Dec 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 12

WORDS BY A RETIRED OFFICER
A Cop, a Flight Nurse and Two Endings
I just read your war story, “the
Christmas that almost wasn’t”
(reprinted in this month’s War
Story) and it brought me back
almost 20 years when I had
nearly the same experience.
I too had lost a partner who
was standing less than five feet
from me when a sniper’s bullet
ripped through his vest and
killed him instantly. It was the
single worst moment of my life.
The emotions from that day still
haunt me, but thankfully I’ve
been able to move past it and
live a somewhat normal life.
It wasn’t Christmas Eve, but
rather New Year’s Eve 1999. Yes,
the new millennium was upon us
and we expected it to be a busy
night. I had been on the force at
the time for nearly 20 years and
worked the night shift by choice.
My kids were all grown and I
was at the end of a third failed
marriage. Working nights for me
was my way of coping with the
emptiness I had in my life at the
time.
On this night and for the previous
30 days, I had a rookie riding
with me after his FTO was injured
in an off-duty car accident.
And truthfully, I didn’t mind. After
20 years of riding by myself, I
kind of enjoyed the company and
I also liked the idea of imparting
my knowledge into this young
officer’s mind.
But the FTO program of 1999
isn’t like what you probably have
today. It wasn’t that regimented,
it was more like, ‘ride with
me kid and I’ll show you how it’s
done’ kind of thing. But this kid, I
say kid he was 24, was actually
doing a great job. He had spent
almost 4 months on the evening
shift with his FTO and was about
to be cut loose. So, thirty days
with me and he was ready to go
solo. I’ll dispense with his last
name in case his family might
read this magazine and just use
his first name, Randy.
On the night of the shooting,
Randy and I were answering
one disturbance after another.
As you can imagine on this New
Years, everyone was drunk and
getting rowdy. One by one we
were clearing calls. I guess after
the 10th one or so, we became
complacent and weren’t paying
as much attention as we should
have been.
We were dispatched to a call
on our city’s far east side that
was on the extreme east side
of our assigned district. All the
district cars on that side were
tied up and we took the call to
help them out. Same call as all
the rest. Neighbor called in to
report loud noises, fireworks and
unknown persons possibly firing
guns into the air. More people
are killed on New Years from
falling bullets than any other day
of the year.
We arrived at the complainant’s
house and didn’t see
activity outside nor did we hear
any fireworks or guns being
discharged. As we walked to the
148 The Blues 40th Anniversary Issue