February 2005 to December 2005

Sixth District Day Watch

This was the fifth district I’d been assigned to out of the eventual seven - each one a little different than the last. When I got promoted to lieutenant, the assignment came down: Day Watch in the Sixth. No one wanted it. Definitely not Mike Glasser, who avoided it like it was contagious.

So, as the new guy with no pull and a clean shirt, it landed on me. Surprise. I couldn't have been happier.  My daughter was only 18 months old. 

I made some lifelong friends there. Kenny Miestchovich and Ronnie Dassel became my crew—especially later during Hurricane Katrina, which deserves its own category of insanity.

A Little Sarcasm, a Big Arrest

One day, I was giving Sgt. Miestchovich and Troy Williams a hard time—just lieutenant banter, nothing serious. I said something like, “Why don’t you two show the platoon how it’s done? Go catch a bad guy for once.”

Not five minutes later, they call me on the radio. They’d caught a carjacker.

Naturally, I assumed they were screwing with me. Like this was some elaborate prank where they’d bring in a guy with a Nerf gun and handcuffs just to get a laugh. But no—they’d actually made a legit arrest. Even better? They loved the fact that I thought it was fake. I had to eat that one.

The Homicide Scene: Tension & Tactical Sarcasm

Another time, Troy—who was a seasoned homicide detective—was on the scene of a murder on Jackson Avenue. Also on scene was Sgt. Jeff Walls, who had not worked in Homicide but had somehow been placed in charge of it in the Sixth. Troy, being Troy, didn’t let that go unnoticed.

Loud enough for anyone within a half-mile radius to hear, he said something like: “Sure makes sense that he’s running Homicide instead of me.” If it sounds like one of those comments that’s supposed to be “half in jest” but is actually 90% “go screw yourself,” that’s because it was. I remember standing there, watching the two of them, thinking: This is either going to turn into a department-wide policy change… or a fistfight. Never a dull moment.

Troy ended up becoming a captain at the Tulane Police Department and Jeff ended up being appointed Commander with NOPD.  (See Commander vs Captain section.)

The Worst Setup I Ever Walked Into

One day—also on Jackson, because apparently that street had a vendetta against me—Armando “The Rooster” Asaro decides to have some fun at my expense. He asks, “Hey Terry, you remember so-and-so’s first wife, right?” I say, “Yeah.” Then he goes, “What’d you think of her? She looked… pretty rough, huh?”

And because I’m an idiot and think we’re just two cops casually talking trash about someone long out of the picture, I say: “Oh yeah. She looked like a train wreck.” What Asaro conveniently failed to mention was that this woman had since married a detective—who was standing directly next to us. Like… within slapping range. I saw the guy. I saw the face. I realized what had just happened. I looked at Asaro. He’s got the biggest grin on his face.

I was so mortified I started spelling his name “Assaro” for revenge. (He didn’t care. He’d earned it.) I apologized to the other detective about 4,000 times. Still didn’t feel like enough.