We were only a few minutes away. I’d also learned in class, during the field trip we took to the county dispatch center that in the case of a 911 hang-up, where the caller hangs up immediately or before all the necessary information can be gathered, the deputies will respond anyhow, as long as the caller ID pulls up a valid street address. Even if, as in this case, the dispatch office called the number back and spoke to someone. Even if they were told ‘never mind’. The reason is quite simple. Especially in a domestic situation, the initial 911 call is assumed to be a real emergency. The fact that the call was interrupted is presumed to mean that the caller was forced to hang up. No matter who answers when the dispatchers call the number back, it is assumed that the original caller may still be in trouble, under threat, so the deputies are dispatched no matter what. In Jefferson County, if you dial 911, a deputy will most likely be at your door pretty soon. I can’t recommend trying to prank the system.
Another deputy replied to dispatch as well, offering backup. I recognized his voice and call sign as Tim, one of the guys from the meth lab scene earlier. He was already parked at the house when we got to it. We got out. Ted and the younger deputy exchanged barbs and insults as they had earlier. Tim had a quick laugh, and seemed to me to be someone’s former class clown, at least when he wasn’t tiptoeing around a smelly mobile home with his Glock pointed up in the air. On the call he was, like Ted, all pro; serious, alert. I was impressed with how quickly they could all turn this on and off so thoroughly.
We stepped up onto the porch of the 50’s style house, a style shared by all the houses on this quiet street, just outside the Desoto city limits. A quiet, normal, middle class neighborhood. There was light coming from a few windows on both floors. We could hear music from inside, but just barely. It did not stand out as a scene of domestic discord or violence. Except for the lights it didn’t stand out from the other houses at all. Most of the neighborhood had shut down for the night, it was around one in the morning.
Ted knocked, Tim stood to the side, hand hovering above his holster. Ted knocked again, a bit more loudly. Finally we saw through the curtained door glass a shadow approaching.
The door swung open, a man, mid-30’s, shorts, flip-flops, oversized tee-shirt, sporting a short, styled beard and receding hairline.
“Good morning sir, we received a call about a disturbance at this address.” Ted said, turning on that no-nonsense, steeled expression.
“Oh that. It was nothing officer, it was, it was, it’s okay now, officer, we’re fine.” The man slurred.
“May we come in and see for ourselves sir?
“No, really man, it’s cool, we just had an argument, that’s all, we’re fine now.”
“We really need to see for ourselves, sir.”
The man muttered something angrily under his breath. Finally he relented and stood away from the door, allowing us to enter.
The house was cared for, decorated modestly but tastefully, no sign of damage, all the furniture appeared intact. From upstairs, a fat brown terrier openly objected to our presence. This seemed to concern Ted, but I’d already assessed the dog’s nature. He only wanted the strangers to give him food or rub his belly.
The living room extended to the back of the house, a large couch separated the front from the back, a large screen LCD TV was on an all-music channel. Sitting on a smaller couch was the Mrs. Another man entered from the kitchen as well, a taller man about the same age, wearing jeans, un-tucked polo shirt and glasses. He didn’t look as wasted as the first guy, but he was holding a bottle of beer.
Tim approached the woman, a small lady, barefoot, wearing matching brown shorts and top. A few pounds over ideal weight for her height, with a modest hairstyle, she looked like an average middle-class woman.
I couldn’t see any bruises or lacerations, she did not seem to be upset, her eyes were not puffy. Looking around the house I could see no signs of trouble at all.
As is the wise thing to do, they had the men sit down, then escorted the lady to the porch. Ted stayed with the men, I followed the younger deputy and the lady. She could barely walk, she even stumbled when standing up. The deputy held one arm out toward her, ready to catch her if she went down.
The deputy pulled out his notepad and watching her wobble a bit, started with her name. This took the lady a few tries, she was slurring heavily. It appeared to me that she was the most intoxicated of the three.
When asked, the lady who had identified herself as 'Carrie', offered up two different birthdays, she repeated both again when re-asked.
Ted stepped out and motioned for Tim to step over toward us. The lady stayed put, she wasn’t feeling much. The deputies whispered a conversation, exchanged what they'd found out. Apparently there had been an argument, household finances, a picture frame had been knocked over, tempers had flared, but there was no indication that any real violence had occurred. During the peak of the argument the wife had threatened to call 911 if the husband didn’t shut up, and apparently made the call, though she couldn’t quite recall doing so.
It seemed obvious that what this group needed more than anything was a good night’s sleep. Ted said they should still call in their ID’s to check for past infractions. The young deputy returned to the lady and asked for her Social Security number.
“Four-two-floor, sips-eight, two-nine-fliph-nong” Was the approximate answer.
“Once again ma’am?”
“Floor-two-fir, sic-aphe, two-night-niph-gon”
She was wobbling like a flag pole in a strong breeze, Ted stood ready at his portable radio’s mike. The young deputy asked her to repeat it again.
Ted keyed the mike. “County, one-oh-two, On that social…here it is. Floor-two-fir, sic-aphe, two-night-niph-gon.”
Dispatch responded after a pause. “Can you repeat that one-oh-two?”
“No, I don’t think I can. Stand by.”
I tried my best not to laugh, coughing to cover up the snickering. I wasn’t alone, the mischievous gleam was back in the young deputy's eyes. He was close to snickering as well. After several more attempts, they finally came to an agreement as to what she was saying, called it in. It came back clean.
“What are you going to do now, ma’am.” Asked the deputy.
Which he had to repeat.
“What are you wanting to do now, ma’am?” followed buy a word I didn’t quite catch. I looked over and Ted was smiling, ear to ear.
“Sleep, I wanna go to shleep” She answered.
“Okay that sounds like a fine idea.” Once again followed by something that sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite make out.
Ted checked on the males in the house, they said they were going to stay downstairs and listen to music, Carrie sloppily climbed the stairs.
We went around to the parked cruisers. Ted busted up. “I can’t believe you did the meow thing again.”
I got the joke. The 2001 movie ‘Super Troopers’ was a comedy about a group of highway patrolmen that were prone to pranking their subjects, including a very intoxicated businessman. Every sentence and question by that officer, ended with the word ‘meow’, and when the drunk pointed it out, the officer just got angrier at him, confusing the driver more and more.
“That’s just wrong.” I told the deputy. “It was a great movie though, meow” I added.
No comments:
Post a Comment