Big bad adventures in Maui
Yesterday started out with a bang, but I won’t go into that part…let’s just say I was already having an ugly day. We go to the Maui Ocean Center…VERY cool place. The sea turtle exhibit is wonderful…but don’t put your finger in there…they really do bite! So, after we enjoy the Ocean Center (fancy name for the Aquarium), we go over to the Pacific Whale Foundation’s store…buy a few things and we leave…go get into our car..and head back to our condo which was about a mile away.
Where back for a short while, and I’m sitting out on the deck messaging with my friend who’s kind enough to let me put my blogs on here…my husband comes out and says ‘we just got a call from the Maui Police, they are on their way over here to talk to us about our car’. I thought he was joking….and I didn’t think he was being funny either. A while later I hear a pounding on the door…he wasn’t kidding. Two Maui Police officers were at my door. I was clueless as to what was going on. First thing they do…the read me my rights!!! Okay, I don’t know about you..but right away that kinda sends a bit of panic through even an innocent persons mind. I told them I understood my rights and didn’t need an attorney. I was happy to cooperate in any way they needed me to, after all…I knew I didn’t do anything wrong.
First thing they ask is if we let anyone borrow our car that day. I said no, I’m the only driver on the car. Then they ask if we are staying with anyone, so we tell them that we are staying with family and who all is in our group. Again, they ask if anyone has borrowed the car and if everyone has their own car & what kind. Same answer, nope and yes they all have their own cars. They asked us what we did that day. So we tell them that we had gone to the Ocean Center, then to the Pacific Whale Foundation, and then over to Carl’s Jr for burgers and then home. They asked about what time we had been to the center and stuff, and I told them that we had receipts that should have time stamps on them…so I got them all. Okay, so….you know how you THINK you are doing a great thing by cooperating and giving the police everything that they could possibly need to clear your name? Well, first thing outta one of their mouths is “Well, that puts them there at the right time” They STILL had not told us what this was all about. I’m just answering all the questions; after all, I knew I had done nothing wrong. Everything we said just made it look worse. Finally I looked at them and said “okay guys, your starting to worry me here, what exactly is going on? Why am I being questioned?” So they tell us that a car had been broken into over at the Maui Ocean Center. That the witnesses saw a man and a woman getting into a white car, and all 3 witnesses gave the same license plate number. Said that they saw one of the people going to put things into the trunk and then change their mind and get into the passenger side of the car. I said, “Okay, I know that I thought I had popped the trunk open thinking we were going to put our purchase into the trunk but it turns out that I really hadn’t opened it, so we didn’t, and we were going right home so there was no need to”. Again…being helpful, just confirmed what the ‘witnesses’ saw the ‘suspects’ do. Smart one….very smart, kind of like beating your head against a brick wall. We go with them down to the car and as we are going to the elevator they ask if anyone traveling with us has long black hair, finally…a moment of relief…I said “no, actually my hair is darkest out of everyone, everyone else is either a blonde, grey or my brother in law has reddish hair”, As we go to get into the elevator I look towards the pool and see my sister in law down there and make a comment that they are still at the pool, one of the officers goes and looks (I’m guessing to see if her hair was really lighter than mine?). So we get to the car, I immediately open the doors and the trunk. One of them looks in the trunk and says “you know that you aren’t supposed to have that rock right?, we don’t really care, but if they catch you with it at the airport I’ve heard it’s a $100 fine”, I look into the trunk…and oh great that big lava rock I told the kid to leave at the beach is in our trunk…nice really nice. I looked at the officer and said “thank you for saying that I’ve been telling him he can’t take them home so you actually just did me a HUGE favor, we’ll return it down to the beach before we leave”. So they take pictures of the car, pictures of each of us, give us a case number and tell me that I can call in about 3 to 4 months and if nothing further has happened with the case I can ask to have all of our information destroyed. Thanked us for being so willing to help and told me that they think we were just leaving the Ocean Center at the wrong time. No really? I have no desire to ever go back to that parking lot! I really want some more of the handmade soaps from Island Soap Factory, but I’m not going back up there. I have to say one thing, the Maui Police Officers that questioned us were very polite, very down to business and official, but very respectful. I appreciate that because you never know what you are going to get or how you’ll be treated. I can honestly say that we will never ever forget this trip. OH and on the bright side…the whole family poked fun at me last night saying that I’m not getting on the plane today because the Maui Police will be waiting for me at the gate. And dad’s comment was even better….laughed and told me that I’m now on the “no fly list with the FAA”. Gee…thanks dad…you’re the greatest….lol…
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Holiday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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