The scene: It’s a warm, Minnesota, summer night. There’s a storm brewing but it hasn’t begun yet. Of the 10 or so tables on the patio, most are filled with locals sharing stories, food, and laughs with cocktails in hand. In other words, it’s a nearly perfect night.
Then things get weird.
The patio has quieted down a little bit, when the front door of the bar comes banging open. The bouncer has a gentleman that has had a few too many cocktails – so many in fact, that he’s having one hell of a time walking. A cab pulls up. The bouncers drags the drunk towards the cab, nearly losing him as his legs give out. The drunk is dumped into the back of the cab, door closed, this looks like the end of his night. The bouncer talks to the cabbie for a minute, then makes his way back inside. A few minutes later the bouncer is right back outside. He talks with the cabbie some more, opens the back door, and helps the drunk back out of the cab. Good move by the cabbie. The bouncer, not really sure what to do with the guy at this point, grabs a chair and plops the drunk in it.
Now, to give you a better idea of what the scene looks like at this point, it still has yet to start raining, but the skies are becoming more threatening by the minute. The patio itself is covered, but the entrance is not, and this is where our drunk little friend is currently going in and out of consciousness. Then the rain comes.
And it comes hard.
It starts innocently, much like most storms do, but about 10 minutes later it’s a full fledged downpour. It is one of those wonderful Minnesota summer storms that blows in this time of year. The patrons are all under the protection of the roof over the patio, but our drunk little friend is getting soaked. By this point, he’s completely passed out, and has been unresponsive for about 20 minutes. A few of the people at the table are concerned because our little drunk buddy is out getting soaked. The bouncer – or any staff member for that matter – have made no attempt at all the move the gentleman out of the rain, one actually saying “the rain will do him good.” True or not, it’s not a nice thing to do. Detox has apparently been called, but it’s been nearly an hour since they were contacted. I don’t know how it is in other cities, but in Minneapolis, Detox usually has a very quick response time, so it’s strange that they have yet to make an appearance. Finally though, someone shows up.
But it’s not the ambulance.
The rain has slowed slightly – a lull in the storm. Up walks a Minneapolis Police Officer, but something feels different about this guy. He’s carrying a sort of ominous feeling with him as he approaches the entrance, and our little buddy. He speaks with the bouncer for a minute, then turns his attention towards his reason for being there. The officer slaps the drunk across the face once, presumably in an attempt to wake him up. Then he does it again. And again, but this time, he winds up a little more – WHACK! The cops slaps the guy pretty damn hard. At this point, he’s got the attention of almost everyone on the patio.
The guys who had been concerned about the drunk man sitting in the rain, decide they’ve had enough and approach the officer. In a completely friendly, and unthreatening, tone, one of the guys says he’s got a chair set up under the awning so they can move our buddy out of the rain. That did it.
The cop explodes at him.
He launches into a tirade about how my concerned friend is a snot mouthed puke and that if he doesn’t walk away right now, “he’s going to punch him in the fucking face.” The cope drops a few more F-bombs and threatens him again, finally telling him he’ll throw him in cuffs right now. I was stunned. I had never seen a police officer act in such an aggressive manor, especially since he was unprovoked. My friend comes back to the table, shaking with adrenaline. Okay, good, the ambulance is here. The cop heads over to attended to our drunk little buddy – slaps him again. He then pulls his flashlight out – it appeared to be a miniature Mag Lite, grabs the mans right hand and raps him across the knuckles. Hard. Twice. The paramedic, who is holding the mans left hand, checking for responsiveness, give the cop a look like ‘I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.’
The paramedics finally get the guy on the roller and into the back of the ambulance. The cop finishes up with the bouncer, then makes his way back to his squad car. Instead of just going back to his car, he stops, turns to my concerned friend and berates him some more, telling him “if he wants to help, why don’t you become a civil service worker.” His response is to mention the typical police motto, ‘To Serve and Protect.” Officer friendly points to his car and says “It doesn’t fucking say serve and protect anymore.” I’ve had enough at this point and holler sarcastically, “wow, what a great attitude,” and he responds equally sarcastically, “thanks.”
Then it’s over.
I have never in my life ever seen any public servant act in such an amazingly disrespectful way. Not only did the guy abuse our drunken little buddy, but he threatened a citizen who was only trying to be helpful. Then, after acting like a complete asshole, the cop has the bas sense to come over and continue antagonizing people. We did get his badge number, car number, and the ambulance number. We’ll – all seven of us – be calling in complaints on Officer Friendly, along with a few of the staff members. I know that coming from where I do, I don’t have to deal with some of the things that people who live in rougher parts of the world do, but it completely blew my mind.
It was like something out of the Twilight Zone.
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