The cops were ruthless once the demonstration got out of hand. A bunch of them rushed in and started arresting everyone who was attacking the car. Teresa managed to pound the windshield so hard that it actually heaved and suffered a slight crack on the passenger side. She was grabbed by a uniformed woman officer and handcuffed immediately.

‘Get the fuck out of here,’ the policeman yelled at me – and enough cops were on the scene to somehow allow me to move forward and make a getaway. As soon as we were a short distance from the protesters another officer stopped me and insisted on seeing my license and registration, then demanded to know why I had been stupid enough to wade into this chaos.

‘He was driving us to the clinic,’ Elise said from the back.

‘He can’t speak for himself?’ the officer demanded. ‘I want ID from all of you now.’

‘You can have my ID,’ Elise said, her voice hard. ‘You can have this gentleman’s ID. But you cannot and will not have the ID of the woman I’m supporting.’

‘You’re talking to the LAPD, lady. Who the hell are you to make the rules?’

‘And who the hell are you to break the law, Officer? You have no right to ask this woman for her ID when she is exercising her legal right to go to a clinic and have her pregnancy terminated.’

‘You telling me my fucking job?’

‘Yes, Officer, I am doing exactly that: telling you your fucking job.’

‘Out of the car now,’ the cop yelled at Elise. ‘You’re under arrest for insulting an officer. And you too, fat guy.’

We both got out of the car.

‘Hands up, both of you.’

Mine shot straight up in the air. But Elise was using her iPhone to scan the cop’s badge.

‘Hand that phone over right now,’ he ordered.

‘You’ll have to take it from me,’ she said, clicking on video mode and holding it now above her head and training it on him. His hand went to the holstered taser on his hip.

‘I’m counting to three and –’

‘What?’ she yelled. ‘You’re going to pull a Rodney King on an old lady?’

At that moment an unmarked car with a siren and a flashing light pulled up by us. A man and woman – both in suits – jumped out.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ the woman roared at the cop.

‘They were resisting arrest.’

‘And I’ve got it all on video,’ Elise said.

‘Put your hands down,’ the male detective said to us.

I saw Elise do some fast clicking on the phone and then she held up the screen for the two detectives to see.

‘If I can explain –’ the officer said.