[Intro]
911, what's the nature of your emergency?
Ashlie: Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Living by Leo warriors. I'm your host to Ashlie Walton.
Clint: And I'm your co-host Clint Walton.
Ashlie: Today's episode is one that has stemmed from our last episode. When we were talking about the irony of how I overcame one of my fears and that really brought up some emotion and some thought on another time when fear was prompted based on Clint something you experienced. So for today just go ahead and sit back, relax and enjoy today's content.
Clint: So this is kind of a funny fear story for me. It stems kind of around the whole dead body theme. I was at work one time then I just started my shift and one of my day shift partners had got dispatched to a dead body call on the west side of our city and it was funny because I saw him heading there and it was out of my area and I had a ride along that day. So I was like you know what I'm going to show this right along something that really get to experience and it's not all the time, but it's something that is regular and unfortunately someone lost a loved one that day. It wasn't a homicide or a suicide or anything drastic like that. It was just a natural death. Well I cancelled my partner and started heading over to the scene. I told my ride along I go this is kind of what you can expect, and this is what you should and shouldn't do. Just stay with me and you'll be okay.
So we get to the house of course there's numerous family members there. They're all distraught and very much so I mean they just lost one of their grandparents. And I see the body on the floor. He was in almost like a fetal position and I didn't really understand that, but it was interesting to see because if he was on the floor I didn't understand why he was in that position and he was already, the rigor mortis had already set in so his bones were locked into place and knees were up to his chest his elbows were kind of down towards his knees and they had covered him with a sheet.
So I started talking with the family members and to figure out what occurred, and they told me you know he decided take a nap in his wheelchair. So he sat in his wheelchair and he hunched over and put his head in his hands and fell asleep and never woke up. So when they called our police dispatch they, our dispatch told them you know the CPR procedures but he'd already been diseased for some time so there was really no point in I think after they put him on the floor they realized that and so after finding that out, I was pretty felt okay with saying okay it's a natural death. Because we have to rule that out any foul play.
And so my sergeant gets there, and we look at the body make sure there was no obvious signs of trauma or anything like that. And I speak with the family. I always try to be you know caring and compassionate towards them and understanding that they just lost a loved one. In my most professional demeanor I told the family I'm going to go outside to call the coroner and see if we get a transport team to take the body out of the house.
Ashlie: So baby I just want to ask. Just because the only time that I've ever experienced you know losing my mom, losing anybody.
We never had to call out the police. So you know we had everything kind of preset up with knowing we just call the coroner, no law enforcement was involved. So at what point is law enforcement involved?
Clint: We were only involved because in instances like your mom she was on hospice. If there is hospice care, we don't have to respond. But if there's no, if it's kind of a sudden natural death. The police always had to go out there to rule out any foul play. And that's kind of what we were there to do that day.
Ashlie: So if a family member lost a loved one and they're not on hospice and let's say they knew that like their family member might pass away soon, if they proceed with just calling the corner, does the coroner contact law enforcement?
Clint: No we have to respond. They would have to get a hold of us to respond because we have to be the ones that actually call the coroner.
Ashlie: So if the family didn't call law enforcement does the coroner ask that question like have you already contacted law enforcement?
Clint: No because they wouldn't have an access number to get a hold of the corner.
Ashlie: Well anybody can like look like for a mortuary let's say like you contact your mortuary and then like how does somebody know that you need to call.
Clint: So yeah if you were to call a mortuary then they would ask if they're on hospice or if law enforcement or the coroner had been advised already.
Ashlie: And they would direct you to contact law enforcement had you not already.
Clint: Yes. It's kind of one of those situations where and unfortunately in those instances most people don't know what to do.
Ashlie: Yeah, I had no idea. That's why I was asking.
Clint: Yeah. And those are great questions because anyone who has never had to experience that wouldn't know. But most people call 911 immediately anyways. Because they don't know, well maybe they're still alive or maybe there's something that they can do to help the situation if medical aid or the fire department or someone was to respond. Just like for us we have the, I can't pronounce somebody dead. The fire department actually has to come there to pronounce him dead even though we know without a doubt most time.
So as I was going to go outside to call the coroner and I covered the body back up and the family sitting in kind of a side room, I separated them from the body and explained to them you know you don't need to sit here and stare at your deceased grandparent because it's not going to help your situation at all just given their response. In some instances I don't mind about it. In that specific instance I didn't want that to be a factor. So my ride along starts walking out the door and we're maybe 20 feet from the door from where the body was and I start walking away and no one's around me and I feel something tugging on my leg and I didn't know what it was at first and then I felt a tug a lot harder as I tried pulling my leg away and I saw the body chasing after me.
And I jumped. I swear I'd felt like 10 feet in the air, but it was only a few feet and I saw the body coming after me still. And this is right in the heart of the whole zombie craze that's going on in the world at the time and I uncover the body and I realized my foot got wrapped in the sheet that the body was covered and wrapped in and I almost just screamed out loud almost pulled out my gun to give it a shot to the head, because I thought that it was a zombie. It literally scared the crap out of me.
I can count on a handful of times how many times I've actually been scared at work and that was one of them and me doing that spooked my ride along and he booked it outside, and I was just like what the fuck just happened. And the whole family staring at me like what is going on over there? And I quickly composed myself and I go, I'm really sorry my foot got caught in this sheet and I covered the body back up and I continue just to walk outside. I sit in my patrol car.
Ashlie: With your thumper heart.
Clint: With my heart pounding out of my chest and my ride along is already sitting in the car and I look at him and go, did you fucking see that? I thought it was a zombie and he's like, you scared the crap out of me, and I was just so like dumbstruck about what just happened that I couldn't even believe that.
Ashlie: So did a piece of you still think like maybe it was actually the grandfather and not your foot?
Clint: Yeah. Absolutely that guy is still alive I swear. So after I got a hold of the corner I go back inside and the bodies in the new position now because of the incident that occurred with me. I realized he was still down, he didn't move at all and it was and that's when I actually realized my foot had just got wrapped up in the sheet and he had chased that for me because of myself and so I checked on the family and I still remained composed with them and afterwards I told my sergeant what happened and he's a good friend and he just laughed at me and he goes, you know Clint it's just something that happens.
Ashlie: So baby do you think that a part of you maybe isn't as comfortable or numb to being around this kind of environment as you maybe thought, because things like that can happen and do happen and did happen.
Clint: Well and that goes into my whole fear with it. It's no one, one, I don't know the person. I never had that connection with individuals who I've seen deceased. Whether suicide, homicide or just natural death. And there is that fear of zombies coming after me. And it's something where you know if I can avoid touching the dead body in all instances I will. If I don't have to lift him, carry him, do any of the such I'll avoid it at all cost. And that's just because it's almost I would say fear, but it kind of grosses me out too. Because I've seen some pretty nasty ones.
And you know in developing this time in this fear, because think about it have you as the listener ever had to deal with an instance where you had to touch a dead body, move it. Where you touch the top of its skull and you see it push back out with maggots inside. It's very gross but that's something that we do as police officers on a regular basis. So we have to do our job still. And you work through your fear with that, but you turn it into well it's just part of my job, I have to do it.
Ashlie: Oh baby. I think it's great having that mindset of understanding that you know these are just nuances of working as a first responder and that doesn't discredit the fact that you're still human and it's not in our human makeup to be exposed to and certainly not to have to handle a deceased body. And although there is definitely some humor to that. It definitely opens my eyes to the fact that you are still human despite wearing that badge and carrying a gun every day. It doesn't take away from the fact that there are some pieces of all of us that are uncomfortable. And rightfully so in these types of circumstances.
Clint: In with saying what you do said is people have this conception of police officers really that's what you're getting paid for, so you have to do it. That's absolutely true. And we do what we have to do because that's what we're getting paid for. That doesn't mean we have to enjoy it while we're doing it, or we look forward to having those instances.
Ashlie: Absolutely. And I think having you know this happened to you where whether you were aware of it or not, subconsciously there was a part of you that maybe was walking around on eggshells so much that like you dropped the glass and it shattered. We've all been there before, and this is probably one of those worst examples of that happening and by still having the ability to be overly vigilant I suppose in situations like this. Really allows you to kind of take a step back and realize that there is no peace of humanity that makes you any different than anybody else and certainly in your conditioning makes it a little bit easier for you to be able to handle situations like that.
But that doesn't discredit the fact that you and I may have responded quite similarly in how we felt being in the presence of you know somebody dying like that and by understanding that, sometimes no matter how much conditioning you go through and no matter how much mental wrap you take day in and day out there are always going to be pieces of you that still bring you back to the baseline of everybody else and that doesn't make you any less than. It just brings awareness to the fact that no one, this is something that I'm going to use as a tool to be able to use next time around as a police officer there will certainly be next times around where you might be in a similar situation and maybe you'll watch your feet a little bit more.
Clint: And every one I respond to know I'm always overly cautious so that doesn't happen again.
Ashlie: Exactly. And I think having these sort of inadvertently high stress situations like that, these uncomfortable situations going into it, it allows you to really develop who you are and to be able to later better serve the community that you're working with and when you're able to realize that no matter how tough you think you are or how skilled in a particular area, there's always room for improvement and the only way for you to improve is by putting yourself in situations that are uncomfortable. That allow you to challenge yourself and to maybe get you out of your comfort zone.
And when you're able to do that as much as you can, then you're able to grow in ways that you maybe never would have realized that you could and by growing and constantly shaking ourselves up in a way that allow us to face the challenge head on and to be humble enough to understand that I'm not the best at this and I will never be the best, but I'm the best that I can be today based on the skills and the knowledge and the experience that I have thus far. Then you're really able to enjoy your tactical living.
Balance. Optimize. Tactics.
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