But things quickly got worse. The families called for an attorney and made their first counter offer. They wanted $6,500 in cash. The American Consulate thought that number exorbitant, but I found it impossible. It was now dark and there was no way I could get that amount of cash money, even by wire transfers which had a limit of $1,500 and must be from a debit card. I could not be released from custody until the families signed off on the lost wages settlement. Boe volunteered to go outside with the car rental representative, the port authority, and a translator to negotiate. If we could not reach an agreement within thirty minutes I would be transferred from the tourist police to the Mexican state police. The families would not budge off their number. What the families did not seem to know, because their attorney was keeping the information from them, was that if I went to Mexican jail, there would be a hearing before a judge in a few days, the car rental company would post my bond at the hearing, and I would be free to leave the country ... without paying them a cent. However, my intention was to be fair and to do what was customary, but I frankly could not afford $6,500 cash and my counsel thought the sum exorbitant compared to other situations. On top of all the additional fines, fees and bribes that were required to get me out of jail, we were in a severe cash crises. Boe informed both families that we could not get the $6,500 in cash, but we would do what we could to pay for three to four weeks of work missed. By that time we had been told the two victims would fully recover, for which we were very grateful.
THE MEXICAN POLICE
But at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday night, March 15, three hours after our ship left the dock, the Mexican police walked into the tourist police station and the entire mood changed. I had been told before that the one country in which you did not want to have an injury accident while driving a vehicle was Mexico. I was about to learn why. The set time for the tourist police to settle the incident had ended. Now it went to the regular police. I was ordered to remove my wedding ring, my hat, my watch, my billfold, and any other valuables to my son. A very big young man was brought out of a holding room in handcuffs and the police removed one of his handcuffs and ordered me to place my wrist in it. Handcuffed to this behemoth of a man, I was ordered to walk out of the police station into a waiting transport car where I would be taken to the Mexican jail where I would be held for three days until my preliminary hearing before a Mexican judge. The rental car insurance company would represent me. I was not allowed to say anything and over the very loud verbal protests of my son Boe, I was escorted out. I later learned the Port Authority officers were arguing in Spanish that I was not a criminal and the treatment I was receiving was out of line.
I was stunned. All I could think about was my wife´s warnings not to rent a car in Mexico, warnings unheeded, but very productive because they became the incentive for me to by the premium insurance. Without that insurance, I would have been responsible for all medical and vehicle bills in addition to the cash the Mexican authorities were already demanding. American insurance is not accepted in Mexico, only cash. If you are without Mexican car insurance and have an accident you must pay cash and settle up with your insurance company later. I had the best possible Mexican insurance, but I had not been informed that in an injury accident, no insurance in Mexico will pay "lost wages," and you can´t get out of jail until the injured victim´s family agrees to a settlement on lost wages and the officials are satisfied with the payments to them.
I have never been handcuffed before. I have never been to jail. I had seen enough television shows about Mexican prisons, like Prison Break and others, to know that Mexico is notorious for its horrible jail system. When we arrived at the jail, the young man and I were escorted to a jail cell where no amount of words would be adequate to describe the scene. It was worse than I ever could have imagined. One concrete bed for two men, one concrete toilet in the center, ants and spiders crawling over the walls, feces and urine staining the floor and bed, no lights and only a small window that let an outside street lamp light shine through. I was not offered a pillow or a blanket, nor was I given any water. I would not eat or drink for the next 24 hours. In short, I moved from cruise luxury to prison hell in six hours. My son would later tell me that the image of me being handcuffed to this imposing Mexican man and led away to an unknown place was indelibly burned into his mind. I know the last thing I heard entering the car were Boe´s loud protests to the police.
After a few minutes orienting myself, I couldn´t help but thank God that my family lives in America. If there is an accident in our country, insurance verification is exchanged, and people move on, with cash settlements coming weeks later. I felt like a murderer, had no clue where my son was, and knew my family on the cruise ship would be worried sick about me. I breathed a silent prayer and asked God to turn the situation I was in into a Paul and Silas moment, later finding out this is exactly the prayer being prayed by my own family at home in the states and on the ship. I then turned my attention to my cell mate. I struck up a conversation with him and learned a few facts.
His name is Alan H______. I will not disclose the details of his alleged crime for his own safety. He is from Mexico and works as a personal trainer. The day he and I sat in the cell was his 26th birthday. He could speak English fairly well and he asked me what I did. I told him I was a pastor. He asked, "Christian?" and I said yes. He said that his mother was a Christian, but he was not. When I asked him details of his alleged crime, he was very honest and transparent. I felt the opportunity had arisen for me to explain to Alan the gospel, and for the next couple of hours I shared with him the good news of Jesus Christ. It would be difficult even in this long narrative for me to articulate all that was said, but it is sufficient for you to know that before Alan´s 26th birthday had ended, he had been born again. The unbelievable sensation of kneeling in that filthy, insect infested jail cell in Cozumel beside this huge man that I had been handcuffed to only hours before as he prayed to receive Christ into his life is beyond description. I am not much of a singer, but after tears of joy were streaming down this young man´s face as he realized for the first time that God loved sinners like him enough to give him His Son to pay for the penalty of his sins, and that the blessings of God are all his through Christ, I felt led to sing Amazing Grace. Either the reverberation of the walls or the empowerment of the Spirit caused the song to be sung with a beauty that was outside of me. It was a moment I shall never forget, nor will Alan. He was saved from hell in a jail cell at Cozumel.
Alan´s crime story is all over the newspapers, radio and television in Cozumel. Reporters came to interview Alan in the jail cell and snapped a few pictures with me sitting behind him on the one concrete bed. I don´t understand Spanish but Alan later told me that he told the reporters that he now knows why he is in jail. The allegations against him are devastating to him and his family, but God intended for him to be in jail in order to be saved. He said that 26 years ago he was born to his mother, but he told the reporters that yesterday he was born again by God. God had sent him an angel to tell him the good news of how his life could be transformed. I figured if it took me feeling like a lowly criminal for Alan to consider me a heavenly angel, it was worth it. Before Alan was transferred to another jail late in the afternoon, we knelt and prayed for his future. A life long friendship has been formed. Boe had the privilege of meeting Alan with the Consulate representative before Alan was released from jail and he marveled that the man that caused him to fear for his father was probably the very reason why the Lord had me sent to jail. God works in mysterious ways.
