Taís Moraes

Not in “Lethal Weapon”

by Taís Moraes 

Finally, the day I scheduled my police ride-along came. I couldn’t wait to be inside the New York Police Department (NYPD) car and watch the cops fighting crimes - just like in the movies.

My Turkish friend Gizem and I arrived at the 108 Police Precinct in Long Island City, Queens, and talked to officer Youssef – who organized the ride-along. He introduced us to officer Pomroy and officer Sorrentino.

“Ok, there is no car available, so, we are going to ride the van,” Pomroy said.

Humm… That was kind of disappointing. I felt like my grandmother going to the theater with her friends in a van. But, anyway, we had no option.

We left the police station and we headed to the expressway 495 to report a car accident.

Before we arrived to the accident, we stopped for another car accident to see if it was the one we were looking for.

The officers told us this police precinct is not very busy, and that they usually cover car accidents and domestic disputes. Murders and robberies are not common.

While we were on our way, Gizem and I started asking questions about their lives as policemen. In my mind they were cops that have been buddies for a long time and they would always hang out together during their free time. Something like Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in “Lethal Weapon”.

However, to my surprise, I was not in the movies. Pomroy and Sorrentino have been partners for one year and never see each other outside work.

“It’s not that we don’t like each other, but I see him everyday already,” Sorrentino said, “and we live very far from each other.”

The car accident was not very serious. They just needed to report the accident between a truck and a car. The guy in the car was just a little bit hurt and was already in the hospital.

After that, we went to a place where a woman thought she had just been evicted. But it turned out that she was just locked outside the house and had no key to get in. Her daughter managed to get in through the basement and opened the door for her. What a waste for a police phone call.

The officers said we were going back to the precinct, and we thought our ride-along was over.

But, as soon as we arrived there, we changed cars. We went to a real NYPD car. “We have an emergency, we have to go fast,” Sorrentino said, “somebody is trying to steal a car.”

Then, I was back in “Lethal Weapon.” The sound of the siren mixed to the Neil Young’s “Keep on rocking on the free world” song on the radio was very exciting. I could barely take notes, but my memory would never forget the excitement of being in a real emergency in New York City.

We spent two minutes crossing red lights and my body was completely filled with adrenaline.

Then, they received a call. “Ok, we don’t need to run anymore,” said Pomroy, “we’ve just learned that the incident happened 20 minutes ago.”

We calmly arrived in the scene and some crazy person had just broken a car’s window. Nobody saw the person.

The excitement was all gone and we went back to our calm ride-along just randomly riding through Long Island City neighborhood. We were “released” some minutes later.

Even without many exciting or risky moments, it was an unforgettable experience.