The Observation Deck

I got a tip that SWAT had been seen going down the driveway at McKinley so I grabbed
my camera, and coffee and headed off to another standoff. Sure enough, SWAT!


Peeking in the open door I could see the end of a line of police working their way through
the building.




Getting to the second floor I run into a shadow with a gun pointed right at my face.
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
I tell him who I am.
"GET OUT!" he yells, "NO PLACE FOR YOU!"

So I leave, but as I leave I overhear a radio call for SWAT at a house on Hall, so I head over.


Another SWAT team arriving, this is interesting.


They proceed to storm the house.




Ready for action, no messing about.

And so the day went with SWAT from communities all over Cuyahoga County as they
went through their training sessions at the school, and a house the city just acquired.
New police and SWAT members being shown first hand how to enter a building, break
down a door, and arrest the bad guys. I was arrested 4 times, including being thrown
to the floor, boot to the back, one to the head, and cuffed! Boy, it really took me back
to the 70s. That is the 70 Block of East 185 last week. Just kidding.


If you are a bad guy, this is what a bad day looks like.

SWAT coming through the door.

Thanks as always to West Shore Enforcement Bureau, it has been amazing every time I
cover you guys and gals. WEB Task Force Officer in Charge Det. Pat Fiorelli, and Officer
Ted Morley, and all of the police there, thanks for telling them to go easy on me after
the 3rd arrest. My shoulder is in ice, my neck in ice, my right hand in ice, and I have a
smile the size of Texas on my face.

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Attributed to George Orwell and Winston Churchill

Thanks for a great afternoon.

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:
Ready for action, no messing about.

And so the day went with SWAT from communities all over Cuyahoga County as they
went through their training sessions at the school, and a house the city just acquired.
New police and SWAT members being shown first hand how to enter a building, break
down a door, and arrest the bad guys. I was arrested 4 times, including being thrown
to the floor, boot to the back, one to the head, and cuffed! Boy, it really took me back
to the 70s. That is the 70 Block of East 185 last week. Just kidding.


.

Jim said: That is the 70 Block of East 185 last week. Just kidding.

Hey! There is no "70 Block" of East 185th street. Which is in Collinwood, which is where I'm from and where my parents and my brother and MANY FRIENDS and the Collinwood Observer live.

You think this is Collinwood:

And it is.

And this is Collinwood, two weeks ago at the Waterloo Arts Festival.



And this is also Collinwoood:


This is any street north of Lakeshore Blvd. Every street hits the lake and you can go down any one of them and actually jump into the lake if you care to. Not just look at it. Ask WEB Task Force Officer in Charge, Det. Pat Fiorelli. Just saying.

I'm glad to see that you're taking care of McKinley, though it seems a little extreme to arrest you that many times for protecting it. (Did the SWAT team chase you to Hall?) I love McKinley. My kids took all of their first Rec Center Art and Science summer classes there, and it reminds me of my first elementary school, Oliver Hazard Perry Elementary School, right off of East 185th Street. Still open, and thriving! In Collinwood!

Betsy Voinovich

And now the video...




Thanks again to everyone at Westshore Enforcement.


.

Had to go find this.

Betsy Voinovich