Read Online You Can Die Trying by Gar Anthony Haywood - Free Book Online Page B

James Tripp, Alan Benzinger, and Joseph Ammolino—clubbing an unarmed black civilian in the street like children attacking a piñata, as six other officers stood around and watched. The riots that had decimated South-Central Los Angeles and titillated the nation six months later had started within minutes of the four principal officers involved in Hardy’s beating being acquitted of assault charges in a Simi Valley courtroom.
    All in all, it made for the most humiliating and damaging public relations fiasco in the LAPD’s 210-year history.
    “Maggie was fifteen miles away when the Hardy arrest was made, but he may as well have been right in the thick of it, for all the shit they laid on him,” Kupchak said. “Some people said Tripp, Ammolino, and Benzinger were just the tip of the iceberg, that Maggie had been building cops like them for years, and was still doing it.”
    “Who are you talking about, Kupchak? Stop saying ‘they’ like I’m supposed to know who you mean.”
    “I’m talking about the members of the new regime. Okay? Chief Bowden and his appointees. With all their promises of a new order, and better community relations, and all that shit, cops like Maggie were on their shit list from day one. They were just waiting for somebody like him to fuck up.”
    “And of course, he did.”
    “The second he drew his weapon on that kid. Self-defense or no self-defense.”
    Kupchak’s fellow officers were suddenly leaving the tables surrounding them one by one, trays full of trash in hand, signaling the end of lunch hour. Before Kupchak could follow suit, Gunner asked him to try to remember Lendell Washington’s buddy Ford’s first name, and where Gunner might start to look for him.
    “His first name? I wanna say Moses, but I don’t think that’s right. No. It was Noah. Noah Ford, yeah.” His eyes narrowed as he pictured the kid in his mind, not enjoying the memory. “They gave the little punk two years, as I recall, and I think he served all of six months. Bein’ fourteen years old has its advantages, I guess.”
    “Then he’s out now?”
    “He was for a quick minute. But you know kids like that. Soon as they pull one foot out of the shit, they step in some more with the other.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning he’s right back in the can, I think. At least, I saw him go through booking just a couple of months ago. Check with the Department of Corrections, I bet they can tell you where to find him.”
    Gunner nodded. “You happen to remember who the Internal Affairs officers were who worked McGovern’s case?”
    Kupchak’s face grew rigid again. “Couple of guys named Jenner and Kubo. Why do you ask?”
    Gunner only barely heard the question, his mind having suddenly turned to something else. “Because I’m going to have to talk to them, too,” he said, plainly distracted. “You say their names were Jenner and Kubo?”
    Kupchak nodded.
    “That wouldn’t be Daniel Kubo, would it?”
    “Yeah, that’s right. You know him?”
    Gunner nodded, not sure if he’d just received good news or bad. “If it’s the guy I’m thinking about, we entered the police academy together. We used to be fairly close, but … I haven’t seen or heard from Danny in years, now.”
    “The police academy? Our police academy?”
    Gunner nodded his head again.
    “Don’t tell me you used to be a cop.”
    “Not quite. I spent six weeks at the academy, and that’s about as far as it went.”
    “They dropped you out?”
    “You might say that.”
    “How long ago was this, you don’t mind my asking?”
    Gunner got to his feet and said, “Twenty years ago, give or take a few. Too long ago to remember, really.” He handed Kupchak one of his business cards. “You think you could get this to Deanna Lugo for me? And ask her to give me a call when she gets a chance?”
    Kupchak got to his own feet, feeling somewhat awkward, and said, “I guess I could do that.” He put the card in his breast pocket with his left