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.