Sunday, January 20, 2008
It's true people. The gossip columns have told the truth for once. The tabloids are correct. Ryan James Shumate has been officially arrested. Yep. Not lying. You may be asking yourself, "What?! My little Ryan? Good ol' RJ?! URGE?!" Yes ... it is true family and friends. But lets not be so quick to judge mmmk?! Here is how my little story went down...
So I leave my friend, Erina's house at around 1:30 in the morning. I'm driving on campus towards my warm cubical house, when I notice a group of stranded girls next to their abandoned car in the middle of the road. I pull over to help them out being the good samaritan that I am. Turns out the cars front axle is completely broken and needs a tow truck. So I say, "Hey! no worries. I'll just call 911 for you and get an officer and tow truck here pronto!" I decided to stay with the girls just to make sure they wouldnt get bored or anything. So a few minutes later two cop cars pull up and evaluate the situation. Officer Harris and his compadre who's name I have forgotten, just ask some simple questions and joke around with the girls to lift their spirits. All of a sudden, Harris asks if he could talk to me quickly. He pulls me to the side and says, "you called in for these girls, right?" " Yeah, you know, just fulfilling my civil duties officer!" , I replied with a half hearted laugh. He kind of laughed and then his face became worry some and serious.
"Well we pulled up your records and turns out you have two warrants out for your arrest ..."
This is where my heart jumped up and latched onto my gag reflex. "What?! TWO?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! WHY?!
"Well I'll show you." he said. So we walk to his car and he pulls up my records on the computer. Turns out... last year I was pulled over because of a broken tail light. At the time though, I didnt have proof of insurance. Whoops! So I was let go with a fix-it ticket and had to show proof of Insurance by a certain date. I faxed in my insurance cards and called it good. I never heard back from the courthouse saying it wasn't good enough, so it was soon forgotten. the OTHER warrant was because of the same thing on another warning ticket a few months later. After the second warning I made sure I had my proof of insurance on me for everything. I wasn't taking any chances!!! Again, I faxed in the cards. Called it good. Well here is where I will criticize myself and say I could have done a better job making sure I was good with the law. Lesson learned.
So the officer says... "Unfortunately, we have to take you to jail. Your bail is $765 and you need to pay that or you have to stay in jail for the night. But... because I feel fondly of you. I'll cut you a deal. I'll follow you to the jail, you pay the fine, go through booking, set your court date and all will be fine." So of course I agree and get in the car to drive myself to jail. Meanwhile, my good friend Justin has come to the scene of the crime to help me out because I thought he would have to take my car. But he agreed to ride with me to jail and help out with a couple hundred dollars for the bailing fee. So we are laughing so much over all of this on our way to the penitentiary and Im somewhat excited to see what jail is like because I've never been...obviously. Psshhh.
We pull up and I get out and meet the officers who are behind us and they cuff me and stick me in the back of the car for the 150 foot drive to the garage. So here I am... cuffed and walking through the doors into the booking area. I feel so cool right now! Yeah! Go me! No not really... but I kept my spirits up. They uncuff me, frisk me, and ask me a few questions. I had the privilege of getting my fingers printed and posing for my beautiful mugshot! It was exhilarating to say the least. After about an hour of questions, one of the deputies told me all of them had to go to the nightly 3 a.m meeting and I couldn't stay in the booking area. So where was a warmly invited to stay you ask?! Oh only a ten by ten cell all for myself! Whoo hoo!!! No bed, no bench. Just a cement cell with a stinky metal toilet. I was, however, warmly greeted by a friendly cell neighbor who only nodded at me with a smile and a peace sign. I felt at home.
After about an hour, I was released. It took only five minutes to finish everything up and Justin was waiting patiently for me in the lobby. I was set a court date for January 29th and as long as I go with my tail in between my legs and a sincere apology for something I had no control over.. I should get my bail money back. Pray for this to happen! So there it is! Pretty much summed up in a nut-shell but exciting to say the least. I don't really consider myself a criminal but I do want to say I never want to experience what Jail is like ever again. I have learned a hard lesson and will make sure I am a more responsible person from here on out. Thank you all for your support and all the kind words through this intense time, but really... feel free to make fun of me for a while for this one. I know I will. Stay tuned to see how the meeting with judge dread goes! Happy Martin Luther King day...
