AOne slow and cold night while patrolling we received a call about a burglary in progress. The caller named Steve said that there were three people who just stormed into his house and are currently taking all of his belongings. 5 of us met at a staging location and began to quickly but silently approach the house with our weapons drawn. As we were running, ofc. Buggs, who was ahead of us, slipped and the barrel of his gun pointed at all of us before he caught his balance. We all took a second to laugh at how bad that could have been and then refocused to continue our approach to the house.
When we got to the front there was a short man by the name of Jeb who was frantically pointing and jumping around. He yelled “they are in the house!” “Where?” asked Ofc. Mac. The man just yelled “there!”. He then pointed in two different directions in his house. This was clue number one. Jeb had no idea where the perpetrators were. So we split up. Ofc. Buggs and I went to the left. Mac led a group consisting of three officers to the right.
As Buggs and I made our way towards the back of the house I saw a frail older lady laying on the couch. I honestly thought that she was a dead body. She did not move at all and I paused to do the obvious; see if she was breathing. Her chest didn’t rise at all so I walked closer to try to get her pulse. All of a sudden her head moved and my eyes widened. The elderly lady just did not care that Jeb was still screaming, that someone perhaps broke into her house and that five police officers were running around with their weapons out (by then we had all assembled in the room). What she did care about was the fact that Ofc. Buggs and I were blocking her view of the tv. This was clue number two. Before I could put the pieces together Jeb said “don’t mind her. Come on, they are this way.” Jeb then ran by us and pushed a washing machine over to the side. Behind it was … nothing. Absolutely nothing.That’s when it dawned on us. Jeb was schizophrenic. A common explanation for his erratic behavior. It also made sense that no damage or stolen belongings was observed and why Jeb’s mom, the older lady, was ignoring us. Mac and his officers had come to the same realization when we met at the front of the house. After Jeb thanked us for the help, we all began to walk out and started to laugh not only about the fact that I thought the lady was dead but also about Buggs almost falling and his weapon pointing towards us. Then Mac yelled “hey! Don’t leave me here.” We turned and looked at Mac with expressions that would be interpreted as; what now? Mac just said “Jeb needs help, let’s get him to the hospital.” That’s when I realized I was so focused on the fun part of the job that I forgot that there were real people with issues.
We stayed with Mac as he consoled Jeb and he was able to get him transported to a mental hospital. This moment stayed with me throughout my career. It taught me to not only address the crime but to also care for the people.
Posted here first [https://ourstoriesfrombehindthebadge.wordpress.com/2022/04/14/dont-leave-me-here/]
