Knucklehead (08-08)

I tell you, it gets old when cops respond to a scene to meet with the reporting person and find out the information about the incident is being given by a third or fourth party.  Reason being is because the original reporting person didn’t want to be met by the police.  Also the reporting person told her RA (resident assistant) about the incident she was involved in and the RA told another RA so RA #1 can go to her boyfriend’s house.  Then when the second RA tells us what happen we hear that the reporting person doesn’t want to be met and that RA went to her boyfriend’s house.

People when you call the police to respond to a scene to check out a suspicious persons or vehicle please do not leave the scene.  Leaving the scene and giving your detail about the incident to a third party gets scrambled and lost in translation.  The incident I am refering to in this posting is a 10-75 (suspicious persons) who apparently followed a female student into one of the dorms on the north side of campus.  The female student stated that they didn’t know this person or don’t believe they ever met before.  Then she tried to loose him and apparently she lost him and was never seen again.  Two of us respond to the scene and find out the same information along with what I just wrote in the beginning of this post. 

That pissed us off to no end when we found out about that lack of information.  Furthermore, the female student stated to the RA that the suspect who was following her may still be in the building.  Well when we asked for the description of the suspicious person we had not one piece of clothing description or what he looked like.  I was then thinking if someone is following you and making you that uncomfortable when you call the police you are going to give a description of the person.  So now my partner and I are walking through the dorm building with no idea of who we are looking for.  We just walked through the building to allow our presence to be known, but of course no person was ever stopped. 

I was wondering is going to your boyfriend’s house more important than the safety of your fellow students?  Even if you are not on duty that night you are a RA and the students come to you before we are phoned.  What kind of precedence are you setting for other RA’s and students when you leave the scene like that without telling the place.  The same advice goes to other people who report incidents to the police.  Now, there are some incidents where all you have to do is call the police and your presence is not needed, but for a situation that involves a suspicious persons you need to be on scene.  Leaving the scene like that kind of resembles a hit and run accident with no note left for the victim. 

Just remember people we have to use our heads when calling the police, but if you don’t know whether you need to stay on scene or not ask the dispatcher and they can tell you.  I understand that for some reason you might not want to be scene with the police, but sometimes it is necessary.  So remember just leaving the scene like that is not smart.  Right now it is sleeting and will turn into snow later on this morning so I must go, but be safe out there people and stay warm.

A sweet Valentine’s Day Gift (08-07)

I look at this special day as a day for the woman to be treated a notch higher than how she is treated throughout the year.  This is a day that most men who love their significant other treat them to a dinner, bath, massages, and other treatments that they think their girlfriend or wives deserve.  If you want to be honest the woman deserves this type of treatment everyday of the year, but that’s an opinion for every man to have.  I’ve seen the same thing where a guy orders a teddy bear with a heart sown on and tied to it is a box of candy or some type of item in the shape of a heart.  I’m not saying that doing something like is not good or sweet, but sometimes you have to change it up.

This year I did something different that I know my wife didn’t expect for me too do.  Earlier that morning she was getting ready to go to work and was feeling kind of down about some things.  This was kind of dampening the mood she should have had because of this special day.  Once she left and I saw her off to her car I immediately got to thinking of how I can make this day special for her.  I then grabbed some pink copy paper and begin folding a few sheets at a time and cutting hearts out of them.  You know, doing the old elementary school project of folding the paper and cutting your object out starting with the folded side. 

I made about four hearts and wrote on one sheet of pink paper and placed in a sheet protector.  Once I placed it in the sheet protector I then stuck it under the pillow case so when she lays her head down she can hear the wringling of the paper.  The four hearts that I made I placed all over the apartment in special spots where she would see them, but at the same time can easily pass them.  I stuck the very first one behind the front door so only you can see it if you are looking at the door or getting ready to exit the apartment.  The second one I stuck on the refridgerator so she could see that plainly out in the open when she goes to get something to drink.  The third one I stuck in an unusual spot on the toilet bowl lid on the side facing down so when she lifts it up she can see it.  Then the last one I stuck in the shower stall opposite side of the shower head.

Before she came home I went to CVS and brought a special card for her and stuck it on her vehicle.  She said that she drove home crying and happy from the card she got, but I told her that she wasn’t done.  She began to look around the apartment for them, but spotted only one on the fridge.  That just sent her overboard into tears of happiness and joy and made the day very happy one instead of a dreary one of how it started.  She cried in the kitchen for about a few moments and told her you are still not done.  She walked by the one in the bathroom on the lid at least twice and even stayed in the bathroom.  She finally spotted the one on the front door and was happy. 

I gave her a hint for the one in the bathroom and told her that the other ones she may find when she goes to bed and when she showers in the morning.   While I was at work she texted me to tell me that she found the one hidden in the pillow case.  Then the next morning when I was on my way home she told me she found the one in the shower after she was done.   Those heart shaped notes made her day and made her smile from the frown she had that Valentine’s Day morning.  I told her that I love her and she repeated it back to me.  Of course, she got asked questions about her night with me, but of course she didn’t explain anything to her co-workers. 

You got to love your woman enough to let her know that you are willing to do whatever it is you need to do to make her happy.  My wife found out then if she didn’t know before that I love her and that I am one man that will do what I can for her.

Craziest Weekend- II (08-06)

My last blog I wrote I expressed and explained how my Saturday went and what we were dealing with.  Sunday on the other hand was somewhat a better exprience, but this one we are blessed that no one got hurt.  I left the hospital Saturday after dealing with a suspect on PCP at 0800hrs (am).  I came back to work that night at 2200hrs (10pm), but it was under the impression that I was coming in late because of the time I left that previous morning.  I didn’t know that it was expected of me to come in late that night, but I came in on my scheduled shift time and got to work.

The night pretty much went well besides having service calls all night long.  It wasn’t that busy, but I did have time to eat a meal from Taco Bell and complete my supplement report from the previous night at the hospital.  Come to find out that my narrative didn’t need to be written, but that decision to have my narrative erased was my squad sergeant’s choice.  I didn’t agree with it, but I do have a copy of the report so if it comes back in question later I have it.

So I was getting off work that Sunday morning at around 0745hrs., and heading up the road.  I crossed underneath a train track bridge and saw up ahead a white van at a corner.  I got closer and saw another drive stopped by to check or help on this vehicle.  As I got closer I noticed it was a white van that skidded out of control and landed into a traffic light pole, crashing through a guardrail and that parts of the van were scattered all of the parking lot of a building that was adjacent.  I attempted to released the driver from the vehicle and so did the good samaritan, but we were unable to do so.  A few moments later another fellow officer who was also leaving to go home came up on scene.  He is also a volunteer fire fighter and had the tools to break the glass so the driver could get out.  By this time our units and the county police arrived on scene to take care of the accident. 

When the driver got out of the vehicle we noticed that his shoes were off, he was in some type of maintenance uniform, and slurred speech as to say he was under the influence of alcohol.  I couldn’t really smell it on his breath, but just him talking to the police and getting all up in their face led me to that conclusion.  Not to mention he was driving the vehicle with no license except a international driving permit with no Jamaican driver’s license.  Things didn’t look good for this guy at all and I forgot to mention that the air bag, if there was one, didn’t deploy at all.  For all we know he could have suffered a head injury and that could have been why his speech was so slurred and his statements were no making sense.

He kept changing his mind back and forth of going to the hospital until finally the ambulance crew had enough and transported him to the hospital.  The accident was handled by the county police even though our agency could have taken the report as well.  I stayed until the driver was in the ambulance being transported to the hospital.  The driver did also hit the pole so hard that one of the traffic lights got turned facing downward toward the ground.  So it looked weird seeing one traffic light facing the traffic and the other one facing the ground, but both still worked. 

After that I got in my personal vehicle and left to come home to my wife and explain to her what happened.  All I could say to myself was that this weekend was a crazy one.  I can only imagine what kind of day it was when Barrack Obama comes to town.

Craziest Weekend of 2008 (08-05)

The weekend of February 11th was so far the craziest weekend I’ve had this year.  Wearing the badge and gun comes with sacrifices and ordeals that alot of police officers do not enjoy dealing with.  We deal with people on drugs, drunk drivers, drunk pedestrians, rowdy college students, and other issues that gets old real quick dealing with them on a daily basis.  Each officer has their own little niche that they have when patrolling each and every night and/or day.  Some are more agressive than others and other officers are much more able to communicate with citizens on a better level.  What happened this weekend, especially saturday, brings all kinds of police officers together to fight one common cause.  SURVIVAL!

On the early Saturday morning of February 10, 2008 at approximately 0152hrs (am) a lieutenant, of my agency, saw a vehicle at the intersection of Route 1 and Paint Branch Parkway sitting in a ditch up against a tree.  When the lieutenant called out the traffic accident I was way across on the other side of the city and knew by the time I got their more units would have already arrived.  I was on the side of the road watching traffic waiting to see if my arrival was necessary.  The rookies that were on the road responded to the accident scene and by hearing the number of officers that called out at the accident I knew it was sufficient units.

I continued to watch traffic shortly their after, but got bored sitting their and decided to drive around doing special checks in and around the city.  At about 0300hrs (am) I was called over the radio by my supervisor that our officers needed me to deliver them an Alcohol Blood Test Kit for the driver involved in the accident.  I went to our old police station and grabbed the kit and headed on up to the hospital to deliver the kit.  Once I arrived at the hospital I was being asked outside of the front doors by a released patient to give them a ride home.  Of course, I was unable to do so because I was there for another reason and also that where he or she wanted to go was to far for my supervisor to even grant such request. 

I finally was able to get into the hospital and meet a fellow officer in front the emergency room where the driver was being treated.  The officer was telling me that the guy has been fighting them and the nurses since he was put into the ambulance on the way there.  I also found out later that the driver had been vandalizing his own vehicle on the inside by tearing up the driver’s side head rest, dashboard, steering wheel, and other things immediately after he crashed.  I was taken back by that detailed account of the driver acting that way and the other officers knew when they arrived at that scene it was going to be one hell of an ordeal.  Once I gave the officer the test kit he handed over to one of the nurse’s as they were getting ready to take his blood.  Suddenly, the driver erupted in a violent rage by kicking out of soft leg shackles and trying to break through handcuffs.  I saw that and ran into the room to grab hold of his left leg, but it was like my strength and everything I had didn’t have any affect on controlling them.  It was one officer on each leg and our female rookie near his right arm and rib cage trying to hold him down and control him. 

At this time I pulled out my OC spray (pepper spray) and pointed at the patient and he started to calm down, but was still fighting.  One of the nurse’s stated that we were aggravating him and at that time I put my OC spray away.  Most of the nurse’s left the room and he started to act up again by kicking his legs and yelling “What the fuck is going on?!” repeatedly.  He wouldn’t stop and kept fighting so the female officer pulled out her OC spray and asked me to spray him and I told her give it to him good.  She sprayed him at least four times with the last time getting him right in the face.  Before that he yelled “Oh yeah!! I love this shit!”.

Once that last blast of pepper spray got him he finally started to comply and got back on his back.  Legs were shackled once again for the fourth time, but the handcuffs never came off of his wrists.  He complained about his face burning and his shoulder burning and requested some water, which one of the nurses did.  A nurse brought in a few face mask to cover our mouth and nose with so we could breath without inhaling the pepper spray in the air.  Everyone in the emergency ward was coughing and telling us it came out in the hallway and got everyone feeling the same way.  Then we found out later that morning that it was a big no no to deploy OC spray in the hospital so you don’t affect other patient’s have the spray in the ventilation system. 

It would appear I was the only one that could talk to the patient and keep him calm and at least from acting violently.  Of course, it didn’t mean much when my supervisor came to the hospital and yelled at him a few times to get him aggrevated once again.  He requested that we take off the handcuffs at least so he could sit up.  Of course, that request kept getting denied over and over again and he even pleaded with us that he would be good.  Then the results came back that the driver, who is now the patient, came back with positive results of PCP in the blood system. 

From 0300-0600 I dealt with him along with other officers who was there before I got there until a nurse gave him some type of medication that knocked him out cold.  She said it was only going to put him out for about two hours, but come to find out later on that night when I returned to work that it was projected that he wouldn’t wake up until 3 to 4 pm.  I left the hospital at 8am since I had personal things to take care of after my midnight shift.  Apparently the other officers left and decided to apply for a warrant later on and just allow the hospital to keep him until he comes off his high.  So I have no clue when he was released, but we may see him again and hopefully it will be a better meeting.