Never easy to tell someone their loved one has died
BRIAN SMITH SHARES TRUE STORIES, TOLD IN THE FIRST PERSON, FROM PEACE OFFICERS ACROSS THE NATION
As a highway commander, I made numerous death notifications. They were always the hardest part of the job. No matter how far I had to drive to the next-of-kin’s house, it seemed like the drive lasted forever. One day, I received a call at about 2 a.m. from one of the officers that he was at the scene of a fatal accident involving a correctional officer. I responded to the scene.
The officer worked an extended shift, then drove home. While he was going home, a big rig made a U-turn across the roadway and got stuck. The trailer was completely across both lanes. The correctional officer did not observe it in time and his car went right under the trailer. The entire top of his vehicle was sheared off and he was killed instantly. The correctional officer lived in a different city about an hour away. I wanted to make sure his wife was not delayed in being notified, so I took that long, depressing drive to her house to make the notification.
She must have been awake waiting for him, because as soon as I was about to ring the doorbell, she opened the door. She saw me standing there in uniform and before I could even speak, she screamed, “Nooooo,” as she dropped to the floor on her hands and knees. I told her I was very sorry. She crawled around the floor as she continued to cry excessively. I could tell she loved him very much. I stayed with her until we were able to get friends and family with her. Although I have made numerous notifications, I never got used to them. They never got easier.
— BS
CHECK THE BACK SEAT
In the late 1970s, my partner and I were working the graveyard shift for the highway patrol when we were advised of a Be On the Lookout for a vehicle that was wanted for driving off without paying for their gas. The vehicle license plate returned to a stolen car. As we continued north on the freeway, we spotted the car in the slow lane. There were no units available to back us up, so we made a felony stop.
We ordered the driver out of the vehicle and arrested him without any problems. My partner asked the suspect if anyone else was in the car and he replied that there was not. My partner used the loudspeaker and ordered anyone else in the car to come out. No one else was seen from our view or responded to my partner’s order to exit. I approached the car from the driver’s side with my gun drawn. When I reached the rear door on the driver’s side, I noticed the back window was down.
I then looked into the back seat area and saw the suspect lying across the seat holding a tire iron. He was waiting to use it against me. I immediately backed up and yelled for the suspect to throw the tire iron out the window. We were able to get him to exit the vehicle and we arrested him. Further investigation revealed that not only did they steal the car, but both of them were escapees from prison in another state.
— BC
NOT JUST DUI
My partner and I were working the freeway beat for the highway patrol when we pulled behind two vehicles that were stopped on the right shoulder. As we stopped, both vehicles pulled back out onto the freeway. As we went to pass them, the man in the rear vehicle put his arm out the window and showed us a police badge as he told us that the drivers in the first car were urinating on the side of the freeway. We stopped the front car and learned that he had been drinking. My partner took the driver back and conducted field sobriety tests.
I walked up to the right front window and observed the passenger had an open container of beer between his legs. I was about to tell him to pour it out when he suddenly picked it up and threw it forcibly toward my head. I got him out of the car and arrested him, just as my partner was arresting the driver for DUI. There were two 18-yearold men sitting in the back. They continuously asked if they could leave with the car. We told them to walk to the top of the ramp and call someone from the Denny’s.
Later, when the trunk was opened, there were four ski masks and two pistols in there. The four men had been robbing convenience stores throughout the county. In one of the robberies, the suspect that we arrested for DUI shot one of the clerks in the knee just to see what it felt like to shoot someone. All four of the men were charged with armed robbery.
— DH