The
Interview
Det.
David Starsky, Ninth Precinct, Metro Division, Bay City Police
You
gotta understand that me and Hutch are a little wary of the press. It's nothin'
personal, okay? It's just that we've been burned before. I mean, last time it
turned out all right in the end, but, well, we just don't much like to talk to
reporters.
But
our captain told us it'd be good public relations and you said you just wanted
to get the story straight and, well, what do you want to know?
Q:
Bringing James Gunther down was quite a feat. He's been untouchable for years.
How did you do it?
A:
Actually, it was Hutch that did that. I couldn't help him. I was flat on my back
in the hospital. The thing is, you gotta understand that nothin' on God's green
earth was gonna stop my partner from finding Gunther and making him pay for
what he did to me.
Q:
That's what I want to understand. How is it that Detective Hutchinson Hutch
managed to do alone what the entire force hadn't been able to do for years?
A:
(after a long pause) I'm not sure I know how to explain it.
Q:
Take your time.
A:
Hutch is a good detective. Sometimes, it's like he's inspired. Like he's got
some kinda instinct that...well, he just knows things. Ferrets things out. I
don't really know how he does it. He remembers stuff he's read in the newspaper
or heard on TV years later. Names. Dates. Places. Amazing. Stuff just sticks to
his memory cells or something. That's part of it. And part of it is well, us. Me and him.
Q:
What do you mean?
A:
We're best friends. Partners. Buddies. Brothers. Not by blood, of course. In
our bones. If it'd been him lying in that hospital, I'd have done the same
thing. And I'd have succeeded. Because I wouldn't have stopped until I got
Gunther or I was dead.
Q:
Hutch means that much to you?
A:
It goes both ways.
Q:
Why?
A:
What do you mean, why?
Q:
Why do you mean so much to each other?
A:
(clearly puzzled) We're partners.
Q:
Is that all there is to it? You're partners, so you would risk your life for
each other?
A:
Yeah. That's what partners are for. What they do. Good partners, anyway.
Q:
And Hutch is a good partner?
A:
The best.
Q:
But even the most dedicated cops don't always have the kind of devotion to each
other that you and your partner have displayed. I've been going back through
files, and this isn't the first time one of you has risked your neck for the
other.
A:
No, it's not. I guess I don't know. What we got is special. Different.
Q:
How?
A:
(laughs) There's nothin' weird about it. We're just he's my best friend.
(shrugs) I love him.
Q:
One doesn't often hear men, to say nothing of police officers, say they love
each other.
A:
(laughs) Guess not. But they do. Cops gotta trust their partner with their
life. Every day. Can't do that if you don't have some kinda love between you.
Would you want to put your life in the hands of somebody who didn't give a damn
about you?
Q:
No.
A:
So you see what I mean.
Q:
Is it true that you almost died?
A:
Oh, yeah. I had three bullets in the back and a couple of them did some major
damage. They told me my heart stopped and they had to bring me back with those
paddle things. Hutch got to the hospital just as my heart started up again.
Q:
That's pretty frightening.
A:
(shrugs) Yeah. I guess.
Q:
You're back on active duty now?
A:
Yeah. Took some doin', though. Hutch had to bully me through all the physical
therapy crap. I can be kind of stubborn. (laughs) But he wouldn't give up, any
more than he gave up when he was huntin' Gunther. Not his style.
Q:
Are you nervous? About being back on the streets?
A:
No.
Q:
Why not? I would think
A:
I got Hutch at my back. Just like always.
Q:
But Hutch was with you when you were shot.
A:
And he hollered at me to get down. If I'd have done it, I wouldn't have got
shot. But I reached for my gun and I moved too slow. My fault. Not his.
Q:
Do you ever think of leaving police work? I understand you've been hurt several
times.
A:
Sure, we think about it. We even did it once. But, well, it's what we do. Maybe
it's even what we are. It ain't no
fun gettin' shot, I can tell you that. It's a risk we take, though. A
calculated risk.
Q:
Why do you say "we"? I asked if you
ever think of leaving the force.
A:
(pauses) Hutch and me are partners. As long as one of us is a cop, we're both
cops.
Det.
Kenneth Hutchinson:
Q:
Your partner said that you brought Gunther down without his help. Can you tell
me how you did it?
A:
I wouldn't say I did it without his help.
Q:
But he was in a coma, wasn't he?
A:
Yes.
Q:
Then how did he help you?
A:
We work together. Even if we're apart. We've had plenty of cases where one of
us tackled one thing and the other one tackled a different angle. But we were
still working together. This one was like that. Starsky inspired me to take
chances, play some hunches, try some things I might not have tried if I
hadn't....(stops)
Q:
If you hadn't what?
A:
(with difficulty) I believed he was dying. He was dying. I don't know how he
ever pulled out of this one. He was it was one hell of a close call. Did he
tell you he almost died? That his heart stopped?
Q:
Yes, he did.
A:
(looks down) That scared me. That really, really scared me.
Q:
And is that what kept you going after Gunther?
A:
(nods)
Q:
What if Starsky had died?
A:
(long pause) I don't know.
Q:
Would you have kept going after Gunther? Do you think you would have still been
successful?
A:
If I died in the effort.
Q:
Why?
A:
Why? Because I had to. Because I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if
I didn't. Starsky would have done the same thing. He wouldn't have stopped or
given up. I couldn't let him down. I had to do it.
Q:
Was it about vengeance? Or justice? Were you being a police officer or
A:
Both. Gunther hurt a lot of people. He personally gave the order to kill
Starsky, and me. And a lot of other people. He's a goddamn monster. Excuse my
language, but he is. He couldn't be left unpunished. But I'll admit it. What
drove me wasn't my duty as an officer. It was Starsky. It was what he did to
Starsky.
Q:
He said he loved you.
A:
(nods)
Q:
That doesn't surprise you?
A:
Nope. Should it?
Q:
Maybe not.
A:
He doesn't usually say it. (laughs) He hates what he calls "soapy
scenes." I remember once, when he was poisoned and he only had 24 hours
that was a close call, too, way too fuckin' close. Sorry. Time was running out
and he was getting weaker and weaker and he said (stops)
Q:
He said what?
A:
I don't know if he'd want me to repeat it. He made a dumb joke. But I knew what
he really meant. He was trying to say it then, that he loves me. We're
partners.
Q:
You both use that word a lot, but it doesn't sound the same as when other
police officers use it.
A:
There's a difference, I guess. Between partners who work together and partners
who think together.
Q:
Do you ever worry you'll cross the line?
A:
What line is that?
Q:
That in your zeal to protect each other, you'll neglect your duty? Go too far?
How did you avoid that with Gunther?
A:
Sure, I've thought about it. So has he. But that's another thing about us. One of
us always keeps the other one from going too far.
Q:
But with Gunther, Starsky wasn't there to keep you from going too far. He
couldn't talk to you or
A:
He was there.
Q:
But, I thought
A:
You're right that he wasn't there physically. But he was there, just the same.
Captain
Harold C. Dobey:
Q:
You've been accused of being too lenient with Starsky and Hutchinson, of
covering for them and letting them get away with things you wouldn't let other
officers get away with. Would you say that's true?
A:
I trust my men.
Q:
But do you let them get away with things you wouldn't condone in other
officers?
A:
I don't think so. They're unconventional. They have their own methods, but they
get results. They're my best team.
Q:
Unconventional how?
A:
If I have to send a team undercover, I'd rather send those two than any other
men I have. They risk a lot to solve the case. They're creative. They'll look
ridiculous or put themselves in danger to save someone else without a second
thought. (laughs) Don't tell them I said so, but they're the best cops I've
ever worked with, in a 30-year career.
Q:
What makes them so good?
A:
Each other.
Q:
Excuse me?
A:
It's the two of them together that makes them that good. They always showed a
lot of promise, even before they were partnered, but the fact is, neither one
would be as good alone or with another partner. They play off each other
somehow, inspire each other I don't understand it. But it works. And that's
what counts.
Starsky
and Hutchinson were originally interviewed separately. After speaking with
their captain, I decided I would learn more about them if I interviewed them
again, together. Transcript continues:
Q:
Your captain thinks quite highly of you two.
(Both
men look at each other and laugh.)
S:
Really.
Q:
Why does that make you laugh?
H:
I'm surprised he didn't roar at you to get out of his office as soon as you
mentioned our names.
Q:
Why?
H:
We, uh (glances at Starsky)
S:
We drive him nuts.
H:
(laughs)
Q:
He said you were good officers, his best.
H:
No shit?
S:
(pokes Hutchinson in the ribs) Don't cuss in front of a lady, pal.
H:
(flushes) Sorry.
S:
What my partner means is, we give our captain a lot of grief, but he's a good
guy and he's always been there for us when we needed him. We are a little
surprised that he'd admit he likes us, though. (grins)
H:
A little surprised?
S:
Okay, okay. Stunned. You like that better?
H:
Stunned is better. How about 'amazed'? 'Astonished'? 'Floored'?
S:
We get the picture, genius.
Q:
It sounds to me as if you actually have a warm relationship with Captain Dobey.
H:
We do. We're just kidding. Like my partner said, he's a good guy. A real good
guy. We just like to give him a hard time. Starsky gave him a toilet for
Christmas a few years ago. (laughs)
S:
Starsky gave him a toilet? Wait just
a damn minute. That was the whole division that gave him the toilet, Hutch.
Including you. And don't forget what you gave him for his last birthday.
H:
I don't see any reason to
S:
A subscription to some dieter's magazine. With a card that had a picture of
this huge woman on it. I mean, she
musta weighed 500 pounds. And it said
H:
Don't tell her what it said!
S:
(grins) It said, "For a whale of a good time "
H:
Starsky!
S:
(laughs)
Q:
How did the two of you become so close? Your captain said that was what made
you such effective officers, your closeness.
(They
glance at each other again)
H:
He's probably right.
S:
You kiddin', clown? It's my terrific detective work. I been carryin' your ass
for years.
H:
Don't cuss in front of a lady, dummy.
S:
I didn't cu
H:
Yes, you did. You said
S:
That's not cussin'.
H:
If that's not cussing, I'd like to know what is.
S:
Well, I could use your favorite word.
The one your mother would wash your mouth out with soap for usin' if you were
ever stupid enough to say it in front of her.
H:
I have never used that word in front of my mother.
S:
Good thing, too. Bet you ain't too big to spank.
Q:
Gentlemen?
H:
Sorry. You were saying?
Q:
I asked how you became so close.
S:
Life. Workin' together for seven years.
H:
Eight years.
S:
Seven. Won't be eight until this summer.
H:
(sighs) Okay, okay. Seven and a half. In that time, we've seen each other
through a lot of difficult times.
S:
Yeah.
Q:
Like what?
H:
(glances at Starsky)
S:
It's okay. You can tell her. It was in the papers anyway.
H:
The death of Starsky's fiancιe.
S:
Hutch almost dyin' from botulism.
H:
Starsky getting kidnapped by Simon Marcus' freaks.
S:
The time he rolled his car down a hill, thanks to a little help from that slime
Vic Humphries.
H:
Gillian.
S:
Bellamy.
H:
Jackson.
S:
When a guy's been there for you during times like that, you either hate him or
love him for it.
H:
Yeah.
S:
We trust each other. Lean on each other.
H:
We're not just a couple of guys who work together.
S:
(shakes head) No.
H:
It's more than that. (reaches out and puts a hand on Starsky's shoulder)
S:
We're partners.
H:
(nods)
The End
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