The Motorcycle Cop Story

The Motorcycle Cop Story

1958

A True Story

Written 8/01/2019* 264 Words*

#123 By Howard Yasgar

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, that’s when I think I think about this story.

It was back in the 1950’s, when I was working part time in a small Gulf gas station in Westville Connecticut.

Every Saturday at around 2 PM our local Westville Connecticut motorcycle cop Eddie would stop by for a cold Coca Cola.

Those were the days when most New Haven motorcycle cops dressed in normal everyday police clothing, they didn’t have any of the protective Gestapo style clothing motorcycle cops wear today.

Eddie would ride his Harley Davidson motorcycle up to our outdoor soda cooler where he would buy a five-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 he sat there sipping his Coke.

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

One afternoon, as Eddie sat on his bike sipping his Coke, suddenly out of nowhere, a car sped by the gas station, it must have been going around 80 or 90 miles an hour.

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

I will never forget what Eddie said, as he took another sip of his Coke, he looked me in the eye and said, “No, do you think, I’m crazy, I could get killed chasing him”.