A few years ago, I went to BJ's at Hare's Corner in New Castle, DE on a beautiful spring day in mid-May. When I came out to my car (a light silver-blue color) to put my purchases inside, I noticed a small black boy in the car next to mine. He was in a Crown Victoria and it looked a lot like a police car. He was in the back seat crying while looking out the window.

It was about 75 degrees outside that day. I am a mechanic and was checking the air-conditioning in my car that day. I had a thermometer in the vent at mid-dash and it registered 110 degrees. (That would have been about mid-chest height.) My car was very light colored - the Crown Vic was dark blue.

My suspicions that it was an undercover police car were confirmed when I spotted a shotgun strapped in an upright position in the front seat. Although the windows were shaded very dark, I could clearly see a bank of radio equipment in the dash. IT WAS CLEARLY A POLICE CAR WITH A VERY, VERY, SCARED LITTLE BOY INSIDE.

THE BOY WAS 3 TO 4 YRS OLD AND HAD TEARS AND SWEAT STREAMING DOWN HIS BODY. His shirt was off and he was covered with sweat. I tried to offer him a can of soda but he just sat there crying. I could not get him to open the door. I enlisted the aid of a young pretty black woman to try to get the boy to open the door and accept a cool drink again, to no avail. There was nothing we could do to get him to open or unlock the door. (I'm sure he was threatened by his father to the point that he would do anything rather than anger his dad.)

I enlisted several passer-bys to call 911 and many did. I also ran back into BJ's twice to use the pay phone, to call myself reporting that the SMALL BOY was ALONE, OVERHEATED, AND in a POLICE CAR, SOBBING and COVERED IN SWEAT. Finally, I saw a State Police car slowly enter the parking lot and immediately flagged them over to the car. 

A stocky black man in red shorts and a T-shirt walked up with several kids and QUICKLY OPENED THE DOORS AND WINDOWS OF HIS POLICE CAR as the State Police car began to pull up. He ignored the officers until after he got his kid out of the car and calmed him down. It was obvious he had a pistol tucked into the small of his back.

The State Troopers spoke with me and the other bystanders while ignoring the "undercover cop" in the Crown Vic until after his kid had been given a drink of bottled water by a person in the crowd. The "undercover cop" began to get belligerent with the crowd and the Troopers and wanted to go on his way and was angry that anyone would interfere with his family and question him about what was found.

He did provide ID to the Troopers and was then allowed to leave while the crowd were left there scratching their heads, wondering what had just happened. I got the name of the trooper and called Troop 2 and Troop 6 and finally spoke with a Captain to find out what they planned to do about the incident.

I was thanked for reporting the incident and was told the black man was an "Undercover Police Officer for the New Castle County Police Department." The incident would be reported to his commanding officer and he would be reprimanded if it was found to be necessary.  He refused to give me the officer's name, ID or the name of the officer it was reported to. I asked why he was not charged and why he was let go from the scene. He refused to speak any further about the situation and thanked me again for reporting it.

I told him I wanted to know what was going to happen to the officer or I would report it to the News Journal newspaper. He told me to let them handle it. They had my personal information and if this was reported to the papers I could expect a visit from the officer involved.  I'm not stupid and decided to leave it alone. BTW, I just heard on the radio that Delaware is the 4th most corrupt state - I truly believe this now.

If it was you or I - We would have had our children taken away on the spot. If I had left a dog in the car - even with the windows open - It would have been taken away only after charges were placed. Tell me what you think...