Hot and Bothered
Investigator Kevin Rachlin has no cruiser. His Kojak light doesn't work. Yet he won't miss your purloined vehicle.
Cover Story
Investigator Kevin Rachlin has no cruiser. His Kojak light doesn't work. Yet he won't miss your purloined vehicle.
Photographs by Darrow Montgomery
[Investigator Kevin Rachlin declined to be photographed for this story.]
Mitsubishi Galant
H.L. knew he needed a good story. He had lost his car and needed help from the police in tracking it down.
H.L. must have spent at least an hour flipping his story around in his head. Stuck in Southeast, he wandered through the cold night thinking about it, just him and his story. He hacked it up, did a little editing, and finally settled on a single sentence, something you could pitch a film producer, fit on a scrap of paper, or tell a cop. And after he had rehearsed the line, he flagged down a pair of patrol officers at dawn to tell his story.
I was the victim of an unarmed carjacking.
By 6:30 a.m., H.L.'s story had passed from the two patrol officers to Investigator Kevin Rachlin, 43, who works out of the Metropolitan Police Department's 7th District. "Bring the complainant into the station," Rachlin told the officers. "I'll talk to him." Rachlin then clicked off his take-home radio. He wanted to hear H.L.'s story firsthand.
By 7:15 a.m., H.L. had a new story. He sat down in a plastic chair in the middle of a long table in the 7th District community room. He had a doughy face and wore a pair of bluejeans and a bright-red hooded sweat shirt. He had been out all night, so he got right down to it with those cops, recounting the events that had separated him from his car.... Continued 
Issue of Feb. 15 - 21, 2002
News and Features
- Hot and Bothered
Cover Story - Help Yourself
The City - Au Bon Panhandle
The City - Corner Fakery
The City - Boneheaded
The Mail - Separate and Unequal
The Mail - Would You, Could You, in the Dark?
The Mail
Columns
- Here Come the Pugs
Cheap Seats - Store Front
City Desk - Bogus ID
City Desk - Code Green
Loose Lips
Eats
Movies
- Hudson Hawk Down
Film Review - Twilight Zones
Film Review - Super Troopers
Film Review - John Q.
Film Review - Rollerball
Film Review
Music
- The Real Taste of Heartache
Music Review - Playing for the Weekend
Acts Locally
Theater
- La Verdad Sospechosa
Theater Review - Home of the Brave
Theater Review - Harlem Rose: A Love Song to Langston Hughes
Theater Review
Arts and Events
- Ground Effects
Art Review - A Matter of Records
Arts - A Place in the Son
Artifacts - Sax Fiends
Artifacts
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- Adrienne Mayor
City Lights - The New Pornographers, the Frames, Matt Pond PA
City Lights - Jonathan Richman
City Lights - Randall Kennedy
City Lights - The Wild West: 1986-2002
City Lights - Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
City Lights - The Hobbit
City Lights - Feel the Heritage
City Lights - Taboo
City Lights - Barcelona
City Lights - Robert Cataliotti
City Lights - Loopholes
City Lights - Do You Know Washington, D.C.?
City Lights - ICONS!
City Lights
Find an Event
Enter a keyword, select the type of event, and the particular day this week below.
Submit your event to the City Paper's Event Calendar.
Find a Restaurant
Enter a restaurant name, or select a cuisine and neighborhood below.
Find a Movie
Select a movie theater in the box below to see a list of all movies at that theater.
...Or view a full list of theaters, films, and showtimes.
Search Classified Ads
Post a Classified Ad
Search inventory on the City Paper's CarTango website:
This Week in
City Paper History
- Angels Without Wings
Oct. 2 - 8, 1998 - Fare Elections
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003 - Kicking and Screaming
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003
