senseless violence

When I was a freshman at OSU, I made the unfortunate mistake to leave my TREK 850 locked to a bike rack overnight. Normally, I locked it front of my dorm, but game day made parking at the entrance to the Stadium a no-no.
During the Notre Dame game, I went for a walk and passed my bike. Its frame was bent around the rack. It was surreal. I remember going calling someone in my family and being told to file a police report. I called the campus police and was told an officer would be there shortly.
It was rather windy, and I remember being near the open end of the 'Shoe waiting as 97K of so fans screamed and rumbled. A cop arrived and took my report. He gave me his card. He was nice and said that the bike should be covered by my parent's home-owner insurance which lifted my spirits a little.

I tried to forget the moment and the cop, but I think about the cop from time to time when senseless things happen. His name was Michael Blankenship and he was gunned down in a senseless botched robbery a few months later in the same building complex where I worked all four of my years at OSU.

I remember that day of the shooting well. I got off work at 5:30 and I saw a campus patrol car pull up to the curb by the Wexner Center as I crossed the street. I had debated about staying longer at the library(work) to study or heading back after getting something eat at the commons, but I went back to the dorm and found a quiet place there instead. I remember getting fresh air after staring at my books a few hours and hearing all the helicopters swooping about the Oval. That's when I realized the campus was on high alert.

I was pretty bothered when I realized how lucky I was to have not been at the wrong place at the wrong time. I saw the campus cops arrive at the Wexner Center and thought nothing of it turning into a crime scene.

The campus police building is named after the officer that died in the line of duty. I still had his business card from when he took my report about my bike, but it wasn't until after they named the building that I realized that the cop that took my report was the very same guy.