How Did He Die ?

In one of the cities in which I worked I was dispatched to a “check the welfare” call.  A man’s parents had called the department concerned that they had not heard from him and were unable to reach him by phone. Consequently, his parents felt something was wrong. This was many years ago before cell phones, email, and of course Facebook.

Another officer was also dispatched as backup. I was still relatively new on the streets and if not too busy the dispatcher sent someone to help.   I arrived at the apartment house where I was sent, located the apartment, no one answered the door when I knocked. Because the door was locked, I contacted someone in the office to unlock the door. When I entered the apartment I observed a person lying on the floor. I walked over to the body and could see that it was bluish and stiff. I radioed that I had a dead body. The backup officer stated over radio that he was parking his patrol car at that moment.

The body was a caucasian male who appeared to be in his mid twenties and was wearing nothing other than a bathrobe that was wide open. We observed no signs of a struggle. There was also no suicide note. No signs of injury were observable on the body. We did observe a large rubber band attached to a doorknob on the door to the bedroom. (the knob on the living room side) The rubber band was broken. The belt to his robe was tied around his neck with a piece of the broken rubber band affixed to it.  We looked around the apartment for letters or a journal that might indicate signs of depression, a romantic breakup or indications of a cause for suicide. We also looked through his desk for indications of large indebtedness or other factors that might cause depression and consequential suicide. We found nothing.

I started taking measurements of the room, the body location, door location etc. to draw a diagram to go along with the report. A report was always written for an unattended death and was treated as a homicide until proven otherwise. I also took several Polaroid photographs of the room and the body. Both the other officer and I were stumped.  A ranking staff officer (major) radioed that he was responding. Assigned ranking staff officers were to be notified of all unattended deaths until proven otherwise.

The major arrived in about ten or fifteen minutes. He walked into the apartment and asked us to be briefed. We told him we believed it was suicide but could not locate any indication of such, but we had no reason to believe it was a homicide.

The major who had been on the streets longer than I had been alive said he knew what the situation was. He said he had seen many similar cases especially in hotels, motels, in the military, and on college campuses.

I am not sure of the other officer, but I was “all ears”. I was wondering what was I missing? The major stated it appeared to be a case of auto erotica.  In auto erotica males masturbate while limiting their oxygen intake. That is supposed to increase the pleasure level of their orgasm.  According to the major sometimes things went wrong. Chairs fall over as guys attempted to lower themselves from hanging positions and here it looked like the subject lost consciousness and fell backwards which tightened the loop around his neck causing him to lose consciousness and hours later he fell on his back when the band broke.

All of a sudden I felt stupid and sad at the same time. I thought I was quite “worldly” for my age; guess I wasn’t. I felt sad that he lost his life for a few moments of pleasure. Were willing partners that hard to find? I didn’t think so, but maybe there were facts I did not know. The Major wanted this to be handled delicately for the parents sake and he wanted one of the more experienced officers to continue with the case and notify the young man’s parents. I was dismissed from the scene and went back to work.  The rest of the night I felt kind of creepy. It was my first dead body and I was measuring around it as if it was a car at an accident. The creepy feeling lasted into the night. When I got home I woke up my husband and told him I just could not lie next to a still body. I asked him to wake up and talk with me until I got real tired and could fall asleep. I learned throughout the years to detach myself from a crime scene because as much distance that you can create helps your mental well being. Officers still care and are saddened but they limit the extent. This was my first dead body thus it is etched deeply into my mind.

I was told days later that apparently auto erotica in his living room was a regular habit of the individual because under a black light many semen tracks and blotches were noticeable on the living room carpet by the bedroom door. The autopsy indicated asphyxiation as the cause of death and was ruled as an accidental death. Just what the Major said many accidental deaths to males are.

I have trouble relating to these accidental auto erotica deaths.  Are a few moments of extreme pleasure worth the risk? I have become aware of auto erotica without the sexual component happening among our young people as young as junior high. They merely reduce their level of oxygen by manually choking themselves or by others until they pass out. This is supposedly quite a thrill and a rush.

What kind of moral obligation do we as a society have to curb this dangerous behavior? Do we have any responsibility to the adults? To the children? I would really like to get some type of discussion going here on this particular post.

Until tomorrow,

Sally S.