L.A.P.D.

Had a scary experience as I was heading out yesterday. It was about mid-day so I figured I'd take Melrose east to Highland for a change. I don't usually take Melrose since the traffic can be bad, but since it was early in the day on a Friday I figured I'd give it a shot. Traffic wasn't so bad, but I only got a few blocks before I could see the flashing lights of a black and white approaching from the opposite direction.

Cars were starting to pull to the right side of the road and I followed suit. But as the cop car got closer it did a surprising thing. Instead of flying past me and the other stopped cars, it suddenly pulled right in front of us and blocked traffic. Two officers quickly jumped out of the car, guns drawn, and moved to the sidewalk in front of a closed store front. I could see that the security gate in front of the store was pulled open slightly and the cops leaned against the building's wall peering around into the store. One officer had a shot gun and the other was holding a .45.

Well, you can imagine the sudden terror this created for those of us sitting in our cars as well as some unlucky pedestrians who happened to be passing by just as the cops arrived. Everyone started to scatter and luckily with traffic stopped, those of us parked in front of the store could quickly make a U-turn in the middle of the block before the opposing traffic began to proceed. As I turned off on a side street to continue my journey north, I heard and then saw a police helicopter flying overhead.

I don't know if anything came of that episode. I'm assuming it was the store alarm which alerted the police. One thing I do know: if bullets had started flying, yours truly and about a dozen other people would have been in the direct line of fire.

I love L.A.