3
It was the day before the long Labor Day weekend. (We’re still in 1981.) The forecast was for hot and sticky, which to patrol officers Norbert Oates and Rob Torres meant citizens could be drunk and angry even more than usual. As the cops cruised the crowded surface streets in their black-and-white Gran Fury, they were on the lookout for drivers who were in too much of a hurry, weaving, or just driving too slow. It was mid-afternoon. Workers who had taken off early for the weekend had already cashed their checks and hit the bars.
And, sure enough, here was a guy who had trouble staying in his lane.
After they switched on their MARS lights, the guy drove on for a block and a half before he pulled off the busy boulevard and into an alley, where he stopped. The car was a battered Ford Fal
