WA-1 - Emotional Experience

Justin Bernard -- Period 4 English

My Emotional Experience

In January of 2007, my cousin Allen was shot and killed by a Greene County game warden. Allen and his girlfriend had decided to run away together. His girlfriend's mom reported her daughter kidnapped by Allen and said that he was armed. That’s why they were pulled over that night. Usually when you get pulled over the cop stops behind you so the dashboard camera can record the stop. That isn’t what the game warden did; he parked his car in front of the car Allen and his girlfriend were in. It was said that my cousin hit the game warden with the car, how is that possible if it was also reported that he had positioned himself to safely remove the girl from the side of the car.

Allen was shot in the head three times through the wind shield; one in the forehead the others under his left and right eyes. If the game warden was said to be on the side of the car how could he have gotten these precise shots off in the first place. Allen supposedly hit the warden with the vehicle, if this is true then he couldn’t have got the shots of then either. The only way he could of got hit by the car is if he shot first making Allen loose control of the vehicle and then the car hit the warden. Another question brought up is why the game warden was making a police stop? Game wardens are in charge of hunting and fishing matters, why didn’t he radio for a regular police unit to come out and assist him.

My uncle called that night to tell us what had happened. As soon I answered the phone I knew something was wrong, I could tell by the tone of his voice, immediately my heart sank. When my mom got off the phone she was crying. She told me what happened and I felt a flood of grief and anger I remember going back to my room and hitting something and then crying. My grandmother wasn't any better. I had to call my other uncle and tell him what happened he broke down too. The whole thing is so blurry, all that really stuck with me is finding out what happened, and the sound of my uncles voice when I first answered the phone.

I have never in my felt so much anger towards one person, it felt like a huge weight on my chest, it made my breathing short and quick, I couldn’t function or think straight. The funeral didn’t go over any better. It was an open casket, having to walk into a room a see your cousin, friend, lying there dead is something I would never wish on my worst enemy or anyone else for that matter. Charges were pressed against the warden for manslaughter but were dropped because of insufficient evidence. I had a friend who was kind enough to come to the funeral, he had only met Allen once and he saw his body lying there and broke down. We both cried. Even now I sometimes cry about what happened to Allen.

It has been over a year since the incident, it's easier to deal with, but even writing this paper brought back that heavy feeling on my chest and the quickened breathing.Things like this never truly go away. The surreal feeling that lingered after everything was done with made everything seem to move in slow motion, this is something I hope no one has to live with. I still get angry from time to time when I think about the game warden getting to walk away without a slap on the wrist. It's completely unfair that my family has to loose a loved one, and then the blame is left lying on the ground. That’s a day that I will never forget.