Colleyville drama

      This is an ironic story about privilege and how rich people deal with crime. I spent the majority of my police career with the Fort Worth Police Department. It was crazy busy. We went from call to call handling situations intended for two officers. We were understaffed so we went by ourselves.  In the mid 1990’s I left Fort Worth and began working for a police department in a small bedroom community close to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport called Colleyville. It was an affluent community with many wealthy people living there. The city had athletes, television, and movie stars living in the area. Not to mention the religious mega stars who had acquired great wealth. There were also many businesspeople and high ranking company executives. It was routine to deal with the rich and their perceived crime problems.

      One Saturday morning, however, we received a call of an actual crime. We got used to coming to work and talking at the beginning of the shift. After a while we got in patrol cars and cruised the city as usual. There was never anything happening. It was a gravy job.

      We rotated shifts and I was now the Sergent on day shift. The morning started at 6:30AM. We were standing around talking as usual. About 7:00AM the dispatcher yelled across the room, “Hey, there’s a shooting at 24 Hidden Valley Court.”

      We kind of laughed at first. I walked over to the dispatcher, “Are you sure?”

      She said, “Yes the guy is going crazy.”

      “Okay, Mark and I will be enroute.”

      Mark Thorp is a good officer and when you need someone there, he’s got your back. We headed towards the call at a high rate of speed.

      We arrived on the scene in a quiet cul de sac of six large exclusive houses. At the dead center of the cul de sac was a house with a large driveway and trailer parked in it. The trailer was big and had racing car logos on it. We pulled up and got out of our cars and walked up the driveway. A man came out of the house and walked towards us. He was visibly shaken. I asked him what happened, and he said, “About twenty minutes ago this guy pulled up in front of my house, got out of his car with a gun and started shooting. He shot my trailer, then turned and shot out those front windows.” He pointed to the windows. He walked us to the trailer and showed us the bullet holes. He said, “I’m a race car driver. I race formula one cars worldwide. I haven’t checked yet, but my car is probably damaged.”

      I asked him, “Why would he do that. Do you know who he is?”

      About that time his wife came out and was walking towards us. She was gorgeous in all the right places, and I immediately realized the advantages of having money. He turned and said, “Go back inside babe. I’ve got everything taken care of.”

      She stopped and went back inside the house. He continued, “Anyway, the guy shot maybe seven or eight shots. His name is Mike Sandlin. He’s a homebuilder. Sandlin homes.”

      I was shocked. Mike Sandlin was a rich pillar of the community, “Why would he do that?”

      “I’ve been having an affair with his wife.”

      Now everything fell into place. I couldn’t comprehend how a guy with a wife like that would have an affair with anyone. We checked the houses in the cul de sac and they confirmed the complainant’s account. They heard the shots and saw Sandlin shooting. This is crazy. I now wanted to meet the woman he was having an affair with. I took everyone’s statement and got an address for Mr. Sandlin. He lived in Colleyville. My partner and I drove to the address.

      We arrived at Sandlin’s house, which of course was a mansion. Sandlin’s wife answered the door, and she was attractive but nothing like the race car driver’s wife. I told her, “I need to speak to Mr. Sandlin, is he here?”

      She looked around quickly and then down at the floor, “I’m not sure, why?”

      “About twenty minutes ago he was over on Hidden Valley Court shooting up a man’s house and car trailer. I’ve got witnesses.”

      She now became upset. I said, “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going back to the police department and write a warrant for his arrest. The police will come here and tear this house apart. Any police department who finds your husband will arrest him.”

      There actually wasn’t much of a charge against him other than discharging a firearm in the city limits and criminal mischief. The district attorney would’ve dropped all the charges anyway because of Sandlin’s status and the DA was a coward, but she didn’t know that. I made it sound like we were getting ready to start a manhunt. She decided to come clean and said, “Hold on a minute. He’s upstairs.”

      She finally came down with Sandlin in tow. He stood there and I said, “You’re in deep trouble. What happened?”

      He said, “That son of a bitch was having an affair with my wife. I should’ve shot him, but I didn’t.”

      Now Sandlin’s wife is not making any eye contact and walked over to a couch and sat down. Sandlin continued, “He’s been meeting her for months. I found out about it and decided to send him a message.”

      I continued the charade, “Well, it doesn’t look good. The only reason I’m not going to take you to jail is because I know where to find you. I’m going to make a report, and they will issue a warrant for your arrest. I won’t be able to keep it out of the news.”

      He seemed upset at the statement about the news. I told him, “Stay here and we’ll be getting in touch with you soon.”

       I went back to the police department and started working on the report. I was going to finish the report and request an arrest warrant when the dispatcher called. She told me I had a call. I picked up the phone, “Sergent Moss.”

      The voice on the other end was the race car driver, “Sergent Moss, I wanted to tell you I’m dropping all the charges against Mr. Sandlin.”

      I was surprised but not really. I asked him, “Why are you dropping the charges?”

      He said, “We came to a mutual agreement where he will reimburse a very generous sum to pay for the damages and I’ll drop the charges. So, everything is fine, and I don’t want to move forward at this point.”

      I acknowledged in the affirmative and hung up. I sat there thinking about the situation. It’s funny how some people always land on their feet. I’ve seen it many times. People get into things where you’re thinking they’re really screwed. All of a sudden everything turns out great for them. In the days to come, I discussed the call with other officers, and we laughed at the luck of the race car driver.

      He apparently was okay with his wife, who knew nothing. He screwed another woman. When the husband found out he paid money to the race car driver. I mean how good does it get. You have sex with a woman on the side and the husband of the woman pays you a bunch of money and you still have a loving wife. I guess some people are born under a lucky star. That’s the way the rich deal with crime…..