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Yep.

Years ago (like 35) I did something I wouldn’t do today.

I was living with my mother and brother and going to college. We had a “pool hall” set up in an unconnected garage away from the house. We had an antique Brunswick tournament pool table out there. It made us pretty popular and since it was well away from the main house my mother didn’t much care what we did out there. Late one afternoon someone brought a guy we knew slightly out and then left without him. We hadn’t seen the guy in about a year since he joined the Navy. When we asked him what he was doing there he said he was on leave. A little later he asked if someone would take him to see his mom in Savannah Beach, about 10 miles away. My brother agreed and I said I would go with them just because I had nothing to do. They had all been drinking beer but no one was drunk. I had just come back from class and was completely sober. We loaded up, with one more friend, and headed off to the beach.

We got to Navy friends mom’s house and he told us to wait while he went inside, really he just wanted to borrow money from her. He was not real smart and had forgotten a Savannah Beach cop live across the street from his mom. The cop was off duty and saw him leave his mother’s house. He came back out about ten minutes later and we headed back to Wilmington Island. No sooner did we get back on the main highway than a Savannah Beach Police car came flying up behind us and lit us up. At first we were puzzled because my brother was not speeding. My brother pulled over as another police car came screeching up. They did the whole “armed and dangerous” traffic stop routine and put us in the back of the two cars. None of them would answer our questions as to why they were doing this. The truth came out after we reached the station.

Our acquaintance/friend was not on leave from the Navy, he was AWOL and wanted for questioning in the death of an officer at sea. Was their prime suspect in fact. The police took us one at a time into an interrogation room and tried to make us admit we knew he was AWOL and a murderer. My brother and his street smart (juvi record) buddy said nothing at all. I thought, “I’m a senior in college and smarter than any two of these Keystone cops and innocent to boot so why not talk?” When I started talking they all sat up and started salivating like Pavlov’s dogs. I told them exactly what happened and stuck to that story for over an hour while three of them questioned me.

Finally one Barney Fife walked in with a typed copy of my statement. I read it and found nothing incriminating in it so I signed it, spelling and grammatical errors included. In the end they charged my brother with DUI and me and our other friend with Drunk in an Auto. I said I was sober and how did they determine I was drunk? They said, “By your demeanor”. I said I wanted a Breathalyzer or blood test, which by law they were required to provide, and they said, “Nope, not happening. We know you’ve been drinking” It was a misdemeanor and something like a $30.00 fine so I just paid. Shore Patrol came and got Navy guy a few days later and he was tried for murder. He denied it but he had bragged to buddys on the ship about throwing this officer overboard in the middle of the night in a storm in the north atlantic. He was court martialed and sentenced to time in Leavenworth.

I never heard anything more about my “confession” but I very easily could have ended up as part of that murder trial. Don’t talk to the police. Ever.