What You See and What You Don't

While on patrol one Sunday afternoon I was sent to a domestic along with another officer. (A few additional points you might want to know: The other officer was a stocky male with several years of military and police service.  We only had two officers working the city that Sunday which usually was adequate.)

We were met at the front door by the wife who told us her husband had attacked her while they were having an argument.  She had called the police because she was scared for her life. We entered the home and saw a large stocky man sitting on the sofa.  As we walked through the door into the living room he charged toward us in an effort to get to his wife.

We immediately tried to get the male under control to prevent injury to his wife and us.  He threw both the other officer and me off himself like we were  “rag dolls.” It wasn’t until then that I understood that expression.  Chairs and tables were knocked over.  It seemed like forever, but in a few minutes we got the subject under control by me riding on his back like he was a horse. It was hard to hold on, but I held on tight while the other officer struck the man in the stomach and other vulnerable regions.  His wrists were too large for standard handcuffs so contacted the third responding officer to bring the pair of super large handcuffs from the department.

Our next obstacle was to get the male subject into a police car to transport him to jail. He stood outside the car and would not move when asked or nudged. All three of us were of a different racial affiliation than our prisoner and a crowd was assembling in the area and getting angered.   We knew to prevent a serious incident we had to get him into the car and quickly leave.  One of us struck him in his groin, which caused him to buckle over, and we shoved him into the car.

Getting him processed and into a jail cell was no easy task either, but that is not what I want to talk about. We found out later he had previously been a football player who had sustained injuries to the brain that had caused occasional episodes of radical behaviors.  That day the episode was most likely precipitated by the fight with his wife.

To the onlookers at the scene all they saw in their minds were three officers physically abusing a prisoner.  They didn’t see what had happened previously. They most likely didn’t know the health issues of the individual. They only knew the phase of the incident they observed.  How often are police judged only by what people see at that exact moment.?  They don’t know what went on days, hours, or minutes previously. 

Until Later,
Sally S