1042 trooper

[eman2k5]

I was reading a great "thought" in his book The Badge, I came across "Her Last Breath" pg.85 . I was wondering trooper if you could post the story because it was a very good read. I think many could learn from this.

PS too anyone who didnt but jim's book........are you on crack or somthin.....its a damn good book, get it and read it.

PSS too the mods, dont move this thread. It is about a event in LE

[1042 Trooper]

There you go, 2K5. Thanks for the nice words.

Her Last Breath

It's been many years now, but I remember her. Her look, her beauty and her innocence. One moment she was a five-year-old child with dolls and coloring books, the next a helpless victim struggling for her last breath. The sound of her little lungs trying so hard one last time to fill with life-giving oxygen and then, surrendering to her death will haunt me forever. It is one of those so very few moments even the most hard-cased on the job are powerless to stop. This one slipped past my crust. This one got to me.

Probably more heartbreaking than the sight of her unused car seat laying on the ground some 100 feet the crashed car she was in, and more devastating than her dead mother laying within reach, were her dad and brother, both alive and witness to what they had lost. Dad had a broken arm but the little boy, surprisingly, was spared much injury. I don’t know where they are now; I don’t even remember their names. But their faces and their screams of pain and grief are mine to keep forever.

I was given this call as a one-car rollover; our most common crash here in Wyoming. As I surveyed the scene, I saw she was still alive. I kneeled down next to her in the sagebrush, and heard the unmistakable sound of her lungs filling with blood, trying to draw a breath. Her little face was unharmed. I held her hand, and in a few seconds it was over. It was then that I looked up and saw her father, sobbing at the side of his wife.

He looked over at me and he knew. He asked; but his eyes told me he knew. His wife and now, his precious daughter, were gone. Then his little boy looked down at his sister. Confused, frightened and hurting, he asked the obvious question. “Is my sister okay?”

As he sat down next to me, “G.I. Joe” in hand, I asked him to lay down and not to move until an EMT could look at him. Again he asked about his sister.

There is never a smooth or comfortable way to give this answer, but I would not lie or mislead him. Just as I was struggling for the right words, the boy’s father sat down in the dirt next to him. With his good arm, he reached around and held his son, sobbing aloud. Then he told him the simple truth as gently as he could. The horror in this boy’s eyes was overwhelming. My vision blurred and my throat swelled shut. I had to get up and walk away. Thankfully the EMT’s had just arrived and they took over.

I later found out the boy and dad were buckled in, but that briefly -- for just a few seconds -- these well-meaning and loving parents had let their little girl out of her car seat to stretch and move around a bit. She had been complaining of being stiff. Mom had unbuckled just long enough to do it. Then -- at that instant -- they had a sudden tire failure. A blow-out. They lost control and overturned, flipping many times like a toy, in the interstate median. Dad had been driving.

With crushing shame in his eyes and voice, he told me they had been in a hurry. In a hurry he said, to get to Disneyland.

Please...don’t hurry. Take breaks. Pull over and stop.

Don’t be this man.

[jeffIL]

Not to hijack the tread cause I'm sure it was somewhere else, but Trooper, how did your XM radio deal go?

[djack16]

Got me welled up with that one.

Endangering children like that is just unacceptable. Innocent as it was it still cost the life of that little girl who depended on them for her safety. They no doubt suffered worse from that loss than any sentence a judge could impose. It never bored me to help educate the public in my volunteering capacity and, in the career, I don't think it ever will because of incidents like these.

[1042 Trooper]

Not to hijack the tread cause I'm sure it was somewhere else, but Trooper, how did your XM radio deal go?

Had a real good show and interview. Took some calls and had a great time.

Thanks for asking!
JG

[rpd1794]

Troop, that one brings back memories of a fatal from years ago, a Mother and her 3 year old daughter on the way back from a wedding.

Mom was drunk, went off the road and hit a tree. Her daughter, a beautiful blonde haired little girl, was not restrained and died at the scene. The sight of that lifeless child in her party dress and white tights still is one that haunts me.

So is the fact that her mother was Med Flighted out before my arrival, and I was unable to get her blood drawn before the time expired. The most I got was a Reckless Driving conviction, and when I went to the hospital to question her a few days later, she told me to stick it and talk to her lawyer.

The Father, who did not have custody, was devastated. My conversations with him in the aftermath were almost as bad as being at the scene.

I guess we learn quick that life is often not fair

[djack16]

I had a talk with a father who lost his young son to his wife's driving drunk several years prior. Wife survived and he said "If I ever see her again I'd probably kill her." The pain in his eyes was just indescribable .

[eman2k5]

Thanks Trooper

[1042 Trooper]

Troop, that one brings back memories of a fatal from years ago, a Mother and her 3 year old daughter on the way back from a wedding.

The Father, who did not have custody, was devastated. My conversations with him in the aftermath were almost as bad as being at the scene.

I guess we learn quick that life is often not fair

I've been here my friend and it is these times when I have nearly lost my composure.

There are no words. There are no comforting expressions. There is only the warmth of your sincere sharing of their grief which seems to help. Help them that is. Nothing helps you but talking about it later - like now.

And you're right. Life is not fair, it just, "is."

[1042 Trooper]

I had a talk with a father who lost his young son to his wife's driving drunk several years prior. Wife survived and he said "If I ever see her again I'd probably kill her." The pain in his eyes was just indescribable .

Understood.

[1042 Trooper]

Thanks Trooper

El gusto es mio.

[Baxter]

I still need to buy Trooper's books... but don't worry, I'll buy them all eventually

[PageB]

Wow...trying not to cry, here.

A few weeks ago, my family and I went out to eat in a nearby town, and I saw an off-duty cop (in an unmarked crown vic) pull into the parking lot with his 2 year old son loose in the front seat.

Since I'm not in LE yet, I didn't feel like I had a right to say anything (but I am a mom...). I was SO angry! Especially since our state just passed a law last year that any child under 8 years old must be restrained in a safety seat, in the backseat of the car.

I wanted to tell him that he was setting a terrible example by breaking the law, and that he was risking his son's life, and, last but not least, I bet his wife would kick his @$$ to heck and back if she knew he did that.

But I fumed in silence, and took the lesson that if I get into this field, everyone is watching me, and my actions will matter.

[1042 Trooper]

Wow...trying not to cry, here.

A few weeks ago, my family and I went out to eat in a nearby town, and I saw an off-duty cop (in an unmarked crown vic) pull into the parking lot with his 2 year old son loose in the front seat.

Since I'm not in LE yet, I didn't feel like I had a right to say anything (but I am a mom...). I was SO angry! Especially since our state just passed a law last year that any child under 8 years old must be restrained in a safety seat, in the backseat of the car.

I wanted to tell him that he was setting a terrible example by breaking the law, and that he was risking his son's life, and, last but not least, I bet his wife would kick his @$$ to heck and back if she knew he did that.

But I fumed in silence, and took the lesson that if I get into this field, everyone is watching me, and my actions will matter.

Like living in a glass house. Every move, every step, the way you drive, whether or not you wear seat bets or require your kids to, how you treat your kids, wife, husband, friends, the way you shop, the bars you go to, the brand of beer you drink, etc. etc.

Thay watch EVERYTHING. Believe it.

[akirsh]

2K5....Excellent thread choice.
Troop....your portrayal of that experience, and those moments, is telling.

Hoping that readers from other sections find their way to this thread.
I'm thinking of the Silly Parking Ticket thread, for example, where there's a civi whining about LE's "harassing" (ie: citing) motorists who are illegally parked. And then using that whine as a platform for judging the character of a Police Officer.

You want character?
Troop on the side of the road at that scene is character.
Same for all LE's who've been there....