Week's End Recap

Where to start!!

This has been an exhausting week! It's been all or nothing, and the calls we've had have been some doozies. The days are kind of running together, but here are the high-lights:

One day they gave me a call of an accident with a pin-in. This usually means that the car is damaged so badly that they will have to use extraction equipment to get the person out of the car, and is therefore a high-priority call. I was only about a block away, and I got there very quickly. The driver was trapped, but only because he couldn't open the door because the other vehicle had hit him in the driver's door, and was still sitting there. As soon as I arrived, I slowed everyone down. But one of our officers, who was on the way to assist, apparently didn't hear. He was running blue-lights and sirens when a little old lady made a left turn in front of him. His car is totaled, and considering the shape of it, he is extremely lucky he only got a hairline fracture in his left hand. The little old lady wasn't hurt.

Had a nice Car-B-Q. 1996 Jaguar convertible with only about 50,000 miles on it. Up in flames. People never cease to amaze me with their stupidity. I couldn't park my patrol car far enough away while waiting for the Fire Department. They were out there with their camera-phones. I parked my car sideways across the 3-lane roadway to block it off while they put the fire out. I turned around and a lady had gone around my car. When I stopped her and told her to go back, she said she didn't know it wasn't okay to come through. Duh! Why do you think the black and white car was sitting sideways on the road with the pretty blue lights on?

We've had three stabbings in two days. Saturday night, I was dispatched to an assault with injuries. As I was looking for the apartment, I was approached by a kid who pointed out a guy crossing the parking lot. Said he was the perpetrator. When I told the guy to stop, he ran off. I gave a look-out to the other units responding, and one of the Morning Watch guys caught him up the road. Meanwhile, I found the victim with a lovely 3-4" cut on his face and several superficial cuts on his neck and arms. There was blood everywhere. I think if the maintenance man hadn't busted up the fight, we might have had a murder.

This is Johnny on the left, and Mike on the right, at my crime scene.

I took Aggravated Assault charges on the perp, and was back at the station logging my evidence before I went home, when Dispatch gave out an Armed Robbery attempt. When the victim didn't hand over his money fast enough, the perp cut him three times on the arm. They didn't find the perp on that one.

Last night, dispatch gave out another Assault with injuries. I was close by, so I went to back up the other units. They gave the apartment as B3. I got there first. I couldn't find building B, as A and B are not labelled. But in front of building D, there were several people milling about, and a vehicle pulled out of the parking lot. No one made any effort to flag me down. Apartment B3 turned out to be vacant, and the other units were getting ready to leave the scene. I suggested checking D3, but was vetoed. Wasn't my call, so it wasn't my decision. About that time, Jimmy found a guy hiding in the bushes at the entrance to the complex. He didn't speak English so he called for a translator. Turned out to be apartment D3, and when we entered the apartment, there was blood EVERYWHERE. Apparently, the perp hit the victim with a beer bottle and someone else took him to the hospital. I heard today that the victim is likely to lose an eye.

Let's see.... What else?

I pulled a car over last night. The guy stopped in the middle of the road! So I approached him, and got his driver's license, and pointed with my flashlight where I wanted him to get out of the roadway. The guy puts it in drive and starts up the road. And keeps going. Now, bear in mind that I've got my blue lights on, and it's dark so it's not like anyone couldn't see them. But this other vehicle CUTS ME OFF! And the driver I had stopped, who was in the right turn lane, goes straight. But I didn't see him 'cause there was a giant SUV in front of me. Anyway, the guy had pulled into the parking lot of the gas station, where I couldn't see him from where I was. But he was waiting for me. I was wishing there was a statute for "stupid." And what would have been a verbal warning became a citation.

While we were wrapping up the stabbing last night, they gave me a peeping tom. They believed the perp had a knife. I went screaming across town, but three other units beat me there, so I went to the back of the subdivision to set up a perimeter for the K9. The dog tracked the perp to a house two doors down from the victim. So we entered the house. The perp was hiding in a downstairs bathroom, refusing to open the door. We were able to see him from outside the house by looking in the window. When he realized he wasn't gonna go anywhere, he gave up and opened the door.

We thought we were gonna have a SWAT call-out one night. I was given an aggravated Domestic. Mike and the Sergeant beat me there, as well as another officer. When they arrived, the 20 year-old daughter ran up the stairs, slammed her bedroom door, and said she had a gun. When I arrived, the third officer was standing casually on the front porch. I thought I had missed them saying everything was okay, and then he said, "They've got a 20 year old female upstairs, they might need your help." I started up the stairs, saw the Sergeant with his gun out, and he held up a hand to make me stop. I then realized there was more to this than appeared. I was really quite peeved at the officer out front for not knowing what was going on, sending me into what could have been an ugly situation. The girl finally opened the door and everything was okay.

All since Thursday, and just the stuff on my shift! And that is just the high points. Like I said, it's been all or nothing. Either it's something piddly, and we ALL show up. Or, it's something big, and we all show up. Or we're all looking for something to do and doing area checks. I LIKE being busy, but not THIS kind of busy!