“P24 can you respond to Mt Baldy to assist other units on a female search” said the dispatcher on the radio…..no answer.
“P24…” no answer .
Generally, when an officer doesn’t answer the radio more than 2x, people are worried they are dead. Dark, I know. But thats this business !
I was P24. And I had recently had our oldest son. The girls in dispatch knew that I would go back to the police station to pump (breast milk) throughout my shift. It just so happened that when they were calling me, I was in the bathroom , pumping.
One of the dispatchers texted me something along the lines of, “Hey these officers need you in Mt Baldy to search a female who is uncooperative.” I told her I was getting dressed and would head out in a few minutes. She told me to hurry. I thought that was odd. What was the rush, why couldn’t they just do it themselves. It was very rare anyone asked me to help them search a female just because I am a female.
So there I went. Without a care in the world. I walked into dispatch and asked them what was up with this call, and they told me two of my partners stopped a car in the mountains and the female ran from them to the top of a hill and wouldn’t come down. They needed me to search her before they forced her down the hill. Again…weird. Not really how we conduct business. The officers with her were close friends and I knew they knew how to handle business. But nonetheless, I said ok. I went to the back of the dispatch room to fill up my water bottle, and one of the girls was like “ Sarah, hurry up!” ……geeeez, I thought..…okay.
So there I went. The most northern streets of our city were not familiar to me so I called one of the guys. I had him on the phone as I drove up the mountain , out of our cities jurisdiction , and found them. I got out of the car and my partner explained to me what the dispatcher had already told me. I could see my other partner at the top of the hill. I asked him why we couldn’t bring her down the hill? He insisted I needed to get up there to help her because she was uncooperative.
I started walking toward this dirt hill to get up there. I pulled out my phone and started a new Snap Chat video (that I thought I could later use to make fun of my partners). I started recording myself saying “IM OUT HERE, climbing this dirt hill to help my partner with some chick…out of our jurisdiction…..” blah blah blah. I literally just complained on camera the whole way up. When I was almost to the top, my partner came towards me and started walking down. I was SO confused. Where was the girl? I don’t remember what I said, but it was probably not appropriate.
I took a few more steps up and out of the thin blue air (or so it felt like), came out Officer T. He walked towards me and I had zero idea what he said. I was so shocked. He got down on one knee, and then BOOM…..
What felt like an arms reach away to the sky…..came out the Ontario police helicopter with its sirens on. I didn’t know whether to look up, look at Officer T or look down at my partners. Out of the corner of my eye came out another male. I had no idea who he was, but he had a camera and was taking photos of us.
So Officer T asked me to marry him, and I said yes…I think. I seriously have zero idea what was said. I have a million questions.
Eventually we walked down the hill and there were more friends who showed up to joyful support us. I am pretty sure I asked all the questions and got all the answers.
Officer T planned the whole thing. The fake call for service, he got my partners to fake the pursuit, he told my supervisor his plan, his best friend cleaned all the trash from the dirt patch on the mountain, he contacted the Ontario police helicopter to record it, he got my cousin to watch our four month old son, and so on. The one thing he did not plan for, was my pumping session at work and how his timing coincided perfectly with mine…LOL !
Weeks before this, Officer T had professed faith and wanted to do things the right way between he and I , in order to honor the Lord. We had already decided to get married, and had the date and venue booked. It was super thoughtful of him to propose to me in such a fun way, and make me feel special. The girl on the mountain….was me.
SarahNakamura 