Posted: 7/12/2006 12:21:59 AM EDT
|
Last night I was working in the ER. I had a lady in her mid 30's brought in by ambulance. The report I got from the EMTs was that she had been in an argument with her husband, got all worked up, and passed out, so the husband called 911. Sounded shady to me, but whatever. So I go in the room to see this lady, and the bed is empty. Weird. Turns out she is on the far side of the bed, cowering under the bedside table, shaking like a leaf. Weird. I instantly go get the doc to check her out right away. Luckily, its a female doc. We get the patient back in bed, give her some ativan, get her calmed down. Turns out the husband body slammed her to the garage floor right in front of the kids. By the way, this chick is 5'2", about 105, and totally hot. But, I digress. She apparently failed to tell the cop at the scene this because the husband and kids were standing right there. So, I call local PD. They agree to have the cop who took the report at the scene come to the hospital. This cop finally shows up, and seems pretty cool. Before he went in to see this girl, he stops and asks me how to treat his kids' swimmers ear. He goes in to see the girl. At this point I have other shit to do, so from here on the story is basically hearsay, although most of it I have straight from the ER doc. So anyway, the cop listens to this girls story, has her injuries photographed (BTW, her injuries were totally consistent with being slammed to the ground), and makes a few phone calls. He makes contact with the husband (at the house), and announces that he is off to arrest the husband. Fast forward like 3 hours later. I am ready to discharge this girl home. She calls home to check on the kids, and the guy is still there. The cop did nothing. Didn't even go to the house. This girl was discharged; where was she supposed to go? Her kids are at home with the abusive husband. She ended up calling a friend and staying somewhere else for the night. So she is camped out with a friend, the wife beater has the kids. WTF? Ordinarily I am a huge fan of cops. I deal with them all of the time. But this guy totally let the victim down. If there are any logical flaws in my thinking let me know. I would love to find some way not to feel like shit for this poor girl. ETA: edited for spelling |
I love cops too, in fact i want to become one very soon. But this guys actions are not excusable in any way and he is held to a higher moral standard than the rest of us due to his position of authority in these matters. If you had the moral character to see the problem and he didnt, or did see it but didnt act on it, then he thoroughly deserves to be punished. You owe it to yourself, to the wife, to the kids, and to society and the justice system in general to call the police department and file an official complaint against this officer for negligence. If that woman was killed in the morning than it would be that officers fault for doing nothing and YOUR fault (strictly morally speaking) for not pressing the issue. Theres too many scum bag abusive husbands around who dont appreciate what theyve got and by not being held accountable for his actions toinght, youve only furhter reinforced the belief he already has that he can get away with beating the mother of his children. |
Why don't you call and ask him, rather than jump to conclusions? You heard one side of the story. Maybe she was chasing him with a big kitchen knife when she got slammed down? Maybe the kids corroborated the story. I've heard too many "I'm the victim" stories from those who start things. But, hey, the "hot chick" got your attention, right? It was important enough to tell us she was hot, right? I mean, wasn't your priority your job, not determining whether she was hot or not? Just like the cop asking about swimmer's ear?
|
|
I was just showing you there's always two ways to look at things. Don't take it personal. The rest of us cops don't like when you make sweeping generalization thread titles when it's one officer's behavior that caused your feelings. Doesn't feel so good getting targeted, does it? 
|
Good post! |
+1 |
|
i hate puppies. i will kick a dog square in the ribs if i cant drive it off my property. i dont talk to my parents because i hate them. i say the c word every day. i am not a nice man. i can not think of ANYTHING that would EVER make me strike a woman. i doubt i could even have the hardness of heart to upset her in front of her children. how, how, how in the HELL can a man do such a thing as described in this story? its like saying he sprouted wings and flew away. when i think of myself doing such a thing it seems absolutely impossible. |
|
|
Generally when things don't make sense it is because you don't have enough information. Before jumping to conclusions you should try to find out what happened. In my department we have detectives that handle domestic violence cases. Maybe this officer called his supervisor, who then told him "look, we have calls for service backing up because you have been at the hospital so long. Call the bureau and have a DV detective take over the case so you can get back on the street." Not saying that is what happened, but it is a reasonable example of what could have happened, based on my experience in such matters. |
This is not possible. As everyone knows, the minute the front wheels of the cruiser hit the parking lot at DD, time as we know it stops moving and remains that way until the wheels leave the parking lot. It's kind of a Quantum Leap thing.
|
|
In cases like this I would think the cop would get a warrant before making the arrest. Not necessary in all cases, but depending on the particulars it may be. If the cop was unable to find the guy right away, as was mentioned, then the next step would be to get the warrant. We also don't know what else was happening in the meantime. It's entirely possible that something more pressing came up somewhere that required the officers attention. I have had that happen myself - you're on the way to the station to do your paperwork so you can arrest the guy and you get a call for something else - maybe an accident, maybe a fight, maybe another domestic. As there's only 4-6 guys working at any one time in my department, sometimes we get stretched pretty thin. By the time you're done with that second call who knows how much time might have passed - or how many other priority calls could have come up. I highly doubt they would have completely blown off the call - especially for a serious (possibly felony) domestic assault. I would be very curious to hear the cops side of this. -K |
|
Well first off lets all get the complete story! Why is it always "DAMN COPS" how about "stupid woman who put herself in that position in the first place", body slamming husbands/men don't just wake up one day and say to themselves I'm gonna body slam a woman today! lol there are clues along the way that any person could pick up on! If kids were involved she should have remover herself and them along time before the cops were called. It is common practice of LEO's to separate victim and suspect while questioning but that doesn't mean that that will make the victim tell the complete or truthful story at that time. It sometimes takes a health care professional or another friend to come into the picture before the truth will come out and most of the time it won't be at the scene of the crime and even then most of the victims won't agree later to prosecute their assaulter. In America we cannot just kick in doors an take people w/o a warrant and even then it doesn't really work that way but then again you tools wouldn't know that cause you've never been exposed to that side of life or to being a cop or you wouldn't even think of saying those types of things. more than likely the cop went or sent someone to go to the house and talk to the suspect and the suspect wouldn't come to the door(acted as if he wasn't home) duh, any common criminal knows that you never come to the door if you're gonna go to jail. As for every one who is stating file a formal complaint and he's not doing his job, what the fuck do ya'll know about being a cop or the actual laws for that matter! It is people like you who complain about LEO's and then wonder why crime is getting worse and why you aren't as safe as you were when you were a kid. There is nothing like working your ass off as a LEO and the have some citizen who thinks that "the customer is always right" file a complaint on you cause some hot chick got body slammed by her man and you feel bad for her and then w/o any facts think that you are Perry fucking Mason and start filing complaints about the way you heard it may have happened from a coworker, WTF????? OK lets look at it like this this hot chick w/ kids is hanging around or married to a dick head. This dickhead body slams her for some unknown reason and the "DAMN COPS" show up. 1. She didn't tell the cops what really happened so the cops could have affected an arrest on the dickhead. 2. She left her kids with a dickhead that had just body slammed her (WTF). 3. If she would leave her kids w/ dickhead she is a bad parent and most def. knows dickhead well enough to know his habits of violence. 4. Why didn't she remove her kids from this episode and why is she hanging around or married to dickhead in the first place with her kids and her being in harms way? This for the tool that started this stupid thread, do you like when clients come up to you and start telling you what you need to do and how you should be preforming you job to help people? How about if a cop came in and started telling you how to do your job or told your boss the you were not doing it correctly or even doing it at all and you were refusing to do all that you could to help save lives and that you were more occupied with "if the client is a "hot chick" or not" MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL THE FACTS BEFORE YOU ACT AND LOOK LIKE AN ASS! Don't just take the word of the OR/ER doctor who got there information from "the hot chick" that has already miss lead the cops when she had a chance to get help for herself and her children, if that was the true story behind this and I am sarting to wonder if it is.  usmc5593 |
Agree, no way did a husband kick his wife's ass to the point where she had to go to the hospital and then the local cop just "blows it off". I have had hospital/EMS personnel eat "hook line and sinker" one person's story and then give me the "what the fuck are you doing look" until they finally realize that they have been BS'ed. Domestic calls are so damn twisted sometimes there is no clear and cut call as to who did what w/o 3rd party witnesses. Domestic calls require a lot of skill and experience sometimes... not always... but they can be the most difficult to unravel. I caught hell from a family member one time because I arrested her friend for Domestic Aggravated Assault and Domestic Battery. She told me "how could have arrested her, she had a broken nose"? Yea, her nose was broke alright, after her husband hit her with his forearm 1-TIME while fending off her attack. The arrested person admitted to me the fight and admitted to me about going after her husband with the knife.... Of course the "family member" only got the "I got my nose broke BUT I got arrested" version of what happened. Unfortunately because of the PRIVACY issue, I could not set the record straight... I simply told my family member to have her friend show her the original report and decide for herself. |
What if everytime along the way the husband set it up so it was her word against his? As real cops have already mentioned here domestic violence calls are a mess to figure out what is going on and what really happend. What if when the husband acted out he trashed the house and then called social services claiming he is at work all day and the wife who is at home all the time is neglecting the kids? You have cops and social services show up and the only thing that can be verified is the husband works all day and the house is a complete wreck. Then what if the husband tells the wife if you ever try to leave me I am going to take the kids using that as leverage to keep her with him. Does that sound far fetch? Well it just happend to my girlfriends sister. Her husband of 9 years beat her for a second time, both time he did everything described above except this time he beat her in front of the kids and then told her mother that he didn't hit her that hard before he took off. So it's not as simple as "ok, I'll just leave with the kids now." As for cops, some of them are pathetic. In the domestic violence case I just describe a city cop showed up and the state cops showed up. The city cop is a friend of husbands family and my girlfriends family new he wouldn't do anything so they called the state police. As the state police were doing all the work the city cop was sitting on a swing away from all it doing nothing. Then when he heard the state police were getting an arrest warrant he called the husband and told him the state police were coming after him. It took the state police 6 hours to hunt him down after that. Now back to the original thread, is the responding officer friends with the husband? That might explain why he didn't do anything. |
Actually, absent a special relationship, there is no duty to protect [an individual citizen]. "To serve and protect" (or "To protect and serve") is: a) only really a motto, not a Congressional mandate b) only applicable to the "general public" |
+1 Why are there so many children on this site? |
|
You have to remember that cops are just people, and represent a broad cross-section of the population with personalities that range from from stupid / ignorant to talented / intelligent/ compassionate & insightful. Ask yoursel, "How many talented/intelliegent/compassionate and insightful people have I come across today!?" Kudos to all efforts to attract talented/intelliegent/compassionate and insightful people into law enforcement. Hope those efforts, if any, are soon successful...until then, well |
|
Man, no one misses an opportunity to slam LE. Depending on jurisdictions, LE can't always arrest the suspect in a domestic assault unless certain criteria are present. Does anyone know them for this particular incident? You mention that the injuries were consistant to being body slammed on the ground. So is it safe to say that falling, tripping, or any other type of incident involving serious contact with the floor/pavement would result in similar injuries? Why weren't the kids interviewed or at least spoken with? Even if they are scared of their father, most kids will give some insight into what they saw, short of just coming out and saying "he did it". I won't necesserily call BS on her story. But just because the LEO didn't arrest doesn't mean he didn't want to. Lots of things go into play with this type of incident whether it be departmental general orders, state or local laws, etc. |
| Arrests in DV cases aren't always automatic. Each state is different. Where I work, it's policy to make an arrest is you can determine the primary aggressor. if I go to a house and the wife is bleeding or shows signs of an assault, hubby is getting hooked up regardless of what the wife wants. If we get a late call of DV, such as if the victim is already at the hospital, or makes the complaint the following day, an immediate arrest is not made because she is out of immediate danger. We send the case to the prosecutor and he issues a warrant. Things aren't always what they seem on the surface. |
The impropriety of this thread's title - given the situation described and especially your own comment above - was pointed out almost immediately. Respectfully, any chance of a title edit? 
|
calm down, its hyperbole. the first half, at least. i still am not able to grasp domestic violence. |
Of course, go back to your first post and edit the title. |
Apparently not--and it's gone on long enough. Guys, don't make idiotic generalizations. <sigh> |