Simple Questions Episode 45 - Matthew Gezequel

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about people. We're looking forward to what we're going to learn when we're done with this whole thing. But mostly we're interested in the people, the process, and in your particular story. So with all that said, what is your full name.

And then my grandfather ended up in Alpina and so, and I also have a part of my family that apparently is down in New Orleans area, So apparently by Bayou side of the family, which have didn't even know they even existed, to be honest with you up until a few years ago, by doing genealogy.

he said it was always he was. He basically would compare me to a matador trying to face down three balls, and you know, he always sat there and goes just you know, there's most matadors would have ran, and you continued to face the problem. So he used to basically tell me I was stubborn as a bull and sometimes meaner than.

But you know, it's kind of one of those weird things when you look back and go, hold on, this definitely is not red, you know, And it was just kind of unique to realize, you know, I have this darker colored hair than and my hair is different than all my brothers as well. They all have like kinky, curly your hair, and theirs was almost jet black all the time, and then mine kind of stayed a little lighter brown.

in a hole? Yeah, I'm like what, he goes, that's my daughter. I got four you I can lose one. It's no big deal. Yeah, I'm like Jesus.

own barbecue sauce. I have three different varieties of barbecue sauce. I make, you know, my own spice rubs for everything. But like I said, I will do just about I can't say have one thing I love more than others other than like I said, I like doing pork, ribs, spare rubs. Mainly Jen likes the baby backs, so I tend to do those and then those I've gotten to the point like you know, when I start start a pack, when I start a round of baby backs, you know,

I'm tied up for four hours. So yeah, so that's the fun part of the day.

hurt me to stop truck driving. You know. For those twelve years, he and I would all summer, I would go all over the country with my dad and he would be and it was so funny because I love my mother. She was a good cook, but she didn't use a lot of spices and flavorings. And she'd say, well, that's because your dad doesn't like, you know, that type

of food. But every time we went out, my dad would find the places that had just huge flavor yeah, and I'd be like, you know, and finally at one point I looked back and went, I just think mom doesn't like it.

dying close to what I do. And he goes, but you just literally like here, I watched you because you you turn around, walked in the one day and went okay, here's some buttermilk, here's some this, and boom, and then write it and he goes, I you know, he always tells me, he goes, there's times where I just look back and go okay, And and that's his comparison when it comes to like chicken wings, chicken chicken tenders, and

that type of things. He goes, I compare it back to your cooking and I sat there and like, okay, I'll take that as compliments.

led us to being what we do. So and now it's every time we go someplace, we're looking for something different.

that's because you're a cop. Well no, actually it's the training and everything that's behind that and understanding that you know, it's called special it's swats, special weapons and tactics. It's the tactics, not the weapons, right, And that's the part that always found I found interesting and looking at some

of the things they did in the movie. And then you know, you know, with my background, you know, i am I've been a police officer going on twenty six years, so I've got my firearms instructor, chaser instructor, defensive tactics, use of force, pretty much any type of force training. I'm an instructor in it. And so to look back and look at the movie and go, oh, they did that shit, right, Yeah, you know, instead of most movies where you're look and go, oh, that is absolutely not how it works.

liked the movie too. Yeah, you know, and then you know, just depending on the show said that, that was probably one of the one of those movies that I would sit down and watch. But you know, still to this day, one of the movies I would sit down and watch in a heartbeat would be There's Two Labyrinths.

Any Montoya, here's where we get it, where we get get into some fun, especially with somebody who's on the job. If you were to have an action figure made to you, what superpower would it have and what color would its uniform be?

Air Force. And then my father was in the army. And then I have three uncles that were in the military, and you know, lost one uncle in Vietnam. And so you know, I always honor that side because I didn't do that portion of it, and you know, there's times I think back going, but you know, I'm kind of glad the way things worked out because i'd have done the military, I would have met Jen.

I have a child that's older than you, you know. Yeah, And it's fun It's funny because literally I've known him since he was seven years old and now he's a police officer. He's twenty one, and he's an officer with our local Sheriff's department. And you know, literally he and I sat down last week and he goes, he goes. You know how many times I would sit there and ask you questions and I said, I know, and he goes,

and he goes. Now I expind myself asking questions. He goes, But now I'm actually listening and you know, and trying to learn, because he goes, he turned, he goes. Honestly, he goes, You've got so much knowledge, and he goes, and he keeps that, he'll ask me questions. He's like, he goes because you have just so much experience that what they give you and the academy can't compare to. So I take it as as a huge honor to sit down with a couple of those guys are going so.

sign and I'm gonna walk out the door. You can, you can hand the cuffs out after you get him off. I don't care. I'm just walking away because I don't

need to hear his mouth anymore. And they'll look at me and they're like, you know, it's funny because some of the corrections officers like, gotcha know, and but also the one corrections offer goes, we've heard you know, You've you've brought in people that are screaming, hollering, and you're just like, you know, and then they're like, apparently they pushed the wrong button because you're ready to throw them at us.

was building Nike missile bases. So he would literally build a nuclear missile work site one day. Four days later, they'd tear it down and move it to a different spot. And he went all over the country and sometimes out of the country to do that while he was in the military. And you just sit there and look back and go, Okay, there's got to be something there. And you know, he was also the same guy that would

sit down and I'd watch him. You know, the Harry Potter books when those came out, he read the books in two or three days. And the only other person I know that read him that fast was my son, and he book's done. And you know, I would sit there and look at him both going how because you know, when I read the book, it took me, you know, ten days, but just the way they were and how they both are, that's fly through it and remember almost every word. And you know, that just always impressed me.

And you know, to have a guy who you know, worked on And that was the other thing I always laughed at because somebody, you know, some of my friends would look at me and go, you know, my dad's up and I just look at him, like, have you ever looked at the size of my father? The guys six feet tall, he's three hundred and forty five pounds, and yeah, he's got a beer he's got a little bit of a beer belly, but there ain't no beer in there because he don't drink beer, right, But his

arms are as big as my legs. And you know, he would he and you know I laughed because I seen a picture of my father when he was in high school, his senior picture. This guy was five eight and one hundred and thirty eight pounds. Wow, he went into the military. Still five eight hundred and thirty eight pounds comes out of the military. He's six feet tall, he's two hundred and sixty five pounds, absolutely ripped like

a beast. And his first job was at Pontiac Motors, and his job was picking up the V eight engine block off of one conveyor, carrying it twenty yards to the next one and did that for eight hours a day. And if my father and the one other guy that could do it weren't on that shift, the line shut out.

And my father was the only white guy walking in. I'm the midnight shift. He's here around, He's like, and the guys told him, they're like, yeah, no, he goes. These guys are going to walk you in every night to make sure you make it into work, because if you're not here, we don't make money, right, And so and I always laughed at that because here's my dad, you know, good sized guy, and he always sat there.

He's like, it's the weirdest thing, and you know, and I always laughed because I turned to him and somebody say, well, didn't that feel strange, and my dad to go no, and you'd look at him and they'd be like, well, but but my dad goes they were all my friends, yes, you know. And I always laugh because people would look at us, you know. And I still have that said to me, a lot of oh, you're a cops, you're racist. Now look at him like I didn't even know your

skin was a different color, you know. And you know, I'll I'll give you one story because I still think this is probably one of the funniest things ever happened on traffic stop with me. I had a car I pulled over for our drug unit calls and says, hey, you need to stop this car. We're pretty sure they just made a drug pass blah blah blah blah and made a buy off of these people. And I'm like, christ, So I pull this car over and it's an older suburban.

The plate on it comes back to Ah, I want to well it was a Paniac or a Chevy and Pala. I'm like, well and pretty much not an Impala. And this is during the middle of COVID time, right, So there's this whole big rigamarole about run plates and everything else.

And so I go up and there's six guys in this car and they're all African American and they're all shaken, and I'm like, I come up and I talk to the one and he's like, you know, the driver, He's like, yeah, I got a driver's license, but I left it in the car. I left it in my pants. It's at

the hotel and blah blah, blah blah. And he's the only one that actually had a driver's license with the six people in the car, and I'm like, okay, So I'm going through and I'm getting everybody's information and I'm I'm like, okay, guys, this is why we're stopped one because of the plate and this and this, And I said, now, somebody told me you guys made a hand passed with

somebody else. Looked like you passed money for drugs. And the guy goes to the one guy in the back seat goes, I bought we and I'm like, is that all you bought? Yeah, so you sure? And they're like, well, what do you mean? I said, I don't care about weed. It's Michigan. The law has changed. Weed's legal. I said, is that's all that's in the car, And they're like, well yeah, I said, are you sure? And they're like, uh,

you know, and the one got stopped. I'm like okay, and the other guys said, looking at him, going if you got something else, you better tell him right now. Just let's go. And they're like no, no, no, all I got to the weed, and I'm like, okay, so

we get them all out. I searched the car and I find, you know, a couple you know, I think it's like four or five cigarettes of marijuana right underneath that guy where he was seated at you know, he gave me one, but he put the other four underneath the seat, you know, like I wasn't gonna find it. And I'm like, dude, I don't care. So I walked back. I hand him his weed. I'm like, is this were

those yours? Okay? Here, put them in your pocket. I don't care, and you know, and I pulled him all out and I searched him and I handcuffed each one and I literally I'm like, guys, only got five pair and they're six ye, so you know, and I looked at two of them. I'm like, do me a favor, you know, And you know, I literally hooked two of them around my bumper, handcuffed to each other, and I'm like, you know, I don't think you're gonna drag him through

the bumper. Okay. So we're talking and I back and I unhandcoff them all and I'm putting them all back in the car. And we go back up to the car, and as I'm handing the information back and I'm like, okay, here's your license, here's your license, all right, here's yours, here's the you know. And I'm like, explain to me

the plate on the car. And the guy goes, well, I own the plate and I just bought the car a week ago, and I'm going to transfer that plate, but I can't transfer it until and I looked at him, I said, do me a favor. Somebody get a screw driver, go out and take the plate off. I said, because right now you've got an improper plate, which means I can toll your vehicle, and I said, which means your plate can be impounded, the vehicle can be impounded. I said,

I'm not going to do any of that stuff. And uh, As I'm handing the guy the paperwork, he drops his license and he goes to reach for it, and all of a sudden, he just starts shaking and he's like, I wasn't reaching for anything. I'm like, neither was I. Dude, just chill out and he goes. And it was so funny because the guy in the back seat, all of a sudden, I hear this, and this guy and of course the guy who did it, I mean, he's he's

probably one of the darkest guys in the car. And one of the other guys turns and goes, oh my god, he just turned late.

it with you for the driver. And he's like, yep. I said, go back to the hotel. You're only a mile away. Go back, get your driver's license. Drive out to Saga do get the stuff done. You guys got to get done out there. Come on back because they're working here in town. And I said, and we'll call it good. I said, but make sure that plate's not on this vehicle any longer. I said. You guys don't need the headaches, you know. And I said if you've got an appointment scheduled, and he's like, well, I do,

but it's not for six and a half months. I said, okay, drive around with little license plate. I said, you got insurance. Yeah, okay, have fun, man, I said, you might get stopped. I said, but it's easier for me for us to deal with this, for with you saying, hey, look here I got the you know, I've got an appointment. I got all this scheduled. I said, I can deal with that a lot easier than that bad plate. And the guy looks at me and goes, wow. He goes, you're probably the coolest officer

we ever met. I said, well, that's cool. I said, you guys have a great day, you know, send them on their way. And about three days goes by and I'm not paying attention. I I have a tendency every once in a while I'll stop and I would get gin a diet coke from McDonald's, right, so just pull up and order her a diet coke. And I'm sitting there and all of a sudden, they're like, yeah, the car in front of it paid for your paid for your drink. And I'm like, oh, okay, and I look

up and I see it. All six were in the car waving at the back.

didn't have problems with. And I looked at her, do me a favor. I said, you know, your buddy, here's got to warrant. I'll take care of I said, you're making money now, so it's one hundred dollars, fine, go pay it all. Oh, okay, cool, you know, but it was just unique to sit there and have that conversation with them and have them look at me and go, you're not the normal police officer. And I said, never happened.

And he had the same kind of stories. He was a chief's supervisor or superintendent at Chrysler, you know, an axle plant or something, and he said, ninety percent of the people that work for me or black, he said. And he said, and they don't get away with anything.

you're you know that you know you're still here. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I do, no big deal, you know, and he It was funny because Toronto goes you probably don't recognize me. I'm like, I looked at him, like no, but I recognize the suburban.

the child Advocacy Center. And then for her to go back to school and her to make a decision that you know, her degree was in nonprofit administration, so she wanted to do what her mother was doing. Yeah, and so that was a huge one. And then with Christian his I still think it was funny. But he always told us he wanted to be a pilot, and we I mean we actually have pictures his one of his senior pictures is him in a Western church because they

had the pilot program. And he literally, I mean when we visited Western, he turned and he's like, I'm not going to need a dorm room. I'll be living here at the you know, at the airport, you know type thing. And we were all like, okay, that's where he's going to go and then all of a sudden, just before the end of his senior year, he chose to go

to Central Michigan. And were looked at him and I'm like, okay, why and he looks at me and goes, well, you know, Dad, I can He goes, I can go to school for four years at Central. He goes, it's gonna goes. They're not offering many scholarships. They're not offering this, They're not

offering that. He said, you know, after four years of schooling maybe five, because the way the program is, I could be making close to one hundred thousand dollars a year, but I also have probably one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in debt. I said, Okay, he goes, Central's offering me a scholarship. I can go to school. I can

work in IT technology, I can get my degree. I can and then his other aspect of that was but in order to make that one hundred and ten one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year, I'm never home. I said, Okay, he goes. If I go to school for IT technology, I can make one hundred and ten thousand for my basement and I looked at him. I said, yep, you're right, and I turned and I said, now I want you to remember one key thing of how you said this. And he goes, what's that? I said, you

said your basement, not my basement, your basement. And he looked and goes, oh, I see how it's gonna be, you know, But it was just it was a running joke. But because he literally I remember him telling my wife, you know, I think he was like eight or nine, and he told her. He goes, well, you know, I'm gonna go get married and then me and my wife are going to move in here with you guys. And I'm like, hell now, uhh. And you know, because he just loved to be home, you know, and he's kind

of a homebody. But he's also, like I said, he's the kid that would try anything when it came to food, and you know, he was the challenge. He was the one that you'd sit there and go okay, and you know, my daughter was easy because it's gonna be it's either spaghetti or it's gonna be chicken tenders and French friends. And then here he is going, oh no, I want sushi and I want this and I want this and I want to try, you know. You know, he's the kid who churning to me the one day he goes, yeah,

did you see that rattlesnake on the menu? And I looked him like it tastes like chicken, you know yeah, And he looks, goes, how do you know, I said, Grandpapa.

And then I'm the guy who I play. I played the clarinet for a year, I got switched to tuba, and then in the middle of that I played tuba and trombone and then baritone, and then the percussion system would play the drums during and literally there were times during certain songs when I was in band that I would put down my tube and go over and play the timpani and then come back and pick up my

tuba in the middle of the same song. And you know, just in general, I just love any type of music, and that's where I would sit down, and to this day, I will sit down and listen to just about anything. Yeah, and there's and I really can't say there's. I don't really have a favorite song. Well I do, but that has more to do with.

all the way through twelfth grade. And then because of the kids, I went and got my self defense classes because I literally was at one school and I asked the kids, what's one thing that we've talked about or something that we didn't talk about that you think you should know? And I had twenty two girls out of a twenty eight the senior class the one year out of the one school, there was like twenty eight kids and there's only like six boys. And all twenty two

girls told me the same thing. They wanted a self defense class, and they felt that that was something they needed.

And so I started researching into self defense courses and found that there was one that I really liked, and it was something i'd been interested in for or you know, had looked into several years ago for myself, right, And so I started taking the classes on my own for myself that I found a class that actually incorporated for law enforcement, and then took the Personal Defense Readiness course

through SPEAR. And you know, I think just being able to impart that knowledge to these kids in all these different topics, whether it's you know, teaching about vaping and you know. And I tell the kids, I said, you know, my job is not to harp on you and tell you what bad things are going to happen to you. Right. I can tell you what the law is, but I also know the law doesn't matter. I said. What you need to know is how this affects you physically, what this can do to your body, and then you can

make an educated and informed decision. If this is something you want to continue doing, that's your choice. If it's something you want to If you're already doing it and you want to quit, here's some resources on how to quit. Yeah, and you know, and I tell the kids, I'm like, I said, this is only a few I got eight here and I'll tell them. I'm like, here, I got to you know, I'll pull up my phone and I've got a list of them. I said, you can take a screenshot, you know, come up, take a picture of

my phone. You've got all the information, same thing I'm giving you, and you can do what you want. I'm not going to ask you for your vape. I'm not going to ask you for your name. I'm not going to do anything. I'm not even going to ask for if this is for you or if it's for your you know, and all of them will, you know, half of them will say, well, it's for my mom or it's for my brother or whatever, and I'm like whatever,

I don't care. But you know, I did the one course at the one school for it was five hundred and fifty kids last year at the one school, and earlier this year, I went back in there. We're scheduling up the next for me to do that same course again this upcoming year. And there were ten kids that walked up and said thank you, and I looked at him like, huh. In the once a round goes thanks for what he goes. Your class meant a lot last year, and that's all I said.

with kids is so important. But what would today is the most important thing in life to you right now?

I don't care a shit. Yeah, I said my fear. I said, my only fear is losing les or losing Christian and gen. Yeah, those are my fears. And I said, and that's something I can't there's nothing I can do about it, but you know, And then I turned to him my tongue. I'm like, that's the only fears I have. And he'll look at me, and he finally the one day he turned around and we literally sat down and we talked for probably like forty five minutes, right, fear.

And he looked at me and goes, you're the first guy I'm gonna I'm gonna believe who said you don't fear death? And I said no, I said, honestly, I said there's times. I said, you know, I said, I faced it so many times. And I said, and not you know, I said, I've you know, part of my job is for for twenty five of my twenty six years, i've been a medical examiner special investigator, so I investigate every death that takes place within my jurisdiction. So you know,

I've faced it. I've seen it. I've seen the bad side, I've seen the good side. And the one thing I learned is that the way and how I approach the living means everything more than what I did than what took place when I was dealing with the debt, right, And that's where I find my my side of turning to like, you know, this little this younger kid who's asking me questions in law enforcement, and I'll turn to him. I not the first out look at him and says, the one thing you've got to learn is I said,

And he took I turned him. I said, don't ever, I said, especially in this situation. I said, it's easy for somebody to say I'm sorry. And I said, and that's probably I said to me, that's the worst thing you can say. Yeah, And he looks and goes, what do you mean? I said, I said, you can look at him and go I'm trying to understand how you feel. And you know, if you have some knowledge, you can say, you know, I don't know exactly how you feel, but I you know, I have lost somebody in my past,

and I understand how that can affect you. I said, but use your empathy. I said, empathy will get you so much further than sympathy. And the one kid looked at me and goes, oh, good God. And I told him, I said, I said, that's the hardest thing you will ever have to do, right, I said, because you know, in law enforcement they tell you you're not supposed to feel anything. You're supposed to be a rock. And I said, you can't be. No, then you're just a dick.

human beings use empathy, not sympathy. And he turned and he finally looked at me and goes, I get you know, I really understand where you're coming from. I said, I know you do. And I said, you know, just think of what you've gone through, and you've had losses, and you've had things that happened. It might not be the exact same, but if you can use compassion and empathy, you'll get so much further. And then, like I told him, I said, it's kind of like I said, when you're

dealing with a suspect. I said, you know, there are so many times where I have wanted to literally reach across the table and grab this guy and beat the hell out of him, but I also know I can't. But I also know if I can get him to think I'm his friend, I might get a confession, which

might save victim. And he kind of looked at me and goes, and I said, some of the best interviews you'll ever do is when you sit there and you talk to a guy who you may I said, I said, and you might have to do this, I said, I've done it to myself where I've gone, and I know, I'm like walking and going, Okay, he's a human being. He deserves to be treated like one. He's a human being.

He deserves to be treated like one. And then after he walks out and we're done, and I've got all the confession and I got all the information I needed, and he's walking back and he's leaving, and he's going probably in ninety percent of the time, he's going to a cell and I'm like, okay, did my part. And as soon as I'm out of their sight, I look and I'm like punching a wall like a point. Ye oh that he's a shit, you know. And then I

told him, I said, that's the hard thing. I said, but that's what you've got to do to get your your points true. Yeah.

to be themselves. But with that right, you also have the responsibility to allow everybody else to be themselves as well. And we talk about that, and then I tell them, I said, I carry my challenge right here on my arm. You know, I have a tattoo that says it's got a blue rose and then it's got a monarch butterfly with the name Chevelle over it, and then a blue tiger yellow tiger swallowtail with the name Riviera underneath it, which is my two granddaughters, and then it says love, laugh,

live like Lexi. And I tell the kids, I said, this is my challenge to me, and I make the same challenge to you, and now look at me, and I go, this is the challenge. I said. Lexi was the child that no matter what age level, grade, whatever, she would go find somebody who is by themselves and go talk with yep. And many times almost every one of those people will say she was one of my

best friends. And her thing was she'd been bullied and she knew what it was like, but she also knew she didn't like it, and she didn't want to put anybody else through it, so she would and encourage them to be themselves. And so you know, I still say this. You know, when I told Jen, I said, you know, well we lost lax, I said, I gained I gained two more sons. I said, I lost my daughter and my granddaughters, but I gained two sons. Jason, who was Lexi's best friend, and you know, he he came out

because Lexi encouraged him to be himself. And you know, he actually turned to Jen and I a little while ago and said, you know, if I get married, can you guys walk me down the aisle? And I'm like, okay. You know, he and I talked probably well, well, I message him through Snapchat a couple times a week and we talked back and forth. And then there's a couple of times we'll talk and we might talk or text

message for half hour, forty five minutes or talk. And it's funny because he'll turn and go, you know, you know, and he'll say the same thing because he recently, just after Let's passed, he lost his dad and he said, he goes, it's nice knowing I have a dad still, you know. So and then Derek, who was lexi fiance, you know, he's still you know, he's still a part of the family and always will be. And so you know, turned him like, so I went from having a son

and a daughter to having three sons. Yeah, and you know that's been a it's been a tough change, but it's still you know. And like I told them, I said, I challenge I'll challenge the kids, and I'll have the kids look at me and go, oh my god. And I told him, I said, Now, the funny thing is because they looked and the one girl goes, well, your tattoos in the wrong order, and I said, oh no,

actually it's not. I said, you know, the sign says live, laugh, love, and they said, well, yeah, but your says love, laugh, live, And I said, well, that's because Lexi wanted to buy one of those signs, but she didn't want the ones that were attached. She wanted them so the words were separated because she wanted to put them love, laugh, live. And I finally looked at her and I said, okay, explain yourself. Why why you know, what's with the change

in the order. And she looked and she goes, well, you know, they say, if you live, you'll love and you'll laugh. And I said, yep. She goes, that's not the way it goes. She goes, you love and you laugh. She goes, you got love first, then you're always going to laugh. And she goes, and that's when you live.

And the one kid looked at me and goes, oh my god, you guys have the garden over in Sandusky, And I said, yeah. He goes go there every weekend, you know, and to hear that story and hear that and I'm like, okay, you know, So that's that's my goal, is to pass that on.

I want to you know. That's how I communicate, you know, And I think that's the one thing I want people to understand is, yeah, you can be a big guy, and yeah, I'm going to tell you if we get into a fight, it's probably not gonna go well, you know, I'm you know, and I will tell you I don't fight fair. I mean, there's no there's no such thing as a fair fight unless you're standing in the middle of a boxing ring or one of those MMA rings, even though sometimes are right, you know, so you know,

but there's rules. I'm sorry, when I get into a fight, there's there's not a rule. It's just you know. And the answer to me is, I'm going home at night. I don't, you know. And I told the one guy, and I remember this one guy looking at me. I tr to him. I said, he said, you have two choices, and he looked. He goes, what's that. I said, we can go you can walk back in, and you can walk in and there won't be a problem. He goes, okay,

but what's my other choice? I said, if we go through this, you're probably going to get dragged out of here in a stretcher. And the guy looked and I said, because I'm I looked at the guy. I'm like, you're you're six foot eight, you're almost four hundred pounds. I'll shoot your ass. And he was like what And I turned him. I'm like and I told him that. I said, I said, I'm not I said, you're huge, You're built like a mac truck and no offense, but I said, you know, if it comes down to it, I'll shoot

you if I have to. And the guy looked and it was so funny because upholls this other officer because I was literally staring down this guy by myself and up this other guy and he runs over and he goes over and he hugs this other off She's like, he scared me. And he looks. He looks and goes, what the hell that come? The good guy? And he walked him back in and we're all like, okay, you know, and he looks and goes, when did I How am I the nice guy for one? I'm like, I don't know,

I'm the bad guy for once? Yeah? You know. He always said you're always the nice guy. How they know? Am I the nice guy? I looked at him, I said, and I told him what I said, and he goes, okay, I got, I got. I guess I know how you're why you're the bad guy this time? Yeah? You know? And I guess that's the one thing most people don't understand is honesty. And you know, if you're if you're

honest with me, I have given some huge breaks to people. Yeah, you know, you know, and I guess one of those that I still to this day, I will I always laugh at it. But I'll give you one story about honesty that I always find to be one of the best ones. So myself and another officer, and he was the guy that no matter if you get pulled over by him, you're getting a ticket. Okay, that's pretty much it. And he's sitting next to me, and then if the two of us are in a car together, somebody's probably

going to jail. It just just almost always ended up that way. We'd get somebody with warrants or something. You know, we'd get, you know, somebody do something stupid, and you know, somebody's going to jail then. And so we're in a car together and he looks and goes and he's in the mood. You know, he's got the ticket book in hand and he's all he's like, it's gonna be a fun night. I'm looking at him like, dude, come on.

And we're driving down this side street and all of a sudden, this car blows this stop side literally turns the car sideways, and then this car's fishtailing coming at us in R lane and then fishtails back the other way. And then finally gets over on the side of the road and we're I mean, like, there's a city park like right here. It's twenty five mile hours on and this guy's probably doing forty and we're like, oh my god,

and he just blew the stops. So I whip on the lights and the guy just flips around and he stops. And I go walking up to the car and I look at this kid and he's maybe sixteen years old or just turn sixteen, actually just turned sixteen like three days and he's sitting there and he's shaking and he's crying. And I looked at him, like, so do you know why we stopped you? And it was like the scene from Liar Liar. This kid takes this huge breath and he goes, I was speeding. I turned the car sideways.

I nearly hit you head on. I was doing this. I did this. I also blew this stops and I didn't have my seatbelt. And I looked at him like okay, and I looked over the car at the other off she like what hell is this?

to do and blah blah blah. So we're sitting there and let him, let him talk and cry for a minute. I'm like, okay, dude, do me a favor. Just breathe, Just chill and breathe for a little bit. And he's he's doing that, and I said, okay, so are you okay now a little bit, you know? And I'm like, okay, do me a favor. So I showed him how to box breathe. And I'm teaching him how to breathe, and the sergeant's standing there looking at me, like you're teaching

him how to breathe, like he's got a comment. So I'm like, I want you to be able to drive home, but I want you to drive home normally, not the way you were just driving. And he's like okay, okay. So he's breathing, and I get him calm. I said, Okay, you do this for a little bit. We'll be back

to talk to you in a couple of minutes. And as I get back in the car, I go back and I see the sergeant sitting there with the ticket book in his hand, and he opens the little screen that goes to the back seat and he takes the ticket book and he throws it through the back window. And then he reaches down and grabs my ticket book

and throws it through the back window. And then he closes the screen and goes, Now, if you can get through the screen to get into the back seat to get it, you can you can write him a ticket. And I looked him like, well, I hadn't planned on writing him a ticket now, I said, I've never had anybody so honest with me in my entire life. And he goes, well, me, neither. He goes. He goes and you know, we've all done stupid ship when we broke up with a girlfriend, and you know, at his age,

and blah blah blah blah. I understand. I'm like, yeah, we've all done stupid things.

with me, and we'll go down on our car. Okay. So we go down together and we're in Oakland County and we're sitting there. We're taking this class and I think it was on auto theftter something. It was just kind of a BS class type thing, and we're kind of sitting there and there's this kid. They're staring at us. He's just staring at the two of us. He's like, did we beat him up? Or what the hell? You know? Do you know that kid? I'm like, he said, he looks familiar, but I said, I can't put a name

with it. So we're sitting there and then he comes up to us and goes, hey, what are you guys? Doing for lunch. I don't know. Come on, I'll drive you guys could come with me, okay, whatever. So you know he's from Oakland County. He's Oakland County deputy. So we went with them, went to eat, and we're sitting there. I think we I think we went to like Famous

Daves or something like that. So you know, we're sitting there and all of a sudden, we're waiting for our checks and we're like I finally I waved down the I'm like, hey, we got to get our checks so we can go. And she goes, they're already paid for. Well, I mean they're paid for, and she goes, he paid for the hell's that for? He goes, he goes, well, you guys don't remember I said no. He goes and he gives us his name, and I'm sitting there going, okay, I know I know that last name. I know I

know you, and he goes, he goes, how's this. I blew a stout side and I was doing forty miles an hour to twenty five. I turned on the car sideways and I nearly hit you head on. Looked up like, holy shit, he's now you know, he's now a deputy for them, and he turned he goes, I remember what you guys did for me, and now I try and make sure I use the same treatment for other people. And he goes, he goes, and nobody believe my story that you know, Dwayne Gilly gave me didn't give me a ticket.

a firearms instructor. And he goes, you know, and Keilly turns around and goes seriously, and he goes, yeah, he goes, he turned around. He goes, Honestly, he goes. There's times where I look back and go, you know, just meeting those two guys and talking with him and realizing your humans and your nice people and this and that. He goes, Ben the best thing I've ever done. And I look back and like, wep. I finally I turned to Gilly the last time, and I'm like, so apparently we did one thing.

from when we were at the conference. I've had three or four people contact me they're like, hey, do you remember, And I'm like, yeah, I remember talking with you at the conference, and I remember, you know, going over certain parts of the book with you and that type of thing. And you know, I had one guy contact me and he said, he goes, he goes, we can't do a garden at you know, at the level that you guys did.

And I said, nobody expects anybody to do anything. You know, you you do what you want to do to honor your person. Yes, And he he churned and he said, he goes, Well, he goes, I he goes, I did. He fixed a small garden that was around a mother Mary at the local church that he and he goes. It's not even a church I go to. He goes. He goes, not Catholic because it's for the Catholic church.

He goes, but he goes, I drove past the one day and he goes, you know, he goes, you know, my daughter's name was Mary.

there once in a while. And I told him, I said, that's why I go to our garden literally, I said. Almost every day I work, I try and take it a little bit of my time my day and I'll walk out to the garden. I said, whether it's middle of winter or summer or whatever, I try and walk out to the garden. I said, because I hear my girls there.

It's my normal request to you when we're about to sign off, and I'd like you to reach out to someone that you know, like or love in your life and let them know that your world works because they're around, and that if they ever need you, you're always just a phone call away. You can help them with a smile, or you can go be with them if they need it, but let them know that it means a lot that you're here. So having said that, Matt, I want to thank you again for being on. You did a great

job with us. Thank you, thank you, And ladies and gentlemen, we are Simple Questions for one hundred People. I'm Bill Correll, and thank you very much for your participation and listening.