On the dope track

Last Saturday, after having a late lunch with gonzo journalist Isaac Mckay Randozzi at Pancho Villa Taqueria on 16th at Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission District, the two of us decided to take a stroll up Mission Street to snap photos and absorb the scenery.  There’s always some shenanigans popping off on Mission between 16th and 24th streets, and sure enough, this particular day was no exception.  
 
Randomly, we bumped into mutual friend and photographer Dave Schubert in front of the dollar store on the corner of Mission and 17th.  Dressed in all black with a sleek Leica camera slung around his neck, he too was lurking the strip for photo ops.  It had been a couple of years since we had all last seen each other.

So there we were catching up on old times, bullshitting about skateboarding, photography and other stuff, when all of a sudden we heard commotion coming from the doorway of the dollar store right behind us.  We turned to see an undercover cop, Latino male, early 40s, attempting to detain another Latino male -- probably about the same age as the cop, just more weathered-looking -- for what we assumed was shoplifting.

The cop managed to get the man into a full-nelson hold, but somehow the individual was able to break free.  A scuffle between the two then ensued, which ended up inside the store.  With camera locked and loaded, Schubert immediately ran inside to document the situation.  Positioning himself on his belly in the middle of the aisle, he started firing off shots one after the other.  Surprisingly, the cop didn’t seem to mind.       

With the help of another undercover that was already inside the store, the man was quickly handcuffed and detained face first on the ground.

One of the two cops then yelled, “Just spit it out, Asshole!  Spit it out!”  

It obvious then that drugs were involved, not shoplifting. 

The detainee coughed something up and spit it out on the floor.  Sure enough, it was a small crack rock, about the size of an altoid.

We later found out that this particular dollar store is notorious for crack sales.  Apparently, it’s safer to do the exchange inside the store than out on the street.   In this particular case, however, the buyer turned out to be an undercover cop.  Whoops.

The two cops then dragged the man out in front of the store, putting him on display for all to see, and then radioed for a patrol car to haul him to the clink.  It was a full-blown scene outside the store by this time, as a small crowd had now gathered to see what was going on.

In the middle of all this, the main undercover said to the three of us, “Here, get a picture of this,” then held the magic rock out on display in his palm.  

Moments later, the squad car pulled up and hauled the man off to jail.  The crowd then dispersed and the two undercover cops disappeared down 17th Street.  And that was the end of that:  bagged, tagged and on to the next.  The whole show lasted less than ten minutes.

After saying goodbye to Schubert, we continued our journey up Mission Street, feeling somewhat astonished by what had just happened.  Sure, drug busts aren't uncommon on that particular strip, but the fact it happened while three photographers with cameras slung around their necks were standing less than five feet away is pretty random. 

Cheers to being in the right place at the right time.

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