The Motorcycle Cop Story

                                                    The Motorcycle Cop Story

                                                                         1958

                                                            Written 8/01/2019

                                                              Howard Yasgar

I think of this true story every time I read about the Marjory Stoneman High school police officer being prosecuted for not running into the school like an idiot and getting himself killed.

Back in the 1950’s, I worked part time in a small Gulf gas station in Westville Connecticut.

Every Saturday, at around 2 PM in the afternoon, our local motorcycle cop Eddy, would stop by for a Coke.

Those were the days when New Haven motorcycle cops dressed in normal police clothes, not like storm troopers.

Eddy would ride his Harley up to our outdoor soda cooler where he would buy a 5 cent bottle of Coke.

Eddy would then back up his motorcycle into one of the two bays of the gas station. 

When he was sure no one from the street could see him, he put down the motorcycle kickstand and sat there sipping his Coke.

Naturally I was always anxious to talk to him, after all he was the Police, and he was armed, he was our first line of defense against the bad guys.  

One afternoon as Eddy sat on his bike sipping his Coke, suddenly out of nowhere, a car sped by, it must have been going around 80 miles an hour.

I looked at Eddy and said, aren’t you going after him?

I will never forget what Eddy said, as he took another sip of his Coke, he looked me in the eye and said, “What do you think, I’m crazy, I could get killed”.