I want to preface this story by telling you a little about myself. I am not a Cop hater. In fact my Father whom I respected and adored (passed away in 2004) was a Police Officer for over 40 years and retired as Chief of Police. My youngest Brother retired as a Police Officer and is now a Lieutenant for the Coroners Office. So I come from a Cop family and do not have anything but admiration for the hard work that Police Officers do on a daily basis. I truly believe that Police Officers have a calling from God. I guess there is always the exception. Read on ....
A couple of years ago my girlfriend and I moved into this big, old house in Uptown Whittier, Ca. Our neighbors were Rick and Fran and their two kids. Rick is a 20 year veteran of L.A.P.D. and Fran is a stay-at-home-mom.
The first thing I noticed was that Rick hardly ever went to work. I often wondered how he managed to live in his nice house and drive his new BMW's while never going to work. I found out that he had claimed back and neck injuries while on the job so he was undergoing treatments and surgeries, probably all while being paid his full salary.
I also understand that he has an on-going lawsuit against the department. I have also learned that he has had some disciplinary problems that have led to him being transferred to different divisions within the Department.
I rarely ever saw Rick during the year that we were neighbors but I heard him yelling and belittling his wife, Fran many times. My girlfriend was very good friends with Fran and witnessed many verbal assaults Rick made upon his wife and kids. Back then Fran told us that Rick would rarely allow anyone over to their house that he didn't know but made exceptions for us because we came from a Cop family. I guess that made us OK in his eyes. I believe it is the "us against them" personality that some Cops seem to take on after a few years on the force.
After we were forced to move from that house because our greedy, fucking, bitch of a landlord decided to capitalize on the real estate boom that was going on at that time, I didn't see much of Rick and Fran for quite a while although my girlfriend still saw Fran quite regularly. My Girlfriend would come home and tell me stories of how he yelled at Fran and the things he would say to her and the kids. It was sickening but I wasn't personally witnessing the outbursts so it didn't have the same impact on me as it did on my Girlfriend. Actually I told my Girlfriend that I didn't want to hear anymore of the stories because if it was that bad that Fran would have done something about it. My thinking was that if Fran was that miserable, she would leave or kick him out or something. I didn't realize until later how wrong I was.
Lets just move the hands of time ahead to October of 2007. My Girlfriend asked me if I would go with her to Frans one night to help hang some Halloween lights and of course I agreed. When we arrived and walked up to the front door I noticed that their youngest Daughter was in the Living Room watching TV. The TV was a little 13" TV that I had bought to put in our kitchen in the house so my Girlfriend could watch TV while cooking or cleaning. When we moved we gave it to Fran so she could put it into her kitchen. I asked her where her big TV was. She said it had broke over a year ago and Rick would not by a new one. But Rick had a nice new Flat Screen TV in his bedroom. It was hooked up to his DVD player and video game system. I started to think that Rick was pretty selfish for not getting them a decent sized TV but it was none of my business.
Fran was now about 10 feet up on a ladder while we held flashlights and the ladder for her safety. Her little Daughter was playing with a flashlight and you could tell how excited she was about Halloween coming up and us decorating for the occasion.
All of a sudden Rick sticks his head out of the side door and starts screaming the most vilest and threatening things to Fran. He was telling her to get her fucking, fat ass inside before he came out there and yanked her ass in himself. After a few more screams I had to say something. I just said "Come on Rick. You don't have to say that kind of shit to her". He then quieted down for a minute but soon started up again telling her to get her ass inside the house "right fucking now".
Fran went into the house and my Girlfriend and I began to gather the lights and tools up. We waited until she came back outside to make sure she was alright. She came outside about 10 minutes later. She was crying and her Daughter was very upset. The little girl told us how scared she was of her Daddy and didn't want to go back inside the house. My Girlfriend just held Fran while she cried. I played with their Daughter trying to take her mind off of the terrible incident that she just witnessed. Fran never said a word back to Rick or gave him a hard time of any kind. She absolutely did not deserve the tirade that he threw at her. I wondered how many time this poor little girl has had to witness this terrible abuse by her Father.
I finally had to ask Fran why she hadn't left this abusive monster yet and then she began to tell me why. First of all he threatens her constantly. It's not like she's married to some guy who works in construction and he is threatening to shoot his wife. This asshole has a license to carry firearms. Thats fucking scary. He tells her that he will shoot her and bury her in the desert. He tells her that he has connections with the Russian Mafia and they will kill her for him. He calls her every foul name in the book. I asked her why she hasn't gotten a restraining order and kicked his ass out of the house. She said that because she was scared to death.
She went on to tell me that he had gotten two more loans on the house and they now owe way more then the house is worth. He constantly threatens to sell the house because he knows that she loves that house and has put her blood and sweat into making it the most beautiful house on the block. She told me how he goes to a nail salon and gets his nails and toes done every single week. She has not been to go to a nail salon in almost a year. She told me how he goes shopping for clothes constantly but has suits and clothes lined up in his closet, her closet, and their Daughters closets. Most of the clothes still have the sales tags on them. She went on to tell me how he goes food shopping weekly and buys food for him and a few small things such as bottled water for the girls but that is it. She does not own a cell phone but their older daughter has one that he constantly badgers her with. He send s ehr text messages all night long when she is out with friends or on a date.
Fran continued telling me that he went back to work after his initial surgeries on his neck but after a few months he got into some trouble at work and was being accused of something by another officer who just happened to be female. So then he said that he was having knee problems and was out of work again. He went in for more surgery. This time it was elective surgery. In other words, he could have gone without it but he needed the excuse to be gone form work but still draw a salary. I believe that is called fraud but what do I know. That is your hard earned tax dollars at work folks.
After witnessing what I saw and talking in depth with Fran I now realize what she is up against. If he is forced to move from the house, Fran believes that he is capable of killing her or doing other kinds of bodily damage to her. She also said that he would stalk her and refuse to pay any of the bills for the house. Now that he has the payments up around $2100.00 per month, she would need help making those payments.
She also told me how their youngest Daughter got kicked out of her first two schools because she was repeating stuff at school that she heard her Daddy say to her Mom. The Daughter is now having some learning problems that can be directly attributed to living with this asshole.
Something has got to be done about this monster. He is a psycho and needs to be separated from any guns.
