“Each person has their own individual story,” Swalwell later explained. “You realize they are a person too. Mike has taught me a lot. This is the first chapter. I plan to get a resource to help him get disability service.”
Source:
East Bay Times
Alameda County Deputy Jacob Swalwell saw a homeless man called Michael Myers at the same intersection for days on end and told him he needed to move along as he was breaking several infractions. After multiple incidents, however, he decided to write him a ticket, only to find that Myers had no form of ID and not sort of identification through the DMV system. Rather than punishing him further, he and the rest of the police force decided they needed to help.
This turned out to be more difficult than they predicted. It turned out that the man had gone without ID for so long he had been basically purged of the system which meant that they would need to basically start from scratch to get him some ID.
They first needed to get a signed letter from two sources as he did not have an address for residency and the DMV will normally refuse to give out an ID without an official address on file. Fortunately, they were able to get one from the sheriff’s office, as well as the Valley Bible Church in Pleasanton.
Next, and more importantly, they sourced his birth certificate, which was where he learned something new about himself- his first name was actually Gordon, not Michael. He also learned that born at Highland Hospital in Oakland, and that his biological mother was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He himself was adopted as a young child.
Myers was a truck driver in the seventies before an accident left him unable to work.
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By Kristi Shinfuku
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Kristi Shinfuku is a contributor at SBLY Media.