this is all you get to see of O1..the side of his badge *Policemen, and I say policemen because I have no contact with policewomen, talk. They talk and talk and talk and talk. They talk to the bad guys, they talk to the good guys, they comfort, cajole, convince, and shout. They also gossip, and chat and chatter. I once again refer to this post. It was very odd, for me, a woman with daughters, who works almost exclusively with women, is friends with mainly women, to spend the evening with so many men. Odd and amusing. As with ethnicity and race, men and women are completely alike. Sometimes we just choose to allow our differences to come between us.
*Our last call wasn't a call at all. We were heading back to the police station. As we turned the corner, O1 said, “Man, that guy is messed up!” Naturally, I was still thinking traffic stops and couldn't’t figure out what the little red car was doing wrong. (because the person was a minor, a victim not a bad guy, I am going to mix up the gender. Some of this may sound awkward because of that it’s the only way I can figure to keep some modicum of privacy.) We rounded the corner, pulled up on the curb of the underpass and he shined the light on the girl. “Oh %^#*%! ” was all O1 said. The girl was beat up. His face was a bit bloody, eye swollen and he had a generally beat up face. She was talking of the phone. O1 spoke to an out of town parent on the other end of the phone for a minute before the battery died. The child was upset, beat up and very, very drunk. He kept stumbling downward towards O1. O1 would calmly push him back to the pillar and tell him to lean against the pillar. After a lot of negotiating and getting the child to sit on the ground, O1 called for an ambulance. O1 walked away to talk on the radio to whomever he needed to talk to and the girl slumped to the ground. She had passed out. That is when the ambulance pulled up. EMS started talking to him, wiggling his foot and wanting to help but he started to get agitated. O1 had to go to his car about the same time that EMS arrived. Suddenly, the EMT is yelling, “Officer, Officer!” and pointing to the child who decided to get away and was standing in the middle of the turnaround lane. O1 and the EMT got to him, and O1 put his hand on the boy’s arm to get him out of the street. This only agitated him further so O1 put his arm around him to help move him. Wrong! This really upset the child and O1 had to link into the kids’ arms and force her to walk on back on the sidewalk. She would not stop trying to get away. The next thing I knew, the child was on the ground and O1 had his knee in her back holding her down, calling for backup. I was amazed at how quickly things deteriorated. I was also amazed at the agility of O1 to put the child to the ground without slamming, dropping or hurting him. Well, remember the whole respond as a team thing from the last post? Well before you could say tiddlywinks, there were more two more sets flashing lights joining the fray! Another Lieutenant this time. They finally got the child on a stretcher, restrained but things continued to deteriorate. She decided to spit on the EMT. Not once, but twice. Bad move. Out came the spit mask. All the while she was struggling and acting up, O1 was trying to tell her to calm down, she was the victim not the criminal. It didn't help. The Lieutenant told O1 that he had to accompany the boy to the ER and find someone to release him to. The child’s phone was dead, he didn’t would’t tell of anyone here……it was a conundrum! Off we go to the trauma hospital. All cities have one. It’s the one where they take the gunshots, stabbings, etc. O1 showed me all the hot spots Friday night because I had never been there before either. I was dying to use the restroom but if you think I was going to lose sight of him in the ER of that hospital, you’re nuts! I followed like a puppy! This poor kid was all kind of upset, struggling, spitting and just making a ruckus! I was right there in the hallway! O1 kept trying to calm him. At one point another officer came out of the room and attempted to clear the hallway. “YOU! Are you with them!? He was pointing at me and another patient. NO, I’M WITH HIM!!! Thank goodness!!! I just tried to stay out of the way. Luckily the out of town dad called the in town mom and she was at the hospital. Problem solved. We went out to talk to her and again I got “WHO”S SHE?” (All night long people were wondering who I was and why I was standing there.) Whew. Time to go home. O1 just looked at me and smiled as we walked out to the car. First he asked if I had fun, then he asked if I wanted to wait around for the gunshot wounds on their way to the hospital. I declined! What a way to end the night! So ya see, when he flashed the lights and sirens (see the last post), I told him that was just gravy!
The thing that impressed me the most about the entire evening was the proactive approach O1 had. He was the kind of officer I would like to help me if, g-d forbid, I should ever need it. We were together for nearly 12 straight hours and the time just flew by! Sometimes I get bored with myself after so long!!!! He made a fatal, fatal mistake though…. He said that I could go out with him again……….
*Our last call wasn't a call at all. We were heading back to the police station. As we turned the corner, O1 said, “Man, that guy is messed up!” Naturally, I was still thinking traffic stops and couldn't’t figure out what the little red car was doing wrong. (because the person was a minor, a victim not a bad guy, I am going to mix up the gender. Some of this may sound awkward because of that it’s the only way I can figure to keep some modicum of privacy.) We rounded the corner, pulled up on the curb of the underpass and he shined the light on the girl. “Oh %^#*%! ” was all O1 said. The girl was beat up. His face was a bit bloody, eye swollen and he had a generally beat up face. She was talking of the phone. O1 spoke to an out of town parent on the other end of the phone for a minute before the battery died. The child was upset, beat up and very, very drunk. He kept stumbling downward towards O1. O1 would calmly push him back to the pillar and tell him to lean against the pillar. After a lot of negotiating and getting the child to sit on the ground, O1 called for an ambulance. O1 walked away to talk on the radio to whomever he needed to talk to and the girl slumped to the ground. She had passed out. That is when the ambulance pulled up. EMS started talking to him, wiggling his foot and wanting to help but he started to get agitated. O1 had to go to his car about the same time that EMS arrived. Suddenly, the EMT is yelling, “Officer, Officer!” and pointing to the child who decided to get away and was standing in the middle of the turnaround lane. O1 and the EMT got to him, and O1 put his hand on the boy’s arm to get him out of the street. This only agitated him further so O1 put his arm around him to help move him. Wrong! This really upset the child and O1 had to link into the kids’ arms and force her to walk on back on the sidewalk. She would not stop trying to get away. The next thing I knew, the child was on the ground and O1 had his knee in her back holding her down, calling for backup. I was amazed at how quickly things deteriorated. I was also amazed at the agility of O1 to put the child to the ground without slamming, dropping or hurting him. Well, remember the whole respond as a team thing from the last post? Well before you could say tiddlywinks, there were more two more sets flashing lights joining the fray! Another Lieutenant this time. They finally got the child on a stretcher, restrained but things continued to deteriorate. She decided to spit on the EMT. Not once, but twice. Bad move. Out came the spit mask. All the while she was struggling and acting up, O1 was trying to tell her to calm down, she was the victim not the criminal. It didn't help. The Lieutenant told O1 that he had to accompany the boy to the ER and find someone to release him to. The child’s phone was dead, he didn’t would’t tell of anyone here……it was a conundrum! Off we go to the trauma hospital. All cities have one. It’s the one where they take the gunshots, stabbings, etc. O1 showed me all the hot spots Friday night because I had never been there before either. I was dying to use the restroom but if you think I was going to lose sight of him in the ER of that hospital, you’re nuts! I followed like a puppy! This poor kid was all kind of upset, struggling, spitting and just making a ruckus! I was right there in the hallway! O1 kept trying to calm him. At one point another officer came out of the room and attempted to clear the hallway. “YOU! Are you with them!? He was pointing at me and another patient. NO, I’M WITH HIM!!! Thank goodness!!! I just tried to stay out of the way. Luckily the out of town dad called the in town mom and she was at the hospital. Problem solved. We went out to talk to her and again I got “WHO”S SHE?” (All night long people were wondering who I was and why I was standing there.) Whew. Time to go home. O1 just looked at me and smiled as we walked out to the car. First he asked if I had fun, then he asked if I wanted to wait around for the gunshot wounds on their way to the hospital. I declined! What a way to end the night! So ya see, when he flashed the lights and sirens (see the last post), I told him that was just gravy!
The thing that impressed me the most about the entire evening was the proactive approach O1 had. He was the kind of officer I would like to help me if, g-d forbid, I should ever need it. We were together for nearly 12 straight hours and the time just flew by! Sometimes I get bored with myself after so long!!!! He made a fatal, fatal mistake though…. He said that I could go out with him again……….
2 comments:
Thank you for the very interesting several days of posts! I'm going to check earlier to see how you actually got to DO this!
This was very interesting. I love it when I can vicariously enjoy things like this, because, you see, I'm too chicken! Yay for Morah, the bravest quilting blogger!
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