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911 Is a Joke in Lincoln Park Town

Radley Balko | 5.4.2009 9:42 AM

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Radley Balko is a journalist at The Washington Post.

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  1. aix42   16 years ago

    Pretty please, with sugar on top, get the fuckin ambulance.

  2. KenK   16 years ago

    RESPECT my athorata!!!

  3. SugarFree   16 years ago

    "What were you thinking?"

    If reporters chased cops asking that question more often, I'd respect them much, much more.

    On a personal note, a 911 operator hanging up over curse words would have killed me. In fact, I was cursing so much and so loudly, I became the 911 tape they played over and over again for laughs. (A cop told me this years later.)

  4. andyinsdca   16 years ago

    The fundamental problem is that we have a street cop with 20 yrs experience answering 911 calls. He assumes he's still on patrol and doesn't have to take anyone's shit. Here in California, we have professional 911 operators who aren't street thugs...er...cops and probably would have dealt with this better.

  5. 911, Can I Help You?   16 years ago

    I don't understand why people even bother calling the authoritah!s.

    Couldn't she put the old man in a car and drive him to the hospital faster than calling someone to call someone else to get a ride?

    Fucking public school indoctrination works!

  6. SugarFree   16 years ago

    Couldn't she put the old man in a car and drive him to the hospital faster than calling someone to call someone else to get a ride?

    Not trying to be snide, but you ever try and get a person having a seizure into a car without a few big guys and stretcher? But, I agree... unless I'm completely immobile or bleeding like a geyser, drive me to the hospital.

  7. Abdul   16 years ago

    Couldn't she put the old man in a car and drive him to the hospital faster than calling someone to call someone else to get a ride?

    Now THAT is a liberatian.

  8. Andrew S.   16 years ago

    Wait... A TWO WEEK SUSPENSION AND "TRAINING"? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How in the heck is he not losing his job, his pension, and every cent he has when she sues him into the stone age?

    Wait, I know the answer, don't tell me.

  9. 911, Can I Help You?   16 years ago

    Not trying to be snide, but you ever try and get a person having a seizure into a car without a few big guys and stretcher? But, I agree...

    OK then, but why call the middleman? Ambulance company is just 2 miles away. How much time to you save by dialing 911 instead of 381-9446?

    The 911 person has to take the info and then relay it to the driver.

    BTW, if you are bleeding like a geyser, do you really want to wait on the government to help you?

  10. SugarFree   16 years ago

    BTW, if you are bleeding like a geyser, do you really want to wait on the government to help you?

    Better dead then get blood all over the wife's car. Srsly.

  11. Xtabentun   16 years ago

    What a power tripper. He calls her a "bitch" over the line and then refers to this "girl" to the other dispatcher. Big tough man cop. Barf.

  12. Paleo Pat   16 years ago

    Hi Guys,

    I'm from Lincoln Park. That story is quite old. The officer involved was put on leave and ordered to take anger management classes AND was sent for retraining. I believe he was also removed from the 911 system here.

    The chick was let off her charges as well. I believe.

    In Short, Yes, the officer was punished and Yes, the young lady was basically let off.

    Don't be picking on my town now, I've been here since 1989, and believe me, when I tell you; as someone who grew up in southwest Detroit, it's another world downriver. (as we locals call it.) It is not the ghetto that some would like to call it.

    Anyhow, yeah, I was steamed when I saw the story myself, but it was handled very well.

    Be well all and come on over and visit the blog!

    -Paleo Pat
    http://www.politicalbyline.com
    A Lincoln Parker.

  13. Joe_D   16 years ago

    What a wonderful daughter... to save her father's life, she must swallow her pride and refrain from cursing for 30 seconds. But that's just too much to ask.

    The cop is clearly more wrong in this situation, but that girl is fucked up.

  14. J sub D   16 years ago

    I don't understand why people even bother calling the authoritah!s.

    Couldn't she put the old man in a car and drive him to the hospital faster than calling someone to call someone else to get a ride?

    My sainted mother was of the opinion that if you had to rush a kid to the hospital you call a cab company and tell them it's an emergency. Her reasoning was it's faster and cheaper.

    Like so many other things I discovered about my folks after reaching adulthood, she was right.
    _______________________________________________

    It's irony squared to hear a cop upbraiding someone about their language.

  15. J sub D   16 years ago

    Don't be picking on my town now, I've been here since 1989, and believe me, when I tell you; as someone who grew up in southwest Detroit, it's another world downriver.

    True. But that's kinda like saying
    Don't be picking on my town country now, I've been here since 1989, and believe me, when I tell you; as someone who grew up in southwest Detroit Somalia, it's another world downriver here in Nigeria.

    I keed of course. Lincoln Park is a fine community. 😉

  16. Paleo Pat   16 years ago

    J sub D,

    I've lived here since 1989, other than a few speeding tickets, all of which I had coming to me, as I was driving too fast. I've had zero trouble around here at all.

    -Pat

  17. Citizen Nothing   16 years ago

    The cops too often forget that they are our employees.
    They do deserve respect, the exact same respect I give to my mechanic or the kid who pours my coffee.

  18. bubba   16 years ago

    Anyone else see the parallel with "how not to get your ass beat by the police?"

    She's a young, dumb bitch, but the cop is old enough to know better.

    Seizing dad gets what he deserves for raising such a potty mouth.

    There's so much blame to go around, but first I want more pics of the girl

  19. Zeb   16 years ago

    "They do deserve respect, the exact same respect I give to my mechanic or the kid who pours my coffee."

    Very true. But what they seem to misunderstand about respect is that if you do not get the respect you deserve, it does not entitle you to be whatever kind of a dick you want to. Especially when the job you are doing is likely to make a difference to whether people die or not.

  20. wingnutx   16 years ago


    Couldn't she put the old man in a car and drive him to the hospital faster than calling someone to call someone else to get a ride?

    Probably not.

    Here in Phoenix there is likely an ambulance much closer to you than a hospital, and the central 911 system can dispatch the closest one to you. They track them by GPS.

    This means You can probably get an ambo in 2-4 minutes. This will also be an "ALS" ambulance, meaning it has a paramedic onboard, not just an EMT. Now your victim gets defib/intubation/drugs or whatever in under six minutes, and continues to get them all the way to the hospital. You are getting a lot more than just a ride.

    Unless you are extremely close to the hospital, call 911.

  21. LarryA   16 years ago

    OK then, but why call the middleman? Ambulance company is just 2 miles away. How much time to you save by dialing 911 instead of 381-9446?

    The 911 person has to take the info and then relay it to the driver.

    When it works how much time do you save by dialing 911 and getting a professional responder who can quickly collect relevant data and send appropriate assistance, as opposed to looking up the number of the ambulance company, misdialing it twice, and getting the one that's on the wrong side of town?

    Seizing dad gets what he deserves for raising such a potty mouth.

    Trust me, it isn't necessary these days for a parent to "raise" a potty mouth.

    That said, and reiterating that the officer should have known better, one of the first things my Dad did while raising us was train us how to handle emergencies, particularly how to call for help:
    Location
    Problem
    Desired response.

    I made sure my kids had the same training, including practice drills. We also did the first aid/CPR thing.

    Couldn't she put the old man in a car and drive him to the hospital...

    Standing rule around my family: Never, ever, drive anyone with an acute medical condition to the hospital without two grownups in the car; one to deal with the patient, one to concentrate on driving. And we live in a small town, not a city.

    Wait... A TWO WEEK SUSPENSION AND "TRAINING"? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How in the heck is he not losing his job, his pension, and every cent he has when she sues him into the stone age?

    Take this as an individual case, not "what all cops do." Watch the video again. Years of service, commendations, no other reprimands. This guy has one bad day, so throw him to the wolves?

    I'm not an apologist for cops, but in any business if you crucify everyone on their first mistake you're going to end up with a bunch of rookies so scared of screwing up they won't do anything.

  22. JLap   16 years ago

    well, larrya, I certainly hope they are scared enough to not taser 14 year olds or hang up on 911 calls

  23. Tsu Dho Nihm   16 years ago

    So get up, get, get get down
    911 is a joke in yo town

  24. the innominate one   16 years ago

    yes, the cop was punished, but the punishment wasn't adequate or proportionate to his misbehavior

    note also, the girl didn't start off swearing until she couldn't get someone to pick up, and swore before she realized someone had picked up

    She shouldn't have escalated at that moment because it wasn't efficient for accomplishing her goal, but really she didn't do anything wrong. I really like how the cop calls her a bitch while admonishing her for swearing. If I thought one of my relatives was dying while anyone gave me a lecture on appropriate language, rather than offering help as was this cop's job, they'd be hearing some really inventive language once the emergency was resolved, along with receiving notice pending of a lawsuit.

  25. JB   16 years ago

    Someone should torture him to death.

    Government employees are absolutely useless.

  26. jdub   16 years ago

    re: wingnutx's comment:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hour_(medicine)

    there's a certain calculus at work, obviously, and you've got imperfect knowledge at the time you have to make the decision about what the variables are.

    generally speaking, i would say, if you can see the problem (gunshot wound,) drive yourself (or the person)

    car accident victim, complaining of severe abdominal pain without visible trauma, call the paramedics.

    the difference is in the kind of diagnotic care your're likely to get on the ride in. if you drive yourself, and get to the emergency room with your severe abdominal pain following your car accident, it might be that you sit there forever.

    the paras might be able, in the ten minutes you're in the ambulance, to call it in and maybe(?) clear the decks for you.

    not a doctor, but this seems to make sense.

  27. Robert   16 years ago

    FIRE HIM!

  28. hmm   16 years ago

    There is a distinct advantage to having an ambulance show up. Even if the ambulance arrives and scoops and runs the care in the "bobo" is not the largest defining difference. The call to medical control is. An unconscious patient on the floor in is an automatic head trauma and Cspine consideration. Add to that a history of recent brain surgery and having a neurologist and melon surgeon in the ED as you arrive could be the difference between living and dying or walking and being in a wheel chair.

    The medics will be able to handle any other life threatening issues relative to possible head injury such as positive ventilation or heart implications, but the call to medical control and the heads up on the incoming case is probably a larger factor in that case. The same goes for trauma cases such as car accidents. A good medic report for what is incoming can make a difference in resources ready in the ED.

    As to the officer that is reprehensible conduct. I've been cussed, spit on, yelled at, threatened, and so on and never offered care any different that the person that hugged me or was polite. It's a job, you agree to do it to the best of your ability and on top of that you are holding the public trust. To violate any of the those concepts is grounds for removal. Even once. The industry has enough jaded assholes in it that need to find other jobs.

  29. Morris   16 years ago

    "...his career is also a cautionary tale on never quite fulfilling your promise or thinking truly radical thoughts."

    Transalation: He never swallowed the libertarian Kool-Aid and became a mindless true believer.

  30. the innominate one   16 years ago

    Morris - wrong thread, genius

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