“White Rabbit” was the most visible, high-profile drug dealer in Kerrville, Texas when I was a cop there in the 1970s. He sold just about any drug imaginable to the junkies he supplied. He was a Black guy in his mid-20s, under 6’ and skinny, wiry and strong with prison muscles, and he was loud and aggressive and provoked confrontations when approached. To the best of my knowledge, he only sold to Blacks in the Black part of town.
I was on patrol one afternoon and as I drove past a Hilly Frazier’s barbecue place and bar, the heart of social life there, I could see there was some kind of altercation going on around the big outdoor barbecue pit. Hilly’s was a popular hangout where people could bring their own meat to cook on the pit as long as they bought their beers from Hilly. You might find any kind of meat from steaks to hamburgers to wild animals on Hilly’s big grill. We got a lot of fight calls there.
That day, as usual, I stopped to investigate the disturbance. As I walked up to the picnic area around the barbecue pit, I could see that it involved only two men who were shouting and shoving each other, but not actually to the point of fighting yet.
I pushed my way through the onlookers, the only white guy to be seen and in uniform at that. When I got up to the two guys involved in the altercation, I said something like, “Hey, guys, what’s going on?”
One of the men immediately turned on me and began shouting and cursing and insulting me, telling me to leave and mind my own business. It was White Rabbit. In his usual aggressive manner, he moved forward into my personal space screaming and cursing. I didn’t want to arrest him and instead tried to talk to him in a calm voice and simply find out what was going on.
But he wouldn’t allow that, and I was finally forced to place him under arrest for Disorderly Conduct. He resisted mildly with much twisting and jerking when I handcuffed him, but never assaulted me or actively fought the arrest process. Rabbit (as we called him for short) continued to scream and cuss and wriggle as if resisting as I led him to the patrol car. I placed him in the front passenger seat, hands cuffed behind him, and strapped him in with the shoulder belt as he continued screaming and cussing and wiggling.
After we had gone a few blocks, Rabbit suddenly became very calm and rational, no more screaming or cussing. He began to talk in a normal voice with no further insults or cussing or arguing.
“Rabbit,” I said, “why weren’t you being reasonable like this back at Hilly’s? I wouldn’t have had to arrest you.”
“Man, those are my people,” he said. “I’ve got to put on a show for them. They expect it.”
Once I understood what White Rabbit was doing, we got along fine. I ended up arresting him a few more times over the next couple of years and we always put on a good show for his people, but he really was not a violent kind of guy. Just a businessman supplying a product that was in demand in his little community.