This personal story shares an incident where the speaker, back in February 1994, became unintentionally embroiled in a legal issue due to a friend's criminal activities. This friend was someone he had gone to military school with, and during a chance reunion, they were pulled over by the police. unbeknownst to him at the time, his friend was not only in possession of marijuana but also had warrants for their arrest for more serious charges.

Throughout the legal proceedings, the speaker experienced profound anxiety and uncertainty, as he found himself wrongly accused and arrested due to his friend's actions. This was exacerbated by a lack of communication with his parents about a weapon belonging to them, which further complicated his legal challenge. Despite this, faults in the police procedure were identified, which ultimately helped in his case.

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. embroiled [ɪmˈbrɔɪld] - (verb) - Involved in a difficult situation or conflict. - Synonyms: (entangled, involved, ensnared)

This personal story shares an incident where the speaker, back in February 1994, became unintentionally embroiled in a legal issue due to a friend's criminal activities.

2. unbeknownst [ˌʌnbɪˈnoʊnst] - (adjective) - Without the knowledge of a particular person. - Synonyms: (unknown, unawares, oblivious)

unbeknownst to him at the time, his friend was not only in possession of marijuana but also had warrants for their arrest for more serious charges.

3. exacerbated [ɪɡˈzæsərˌbeɪtɪd] - (verb) - Made a problem, situation, or negative feeling worse. - Synonyms: (aggravated, worsened, intensified)

This was exacerbated by a lack of communication with his parents about a weapon belonging to them, which further complicated his legal challenge.

4. anxiety [æŋˈzaɪəti] - (noun) - A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. - Synonyms: (worry, apprehension, unease)

Throughout the legal proceedings, the speaker experienced profound anxiety and uncertainty, as he found himself wrongly accused and arrested due to his friend's actions.

5. profound [prəˈfaʊnd] - (adjective) - Very great or intense; having deep insight or understanding. - Synonyms: (intense, deep, severe)

Despite this, faults in the police procedure were identified, which ultimately helped in his case.

6. complicated [ˈkɒmplɪˌkeɪtɪd] - (adjective) - Involving many different and confusing aspects; not easy to understand or deal with. - Synonyms: (difficult, intricate, complex)

This was exacerbated by a lack of communication with his parents about a weapon belonging to them, which further complicated his legal challenge.

7. empathy [ˈɛmpəθi] - (noun) - The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. - Synonyms: (understanding, compassion, sensitivity)

But that female deputy that took me out of the cell and spoke with me, she showed me empathy, compassion of understanding that, yes, I was in jail, but I was a person.

8. compassion [kəmˈpæʃən] - (noun) - Sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. - Synonyms: (sympathy, care, kindness)

But that female deputy that took me out of the cell and spoke with me, she showed me empathy, compassion of understanding that, yes, I was in jail, but I was a person.

9. procedural [prəˈsiːdʒərəl] - (adjective) - Related to an established or official way of doing something. - Synonyms: (methodical, systematic, regulatory)

Despite this, faults in the police procedure were identified, which ultimately helped in his case.

10. premise [ˈprɛmɪs] - (noun) - A previous statement or proposition from which another is inferred or follows as a conclusion. - Synonyms: (assumption, supposition, presumption)

Even though the top was down on that car, it still has a premise of having the top on it.

One bad decision - S. Archer - TEDxGreenRockCorrectionalCenter

As we go through life, we learn we make a lot of bad decisions. Some of these decisions are ours. Some are not ours. Some are made by other people that affect us. The thing is, I'm not going to talk about theirs. I'm going to talk about the issues that I had and my bad decision. This all started for me in February 20 of 1994. I went to visit a friend of mine that I had gone to military school with many years prior.

We were hanging out at his house. We decided, hey, we're going to go over to another guy's house. We're going to go shoot pool, hang out. So we get in the car, we're driving down the road. I stop at a stoplight. I'm waiting to make a left hand turn. As I'm sitting there, I look in the parking lot. There's a little convenience store. There's three sheriff's deputy's cars there. I see the deputies come out of the store, pay nothing to it. I mean, what's the deal? They come out of the store as well. So I make my left turn going down the road.

Well, starting to get a little late, starting to get a little cold. So I pull over, put the top up on my car. I put my car in neutral, put my foot on the brake. I put my finger on the button to raise the top on my car. The next thing I know, cop cars everywhere behind me, lights, everything. Not sure what's going on. Clueless is what's happening. Deputy walks up to driver's side of the car where I'm at. One walks up to the passenger side of the car. We sit there. I have my hands on the steering wheel. He asks me for my license, my registration. I hand it to him.

He says, are there any weapons in the car? I look over my shoulder. There's one in the car. I said, yes, sir. There's a pistol in the seat. He said, okay. Deputy on the passenger side retrieves the weapon, takes it out. We sit there for a few more minutes. The next thing I know, he said, y'all need to get out of the car. So here we are. I'm standing in the front of the car, hands on the hood, shaking, because I'm not really sure what's going on. Standing there for a few minutes, deputy on the passenger side, feeling under the seat, holds his hand up. He said, all right, who does this belong to? And I looked at my friend that was with me, and I said, if you don't tell him the truth, it will take every single deputy here to pull me off your ass. He said, that's mine. It was a bowl and a bag of weed. And I'm like, not for me. So we're still standing there, hands on the hood of the car. The deputy that had been on my side come over.

He said, you're under arrest. Put your hands behind your back. I'm shocked. I'm not sure what's going on. Place my hands behind my back. He walks me, puts me in the car. They take me, book me, fingerprint everything. So make your phone call. I called my parents, handed my mother the phone, handed to the deputy, said, here, you speak with her. You explain it. Go through all that they take, and they put me in a cell. They put me in the drunk tank. They open this door, and I step in, and it's a dark, dank little place.

Concrete benches. It's got a little gray mat laid there. I walk in. The sound of that door slamming behind me is such a sound you will never, ever forget. I go and I sit down on the bench, and I'm sitting there, and I'm like, you know what? I think I'm going to go to sleep. Maybe I'll wake up from this nightmare. I didn't. Never went to sleep. Got up, looked out the window, saw deputies walking through, peak in, go back and forth. Not really sure what they're doing. I look out the window, see other little cells. At this time, I was also in school as a criminal justice major, so I kind of had an idea of what they were supposed to do, but really wasn't sure.

So as I'm standing there walking back and forth, they keep coming. I'm pacing around the room, not sure what to do. About 02:00 in the morning, female deputy comes by. She stops at the door, and she says, are you all right? No, I'm not. She pulls me out. I go in, and I sit up front with her. She said, why are you here? I told her what had happened and everything. She said, well, why were you with him? I said, we went to military school. We were catching up on old times. She said, do you know why he's arrested? No, ma'am, I don't.

Well, she lets me get up and do something she probably shouldn't have. This is a time when we still had log books where you wrote everything in. I walked over and looked at his name. He was wanted on three counts of breaking and entering, possession of stolen goods, and possession of marijuana. Shocked. Didn't know anything about it. So I sit out there, talk with her for a little while she takes me back, she says, look, I got to put you back inside, all right? She opens the door. I step in. Door shuts again. Dang depressing. Well, 08:00 in the morning, rolls around. My father comes to get me. He signed all the papers. I'm out there. Hey, so you all right? Nope.

I'm not ready to go walk outside. I had never been so glad to get away from law enforcement in my life, and I grew up around it. I grew up around cops. Been with them since that little. So, you know, no big deal. Well, get my lawyer and everything. We meet with him, and he says, he asks me some questions. I tell him all the issues. He said, all right, be to court an hour before it starts. So I show up, shirt, tie, coat, everything. I'm walking around nervous, shaking. He hasn't shown up. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm going to jail. This is it. I'm going to prison.

Ten minutes before court, he comes strolling down the hallway, jacket unbuttoned, hand in his pocket, just like he's on a Sunday walk through the park. He comes up. He said, you're okay. I said, oh, I'm not. He said, don't worry, we're fine. You're a lawyer. Okay. So we walk in. He sits down in the first pew right there. I sit next to him. My parents sit next to me. We sit down. First case, here I am standing in front of this judge, who looks like he's just towering over top of me. I'm shaking. I don't think there's a bone in my body that wasn't rattling. Nervous as could be, judge asked me, how do you plead?

Not guilty, your honor. He said, okay. He asked me a few questions. My lawyer stood up, talked to him. He said, my client pleads not guilty. The weapon that they had taken belonged to my parents. It wasn't mine. Here I am in jail for illegal weapon, illegal ammunition. None of it belonged to me. Bad decision. I didn't ask my father if he took the gun out of the car. He didn't ask me. Lack of communication, bad decision. That was the start of it. So I go through everything, and the judge is talking, and even though I'm hearing him, it's still not registering what he is saying to me.

And the next thing I know, he turns to the deputy and he said, let me tell you where you messed up, sir. I. He said, first off, you arrested this man. You didn't read him his rights. Violation, Miranda, warning. Second, illegal search and seizure. Even though the top was down on that car. It still has a premise of having the top on it. You reached inside and took that weapon. You were not allowed to do that. You need to pray that he doesn't decide to sue you and the county because of the gross errors that you have made.

That was never a thought from my mind. All I wanted was gone. I wanted this done. I wanted it passed. This was just. It was a nightmare that I'm glad it went through. Now, mind you, I have not encountered some of the pitfalls and things that you guys have encountered. I haven't had the drug addictions, the alcohol addictions, the abuse, the criminal history, whether it be necessity for trying to provide for your family or anything. I grew up in that proverbial white picket fence neighborhood. Never did anything wrong. But these are decisions that we must make daily.

And that one split second makes that bad decision sometimes. It's not. You're a bad person. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong people. And because of that, it goes that way. But that female deputy that took me out of the cell and spoke with me, she showed me empathy, compassion of understanding that, yes, I was in jail, but I was a person. I wasn't just a criminal. I was an actual person. And she saw past that. And because of that, that has always stuck in my mind and made me be the officer that I am today with compassion and understanding and realizing everybody makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect.

Thank you. Y'all have a good day.

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