picking the wrong guy to mess with

as i plopped down on the can this morning and cracked open the mercury news, the top story on the front page immediately caught my attention. seems like our good friend and childhood tormentor sgt luan nguyen was featured for some GOOD police work. [san jose mercury news]

the criminal in the story obviously had no idea who he was up against.

even these days, now that i am taller and heavier than he is, i would probably still flinch pretty hard if he tried to fake punch me – a sure sign of the years of physical and emotional damage that have been done.

let me recall some of my ‘favorites’. they are funny to look back on now, but not quite as funny when i was like 10 or 12 years old:

-> me and tri would play lakers vs celtics on the 286 pc after school and he came in one day asking me to try and punch him in the face. i politely declined because i was already engaged in something else and also knew that he had ulterior motives. he then demanded it of me so i had no choice but to try and punch him. in about .003 seconds, i was a human pretzel on the ground, in pain.

-> he wanted to test out the new handcuffs from the police academy by putting them on me. i thought this would be fun to be in handcuffs just to see what it felt liked, until he walked out the door and then drove away.

-> showing me his handgun and explaining how each piece of the gun worked. showing me how he inserts a bullet into the magazine. showing me how he cocks the weapon. showing me the bullet in the chamber, ready for firing. holding the gun to my head, and one micro-instant before firing the trigger, dropping the magazine out so nothing comes out. i let out a small whimper and wet my pants a little. he walks away, cackling softly to himself.

UPDATE: nbc11 also featured the two in their evening news. notice the casual demeanor, even smiling a little, as he describes taking the man down.