De’Jon Jones was awoken by an intruder but the only thing stolen was his football game
___
by De’Jon Jones
Was I an athlete headed to Vegas or a juvenile headed to jail?
We were being robbed, and as the man of the house I had no choice but to defend my family.
|
I had been enjoying a peaceful sleep when suddenly I was jarred awake. I felt frightened and consciously slowed my breath so I could figure out what was going on. I maneuvered my way upstairs peeking out window after window, following the noise as I gripped an aluminum baseball bat and hoped to alert my mom and sisters before the commotion around me actually presented itself.
We were being robbed, and as the man of the house I had no choice but to defend my family.
I heard a helicopter and voices yelling over a loudspeaker for us to come out.
The police were raiding us.
I looked into the dark skies and closed my eyes, afraid of what might happen next.
|
They kept shouting for my mom’s boyfriend to come out first, otherwise they were going to come in and get him. My mom opened the front door. She exited the house. My sister followed and stood off to the side as demanded. As I approached the door I was met by the Special Ops Unit just like in a game of Call of Duty.
Each member held a flashlight and an automatic rifle from with a red beam aimed directly at my chest as I walked out with my hands up.
I looked into the dark skies and closed my eyes, afraid of what might happen next.
Then my mom’s boyfriend appeared in the doorway.
The police aimed their red beam and their rifles at him.
He and I were corralled by a swarm of cops, snatched up, handcuffed and stuffed face first into a wall in a dark passageway along the side of our house. Guns were aimed at the backs of our heads.
When the unit command demanded that the weaponry be put down, a detective strolled over and filled us in on our situation.
The entire time he talked all I could think about was my football team and how they’d be out looking for me if I didn’t show up for school in a few hours. It was 5 a.m. and I was due to be in the parking lot adjacent to the Venice High School football field to travel to Las Vegas to play seven-man football. Instead I was standing in the cold morning air trembling in a tank top, boxers and handcuffs.
Turned out I wasn’t on my way to juvie hall, but neither was I on my way to play football. At that moment I was neither an athlete nor a criminal. I was a sixteen-year-old kid looking forward to celebrating his seventeenth birthday later that week.
I was released to my family and returned to my bedroom where I promptly fell asleep.