From the handful of cops who have spoken honestly with me over the past 30 years, I gather that Dave’s story was a typical action in Baltimore, up until the early to mid 1980s.

#10-01: day, seconds, first-person aggressor

“I was walking a foot beat in West Baltimore—this was a while back—and this crowd of darkies were loitering. When I told them to disperse they were mostly cooperative—except for this one really big somebitch who decided to give me some shit. I brought that stick down over his head and opened him up like a watermelon. That was that—didn’t give me any shit after that.”