The Cupertino Courier

First Word

A midnight encounter to worry about

By Jon Hoornstra

There was an encounter in Cupertino on a Saturday night last month involving local police officers and four teenage males, three of them Monta Vista High School students and one a visitor from Boulder Creek.

It was about 11:30 p.m. on May 2 when police surrounded the boys in their "older-model Bronco" in the parking lot behind the shoe store at the corner of McClellan Road and De Anza Boulevard.

To better understand what happened we need to back up a few minutes in time to the point when the boys decided to leave Los Gatos, where they'd been observing the ritual of "cruising," the parade of fine and occasionally weird cars that creep up and down overstressed main drags in little towns. The boys, under orders to be home by midnight, left Los Gatos a little after 11 p.m. and headed home via Highway 9. That route took them through Saratoga and close by the sheriff's westside substation.

About the same time, according to a senior police official, "a concerned citizen" reported that an "older-model Bronco" was headed toward Cupertino and was weaving in traffic, suggesting a drunken driver.

These facts set the scene, and although the driver we are concerned with will soon be 18, we'll continue the privacy given minors by assigning fictitious names to all the boys: Tom, Dick and Harry, and cousin Fred.

As the young men traveled on Highway 9, the anonymous citizen's report was radioed to area police. That led Deputy Sheriff Wilbanks to pull into a service station at the corner of Highway 9 and Prospect Road to wait for the Bronco to come along. It did--and the deputy promptly pulled behind them and followed the four to McClellan, where she made the stop.

"I saw her the second she pulled out of the gas station," driver Tom said of Deputy Wilbanks. "With a police officer behind me, I drove as carefully as anyone could," he said. With special emphasis he added, "Not once did I speed or weave or anything else." The passengers, all licensed drivers, became instant driving advisers to make sure Tom didn't mess up.

"She followed us through five signal lights until she pulled us over at McClellan," said Dick. Like Tom, he insisted they broke no laws and observed absolutely every rule as the deputy followed them.

"I couldn't believe it," said Tom. "They had us surrounded, with maybe four or five cars with bright spotlights blinding me, even before I could get the gearshift into the 'park' position."

Let's cut to the chase. The stop was made at 11:30 p.m. and the boys were detained for 40 minutes. Three breathalyzer tests established that Tom had a blood alcohol level of zero. They were released, but Tom took with him a citation for "lane straddling." Price tag: $127.

All four believe the citation is bogus and that they were treated badly, like real bad dudes who take cops on high-speed chases, in contrast to the reality of who they really are: sober, local high school students headed home to meet the family curfew and well aware of the officer behind them.

I could hear the anger and frustration in their voices as they separately told me the same story. They say they're going to court to appeal to a judge for justice.

I don't like to criticize law enforcement. The work is routinely dangerous and unpleasant. In order to do that job we give police unique authority and power, the skillful application of which takes time to learn. As many officers know, their actions are often criticized, sometimes by people who don't know what they're talking about.

Fact is I don't know what happened beyond what the boys say and the deputy conveyed. The boys' story, though, has the ring of truth. Still, officers don't usually issue tickets for the hell of it. But was the parking-lot encirclement and spotlight "capture" of these boys overdone? Perhaps.

What I hope happens, however, is that the young men believe justice was done by the time they leave the courthouse. Otherwise, one of them might silently harbor a grudge for years, and that's something to worry about.

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