From the pilot:
Shawn: I was 18...
Lassiter: Oh, then that makes it okay!
Shawn: I borrowed a car...there were extinguating circumstances...the arresting officer was my father...he was trying to teach me a lesson.
Lassiter: Did you learn it?
Shawn: I learned I hated my father.
Shawn's leg wouldn't stop twitching.
He'd been sitting in the interrogation room forever. At least a half hour; an eternity in eighteen-year-old-boy time.
It might as well have been a million years.
Finally, the officer returned.
"So…Mr. Spencer," he asked gruffly, flipping through files and taking a seat at the end of the table.
"Do you make a habit of stealing cars?"
"Dad, come on. Drop the cop act. And are the cuffs really necessary? I'm your son."
Shawn held up his wrists, which were firmly cuffed.
"My son?" Henry arched his eyebrows. "No. No, you see my son is at his best friend's house tonight. At least, that's what my son told me. And my son wouldn't lie to me. I taught him better than that. I also taught him not to steal cars."
"Come on, Dad. What did you want me to do? Just not go to the dance?"
"I don't recall the California penal code having 'I wanted to make-out in the school parking lot' as a valid legal defense for Grand Theft Auto, Shawn."
"Grand Theft Auto?" Shawn repeated in disbelief, anger slowly beginning to boil just below the surface.
"Are you kidding me? I borrowed your car! I'm on the insurance!"
"Tell that to the officer who filled out the stolen vehicle report."
"That was you."
"Oh. Tough break. I'm told I'm a real hard-ass when it comes to teenage punks joyriding around town."
"Are you really doing this?" Shawn demanded, standing up, his ears red. "Are you really pushing this?"
"Your arraignment is on Monday."
"Fine. Then I want a lawyer."
"You'll get one. Monday morning."
"What do I do until then?"
"What do you think?"
"Post bail and go home?"
Henry shook his head slowly, enjoying the moment too much, which just pissed Shawn off even more.
"Sorry, kid. You can't post bail on a Friday night. Not this late. You'll have to spend the night in lock-up."
"Lock-up!"
Shawn kicked his chair across the room and glowered at his father.
Henry was completely unmoved.
He knocked gently on the two-way glass. A uniformed officer entered the room.
"I'll see you Monday, Shawn."
As the officer led Shawn out of the room, Shawn met his father's eyes steadily. He felt something he had never really felt before.
Not like this.
"I hate you." He growled.
And at that moment, he meant it.