Trey's Story - Family over Everything

Trey's Story - Chapter 14 (My Brother's Keeper)

We made it to the drop site and back and never heard anything about the situation at the strip club. That was even scarier because we still didn't know who they were with, so we didn't know who we should be looking out for.

That meant we were living on pins and needles trying to make sense of what happened. We moved forward and I went back to work in the drug ridden streets. What seemed like a normal day as I got off work, turned into anything but. It was something that drug me deeper into Rico's mess, but it also showed me a possible way out.

While driving home, I saw Big P being pulled over by cops. I pulled over to observe what was going on.

The two cops got out of the car with their guns upholstered and approached Big P's car from both sides. I watched as they told him to get out of the car. He complied but they slammed him to the ground anyway. Then they cuffed him. I knew that Big P he had no warrants, and there no reason for the aggressive behavior.

I was a relatively young cop on the force, but I knew the guys. None other than that damn O'Malley, the same one that had my brother hemmed up.

I finally got out of the car and approached the alley remembering something similar a few weeks back. I didn't stop that night. Shortly after that night, word on the street was that those cops beat up that kid. That's why I had to stop this time.

"Get the hell out of here", one of them said as he turned toward me with his gun raised. I raised my hands "Officer O'Malley, this is Officer Lawson with NOPD", I said trying to quickly identify myself.

"Go on about your way, this ain't got nothing to do with you. Go home to your family", the other officer said to me.

"Is everything ok officers?" I asked them.

"Yeah, so go home", O'Malley said to me as his partner opened Big P's trunk. He was still on the concrete bleeding and handcuffed. I also saw a huge gash on his head and blood running from his mouth and nose. They really did a number on him.

And that was the kind of shit that turned kids in the hood into savages, it was totally unnecessary. Whatever Big P was into in his life had nothing to do with how they were treating him at that moment. He was not resisting or committing a crime. Seeing that made me feel ashamed to be a cop.

I sat there and watched O'Malley and his partner pull out a bag from his trunk and open it. Big P dealt drugs, but he never had drugs on him. They caught him and there was nothing I could do. I walked back to my car, and when I looked back, I saw them pick P up and put him in the back seat of the patrol car.

P and I caught eyes, and I shook my head. There was nothing I could do, he got caught with the goods. I pulled off and went home thinking to myself how stupid he was to have drugs in his car. But he chose that life and Big P was headed to prison for sure.

The next morning, I got to work and was still bothered by the fact that he got caught. I was curious as to what all they got him with and what he was charged with. It looked like a significant amount of stuff in that bag, enough to send him away for a very long time. I logged into the system to find his arrest report, which I couldn't find. I guess they just were taking their time filing the report.

I headed out on patrol and back to the projects. With P locked up, I was worried that the little order that was had in the projects would be lost. I needed to make some contacts to make sure the hood order didn't go down the tubes.

I went by Big P's brother's house to have a sit down with him to see if he was going to help maintain order. As I pulled up, I noticed that there was an unusual number of people at the house. And something didn't feel right. I was usually cool and respected by everybody in the hood, but there seemed to be a lot of tension in the air when I got out of the car.