Missed Opportunity
I regret not riding with my brother years ago when he was collecting scrap. I was like 16 at the time, and my brother was collecting scrap for money, as he was down on his luck. I stayed home when he asked if I wanted to ride with him. He went to this lady’s house in town and knocked on the door to ask about the scrap laying in her yard, but no one answered minus a kid crying in the upstairs window.
Then suddenly, the woman who owned the house ran over and yelled at my brother, saying she saw him trying to break in. He stayed and tried to explain to her he just wanted to ask about scrap, but she was having none of it, and called her husband, and then 9-1-1. When her husband pulled up, he immediately ran up to my brother and pinned him against the door, screaming at him.
Then the offciers pulled up, and the woman told them she had watched my brother try to break in. My brother explained his story, but the cop basically told him that since two people were saying he was trying to break in, he was getting arrested. There was even a witness across the street that stood and watched the whole ordeal, but apparently he wouldn’t say anything.
Long story short, my brother spent six months in the clink and was forced to take a plea agreement for something he didn’t do, because we couldn’t afford his bail or defense. I have always felt that if I had just gone with him to collect scrap, I could have been a witness, and he could potentially have avoided all of it.