young man up and asked him his name and how old he was. He obviously didn't have an ID on him. We found out he was a 17 year old senior from the visiting school. I could see some cuts and scraps on him from his run in with the fence and falling in the ditch so I radioed for the EMT's to bring the ambulance over to our location by the gym so they could check him out and wrap a blanket around him. I turned over the horse head mask to the officer for evidence.
After the EMTs checked him out he was cuffed and transported to the PD but last I heard they were going to turn him over to his parents and handle it as a school matter since it was a school event. One thing is for sure, as good a job as the marching band did I doubt it will be their performance that'll be remembered at their 10 year reunion.
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