Former UFC referee and current Bellator commentator āBigā John McCarthy recently shared a colorful moment from his career as a police officer.
While McCarthy began his MMA refereeing career all the way back at UFC 2 in March 1994, he maintained policing duties until retiring in 2008. McCarthy spent many years as an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), during which time he had an unsettling encounter with a drunk officer.
During a recent edition of his Weighing In podcast with former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson, McCarthy discussed the incident and its follow-up.
āAt Least I Wasnāt Driving Drunkā - āBigā John McCarthy
McCarthy explained that he pulled over an inebriated officer and ultimately escorted him back home without pressing charges.
āOne time I stopped a guy, CHP, oh yeah, he was drunk,ā McCarthy said. "I take his car, put my partner in the car, my partner drives the car, I drive the guy home, rightā¦ [I] donāt arrest him.
Probably about a year later, I broke every vehicle code there was driving, it didnāt matter what it was you know, Iām just being honest, but I never, ever drove drunk. I donāt drive drunk, right. And so Iām speeding, and the lights go on behind me on the freeway, right, guy pulls me over, right, guess who it was?"
In an unexpected twist of fate, the officer who pulled McCarthy over was none other than the one āBigā John had pulled over previously. Unsurprisingly, the longtime referee used that fact to his advantage.
āThat guy comes up to the window, and Iām looking at him,ā McCarthy said. āI recognize him right away, right, and I go āHow you doing officer?ā He goes āLicense and registrationā I said, you know, āYes sir, Iām a Los Angeles police officerā [the officer replies] āOh, you were driving a little fast thereā [McCarthy replied] āYeah, but at least I wasnāt driving drunk like the night that I took you home.āā
So Big John is a genuine piece of shit. Would he have done that for a civilian? I lost ALL respect for him. I hope he gets hit by a drunk driver now.
I Get It
friend was like 16 driving home buzzed with his bros. got pulled over for no headlights.
cop said i know youre drunk. drive home perfectly, iāll follow u. he did. he was not busted.
Why would he recount a story like that.?. Dumb.
Iāve heard lots of stories of civilians being driven home or given the opportunity to call someone etc. it happens. Not so sure how much anymore.
Commonplace back in the day and even encouraged. Two things changed that brought in less discretion in dealing with DD. 1) drinking while driving lost its ācoolā image and became frowned upon by the public (MADD, etc), and to a lesser degree 2) āthin blue lineā was torn down. New policies included a penalty of termination for lying.