Dumb Choices

I had a couple of friends back in '79 or '80, who where very intelligent boys, but made a very dumb decision.  This took place in Greenwood, Indiana.  Greenwood at this time was a quiet little community in the suburbs of Indianapolis.  A wild time for the police was a fight between two drunks at Bob's Tavern.

The young men were 17 at the time, and to protect the guilty, we will call them Tom and Dick.  Harry is not involved in this story.  They had been to a party in downtown Greenwood, about two blocks from the police station.  They had crashed for a few hours and left the party at about 9:30.

As they walked along the sidewalk, still feeling the effects of the night before, they saw a police car in front of the local shoe repair shop.  As they walked up to the police car, Tom noticed the door was ajar and the engine was running.  With a grin, he turned to Dick and said, "We ought to just take the SOB." 

Dick's response was "OK!" and he opened the door and jumped into the driver's seat.  Dick later told me he planned to take it around the corner and leave it in the alley for the officer to find.

Tom in horror yelled, "I was just kidding!"

At this time the police officer ran out of the shoe store, gun in hand, yelling at the top of his lungs.  Tom in a panic jumped into the passenger seat as Dick took off.

Since the officer had seen the boys, there was no time to drop it in the alley.  He left town as fast as the car would go.  Unfortunately, for him, the rest of the Greenwood force was in hot pursuit.

They went down Greenwood Road with the pedal to the floor, heading for the country roads, in the hopes of losing the local police.  As the chase continued, it was joined by the Whiteland, Franklin, and Johnson County forces as well. 

Dick drove in a panic, still hung over from the night before, and came upon a sharp bend in the road.  He did not make the turn and the car went into a corn field, rolling three times.

As the boy's crawled out of the windows of the upside down police car, every on-duty officer in Johnson County had their guns drawn, ready to fire.  The boys began shouting, "Don't shoot, we're just kids!  Don't shoot, we're just kids"  The officers held their fire and the young men were cuffed and taken in.

Luckily for them, the boy's fathers were well off, and well connected in the county.  After paying a hefty fine, and damages, they received probation and were freed.  The fathers had pulled strings and spent a lot of money for the boys, and they meant to teach them a lesson.  Part of the condition of their release was that they were to repay their father's for the costs incurred.

They worked for minimum wage, with all proceeds going back to the father's accounts for more than two years.  One day they were riding a motorcycle together, when a gentleman in a Cadillac, ran a stop sign and hit them.  Both received multiple breaks in their legs as well as other injuries.

The driver of the Cadillac was held responsible, and his insurance settled.  Tom and Dick received just barely enough to finish paying off their fathers.  Tom told me that the day they were hit, was the luckiest day of his life.