clarakatalin

No, I’ve never been arrested, but …

It almost happened — twice.

I was attending a wedding in Oakland, California, and needed a place to stay that night. My sister and her husband offered their house in nearby Alameda, and they happened to be away that night. I arrived at the house and was supposed to enter on my own. She and her husband had neglected to tell me that there was an alarm system installed in the house, but they HAD provided a key. So, I innocently unlocked the door, and soon heard the automatic alarm go off.

My first thought was to call them. I had no idea how to turn the alarm off. I could not get ahold of them, so tried some of their friends. The friends may have told me how to do it, but by that time, the police had been alerted. I’m pretty sure I had it off by the time a police car parked nearby.

I noticed him park, and he very slowly and cautiously came toward the house. I had the front door open and spoke through the screen door and may even have opened it. I don’t think he had a gun drawn, but looked ready to if necessary. It took me awhile to explain that it was my sister’s house and I was staying for the night, but my sister hadn’t told me about the alarm system. He was very suspicious in the beginning, but after about fifteen or twenty minutes, I guess he believed me. I seem to recall giving him both my sister’s and their friends’ phone numbers. I assume he called them to check my story. Phew!

The second incident occurred on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Through a prayer group, I had connected with a student Bible Study there, though I was not a student. On this occasion, it happened to be a recess between quarters.

The Bible Study leader or facilitator was a (graduate?) student there. He always unlocked or had access to the Old Union building (number 29 on the current campus map). Being between quarters, we couldn’t get in at the usual door, but we found a back door. As we climbed the stairs to the meeting room, I heard some computer beeping that I didn’t recall hearing on other occasions there. The building seemed empty but for us.

We got to the meeting room and opened our Bibles on the table as we sat around it, and began the study. After five or ten minutes, we thought we heard voices, which grew louder. Pretty soon, we heard, even louder, “Put your hands up and stand still; no talking.” We were startled and puzzled, but after a short pause, realized that we had better cooperate.

As I recall, there were two of the campus police. They were dead serious. They took each person’s name, address, phone, and driver’s license number (if we could remember it while we standing with our hands up). We explained that we had a Bible Study there every week, and surely they could see the open Bibles on the table.

The problem for them seemed to be that since it was quarter break, we should not be there. They asked us to leave, which we did. That was the end of that.

So, besides a few traffic tickets, these have been my experiences of “a brush with the law.” Or does an IRS audit count? (The audit found no problem.) Pretty fortunate, I’d say.