Day In The Line of Duty

It was near the end of the graveyard shift when we were dispatched to one last call. Paramedics had asked for assistance on a report of 2 people possibly overdosed on a 3^rd floor landing in a lane near the heart of the city’s skid row. I drove into the lane several blocks down from where the call was supposed to be and could see all the way down. My partner and I saw an ambulance approx 2 blocks ahead of us in the lane, driving away from us. We saw it drive all the way through and out of the lane past where the call should have been. They didn’t appear to stop for more than a few seconds.

I drove on to check out the location even though it looked to be a false alarm, which was very common. In this area of town, people, who need medical attention, will often leave before the ambulance arrives because the call for drugs is so strong and their sense of priorities is so scrabbled due to drug abuse. Even stabbing victims will attempt to walk away from you and medical help. Unless they’ve collapsed from their injuries or you get there quick enough to hold onto them, these people will flee like the place was on fire.

We stopped at the location and found 2 men hanging around in the lane.  We had, undoubtedly, interrupted either a sexual act or some sort of drug offense. The two guys said the ambulance drove by and asked if they were OK but then drove away without even getting out of the vehicle. These two looked just fine and I saw that there were second and third story upper landings above where the guys were sitting. There were also stairs leading up to those landings. The landings were very dark and I could not, nor could have anyone else standing in the lane, see what was up there.

A one man unit pulled up to assist as I was about to go up the stairs. My squad mate followed me up the stairs as my partner stayed with the two men in the lane. The cover officer took the 2^nd landing and I went to the 3^rd.

The far eastern end of the 3^rd landing was obscured by darkness and what looked like a board as I came up the stairs. I walked all the way up and immediately saw someone laying on their back and not moving. I went towards the person and saw another figure further along the landing. They were both males and both looked dead. There were several needles and drug flaps(drug packaging) around the two.

The first guy was laying on his back and I could see, even in the low light, that his skin was gray in color He had ‘gundge’ around his mouth and nose and his eyes were partly open. They looked like the eyes of the dead.

I’ve seen many dead bodies and this guy looked dead. He wasn’t breathing that I could see. The other guy was partially rolled onto his right side and looked as if he’d collapsed while trying to get up. He didn’t look grey yet so I kicked his foot several times and pushed him and finally got a grunt/snort out of him but he was out of it and hardly breathing. Guy number 2 looked beefy like he’d just got out of prison/jail. They both may have just been released and weren’t used to the strength of the street drugs.

I got on the radio immediately and told dispatch to get the ambulance back here, Code 3, because I had two bodies here. Needless to say this caused a swirl of activity from both the paramedics and the fire department.

The member from the 2nd level came up to see. We both noticed that the first ‘gray’ guy was still just barely breathing so we spent the next few minutes poking and prodding these two to try and wake them up. 3 paramedic crews arrived and one or two fire trucks full of sleepy firemen.The sirens were deafening in that narrow alley.

 The first crew of paramedics was, I hate to admit, funny to watch as they sprang into action. I think they were the crew that rolled through the lane ahead of us and they looked slightly unhinged. They were experienced paramedics who work in the area and have seen the worst so I don’t think it was the sight of these two guys that had rattled them.

One paramedic then grabbed the first guy and quickly looked at him then said ‘not dead’. She then went to the next guy, grabbed his arm and attempted to roll him onto his back. She got him almost there ,onto his back, but then dropped him on his head…..oops and what a bonk sound. She said ‘not dead either’ and the two paramedics began working feverishly to set up their equipment. More paramedics and firefighters were now swarming up the stairs with more gear so we, the two policemen, were designated flashlight holders for those working on the casualties.

Ultimately both men were injected with ‘narcan’ and they slowly started to come back to life. They said that both would likely make it and that we were no longer needed to help. Those of us on the graveyard shift then left the scene to the morning crew.

Last I heard on the radio was that those two bozos were walking to the ambulance and talking. Aren’t drugs great. These two guys would have been dead in short order if we hadn’t come along and bothered to go looking for them.

5 or 6 policemen, 6 paramedics and 6-8 firefighters….that’s an expensive little party these two guys ended up having.

It makes my head spin.

It’s amazing what people will do to themselves and what we do to help them. Dumb asses.