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and get you, they were bringing an ass beating with them.
    Policemen were famous for their “gotcha” questions, typically snarled inquiries that offered no good answer. “Do you know why I pulled you over?” was one of the more commonly known gotchas. If the driver responded that he didn’t understand why he had been stopped, then he had little, if any, basis to deny the infraction. After all, if a driver weren’t paying attention, how could he say with certainty that he was not speeding? If the hapless citizen answered, “Yes,” to the officer’s query, then he admitted guilt.
    There were also physical “gotchas” that could be implemented during an arrest. The Honda’s driver was about to experience a sequence of these tiger traps.
    The first action was often referred to as “the huddle.” Hard lessons had been learned from the advent of internet videos decrying police brutality and abuse, an education hammered home to all cops. The commonality of dash cams, bystander cell phones, and security cameras mounted who-knew-where, were countered by the group of officers surrounding the suspect as if they were a football team calling a play on the field.
    With the driver on the ground in the middle of the formation, it was nearly impossible for any video recorder to get a clear view of the proceedings.
    The “quarterback” held the most critical position, blocking the one known and most important camera of all – the dashboard video system in the facing cruiser.
    Once the picket line of fast-moving, blue-uniformed bodies was established, the kid was subjected to his first body-gotcha. The police wanted the young man’s hands at his lower spine so they could apply handcuffs, but with over 900 pounds of officers on his body, there was no way Jacob could move his arms to comply with their shouted commands.
    This led to one of the officers initiating an Academy Award-worthy performance, shouting, “Stop resisting! Stop resisting!” – the command issued more for the benefit of the in-cruiser camera’s audio system than any anticipated response from the suspect.
    Finally, the man with his knee in the small of Jacob’s back raised just enough to allow the kid to free his pinned arms, an event which immediately resulted in the second body-gotcha.
    Fully anticipated, the kid’s arms wriggled out from under his body, but the liberated limbs couldn’t move to his back. Despite his desperate attempt to comply with the orders screamed at him from all directions, there was a burly cop’s knee on both sides of his rib cage, pinning his appendages tightly to his side.
    Of course, the cops knew this would happen, ready with the second round of lines from their theatrical script created for the benefit of the dash cam. “Stop reaching for my weapon! He’s reaching for my weapon!”
    Now things were getting serious, the real fun about to begin.
    With ear-piercing screams coming from all sides, hundreds of pounds of weight on his ribcage and legs, the completely overwhelmed Jacob tried to lift his body in order to move his arms as commanded. This resulted in the first kick.
    In legitimate academy training, instructors harped on not allowing a suspect to regain the initiative. The well-meaning cadre would drill in a grim reality – If the criminal had a gun in his belt and managed to draw the weapon while his arms were under his body, then that weapon could be aimed and discharged once those limbs broke free.
    Foot strikes aimed at the arms were an approved method to keep the prone suspect from lifting himself off the ground. The goal was to knock the weight-bearing limb out from underneath the apprehended person, much like removing the leg of a stool. If the occasional kick missed, impacting the head, ribs, or neck, the blame rested squarely on the civilian who shouldn’t have been resisting.
    The driver started screaming in pain as heavy-duty boots struck his head and trunk. After a half-dozen vicious blows, the cops