Father-Son Reunion Conversation

Um, excuse me.

Yeah.

Are you, uh, Officer Rios?

Yeah. What can I do for you?

Is this...

Could you just tell me if this is a photo of you?

Do you recognize this photo?

Where'd you get this?

Um, just before we get into that, maybe you could just

tell me if that's you in the photo or not.

Yeah. Yeah, that's my son.

You're... That, that's-

See my hair sticking up?

That's you and your son?

That's my son, man. I haven't... Oh, my God, where'd you get this picture?

This is great. Oh, my God.

W-

It's been so long. I haven't seen him in so long.

Why haven't you seen him?

His mom took him.

What?

His, his, his mom took-

His mom took him, yeah. His mom took him away from me 'cause I

was working too

much. Said I wasn't part of the f-- I wasn't being a part of the family,

I wasn't

contributing to the family, and she just took him, you know.

And, and, uh,

you know.

Well-

I tried fighting, but, you know, as you can see how young I was.

Yeah, I was in my early career, so I, I couldn't, I couldn't do anything.

I just-

But-

And then she never called me. Never got in touch.

I've never seen-

Look, I, I-

I've never seen my son since. He's, like, nine here

... I'm, I'm actually representing...

I'm representing this man, and, and he, he told me that, uh,

a very different story, so are you sure you've got your facts

straight there?

Who the hell you think you're talking to?

Look, I-

You're asking me if my story's straight?

Yeah.

I'm telling you something. I'm telling you something that's straight.

So why would you question me? I don't get it.

Well-

And who are you to question me?

Here, I got this.

Like, this is my son. Like, I haven't seen my son, like, 20 years.

Okay. Well, you know what? This isn't-

And my wi- my wife took my son away and left me, right?

That's not what she told me.

What'd she tell you?

That's not, that's-

Who are you?

Look, look at me, man.

Who are you being aggressive with me?

Look at me. No. I've been looking for you

for my entire adult life, all right?

You're saying this is you?

Look at me.

Uh, everything okay here?

Yeah, put this here. Listen, listen.

Yeah, you know what?

He's trying to say he's my son. How many, how many ti- how many years have I come

in here telling you about my kid? Look,

he, this guy gives me the picture and says it's my son.

That does-

That's me.

Does it look like him?

That, that, that looks like you.

That's me for sure. Does, do you think that looks like him?

Yeah.

Kind of.

How old are you?

I'll let you guys be, but, uh-

I'm about to be 30, man, and that's sort of-

You're 30?

Yeah, and look, I, I came out here to finally... I, I...

It's been so long. I feel like you've been a missing part of

my life, and I

just... Mom told me you were terrible to her.

She said that you were constantly-

No.

She said you were always choosing everything but the family over her.

Or, uh, uh, you know, you never choosing her over work.

Can I explain something to you?

I loved your mother.

No, man.

Your mother loved me.

She said, she said you, you, you couldn't stand her.

She said that you hated being a father, and that's why she took me and moved us

across the country.

I don't know where you're getting your information from, but I never said that.

I, I... You know, it was, I was working too much.

Your mother was going through postpartum after having you, and there's a lot of

stuff she was going through, being home alone, and you know, I

was working.

So no, I love your mother, man. It's... I still love your mother.

I know what she's done to me. I'm-

Why did, why didn't you ever come try to find me,

man?

If this is you,

this is crazy, man.

I-

Are you kidding me?

Look, I, I'm not... Look, I...

No matter what your mother did, man, I still love your mother.

I mean, look, I'm just trying to make a living

and support my family and, you know,

I've been still sending her money. You know that, right?

This was almost 20 years ago, and you never thought to try to reach out

and

find me?

You don't think I reached out to try to find you?

You don't think I have resources?

Are you saying she stopped you?

Don't you think I have resources? Yeah. She put a court order in, she, you know.

A court-

A, a restraining order against me

... No, I don't believe it. I'm gonna have to call, uh-

You could call who you want, but I'm telling you, like, look-

Look, I-

Look, I don't care. Look, if you're my son, this doesn't matter.

It's past tense.

It's past tense. You understand? If you're my son, I wanna get to know you.

I wanna know what you're about, what your family's like.

Do you have any siblings?

I mean, it's been 20 years.

I don't know. I'm-

You were 10 years old here

... I'm, I'm the only sibling I know of-

Michael, right?

... unless you... Yeah.

Thank God. Should've changed your freaking name.

Well, I'm,

I...

Can I just-

God, I can't believe this happening

... You know what? I, I, I ju- just had a very different idea

when I walked in

here, and I, maybe I just need-

What?

... maybe I need to call her, and maybe I need to talk to you and get-

Listen, why don't we do this

... your side of the story.

Why don't we do this? Why don't we do this?

Is your mother married or anything?

No.

All right.

No.

So why don't I just, why don't I just call your mother?

Well, you think she'd even wanna talk to you?

Why don't you reach out to her first? Tell her I wanna take you both out to

dinner.

I just wanna spend some time with you guys, catch up with you guys.

I'm trying to leave the past behind and move forward in our lives.

I mean, time's ticking, and time is everything. It's the best we can give.

Um, yeah, I'd love-

Yeah? And I really wanna get to know you. Good-looking kid.

Wonder where you get that from.

Oh, man, you're funny too.

I, uh, all- all right, you know what?

I'm, I'm gonna call mom and, uh-

Listen. No, no, please, please

... I'll, I'll give you my number. Here, let me get-