When I was 7 yrs old, living on an AF Base, walking home from school, I crossed the street in the middle of the road and not the corner....
A Military Police Airman spotted me doing this, and basically took me in to his custody, explained to me I was breaking the law, by Jaywalking and in his custody, walked me home to my house and turned me over to my mother's custody!!! It scared the pajesus out of me!! And I never jaywalked again, so help me God!!! Even now, as an adult.... I cross the street only at legal corner crossroads!!!
The MP was a prick
He was stern!
But honestly, my mother was very grateful at the time and was really concerned that I could have been killed by a car some day if I had continued doing such....
and looking back on it, he did a good thing by scaring me like that.... this was Westover AF Base in western Massachusetts, I was in 2nd grade...
the following year, 3rd grade, we lived in Brooklyn, NY with my Italian grandparents (because my father was in Vietnam) and traffic and big avenues to cross walking home from school was really dangerous... if you jay walked and didn't use the cross walks and green walk lights for safe crossing, you really could be killed!!!!
My older sister would jaywalk and cross the Avenue mid stream if she saw no cars, and I used to tell her, don't do it! It is against the law!!! But she never listened to me!!!
And the last day of school, I went down to the corner to cross and she crossed midway and was hit by a motor cycle... she survived but a big chunk of her knee was cut open with skin hanging there, some lady sitting on her stoop, called the police and maybe an ambulance, but I left her there with them and ran home as fast as the fastest runner of my age could ever run, to get home to tell my mother and grand father that my sister had been hit by a motor cycle...I lost a shoe on the way home, and my Winnie the Poo coloring book that I had won for writing the best book reports the whole year from my teacher, and had no idea at the time... talk about adrenaline!!! I just knew I had to get home and tell mom what happened so she could get help!!! Amazing all these years it still seems like yesterday!
When I got home, my mom was in the shower but my Italian grandfather was outside on the stoop waiting for us to get home from school... he didn't speak English and I spoke very little Italian at the time and what I did know, I couldn't remember, nor speak... not even in English if memory serves, I was crying, out of breath, really upset and could not put words together....totally traumatized! So I said my sister's name to him then made a noise like a car or motorcycle and got out, ''broooom brooom brooom Bang'' and like anyone of Italian decent, used my hands while saying that, to speak as well...
he got and understood what I was trying to say, though did not know if a car or motorcycle and ran the way to the school to find her and I ran in and got my mom out of the shower and was able to speak at that point and told her and by the time she was quickly dressed my grandfather had carried my sister home the several blocks, and my mom had called a cab, which was there lickedy spit and we were on our way to the hospital clinic at Fort Hamilton 57 stitches she got to sew up her knee!!!
Sorry for the long story... but it all confirmed to me that young MP did a good service by scaring me like that, and if the guy's alive, I OWE HIM great thanks!!! IF ONLY he had caught my sister and scared her, like he did me... she probably would not have been hit!!!