[Intro]
911, what's the nature of your emergency?
Ashlie: Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Living by Leo worriers. I'm your host Ashlie Walton.
Clint: And I'm your co-host Clint Walton.
Ashlie: In today's episode we're going to talk about how being a police officer and sharing some of the stories that you have might not have the same impact on you as they do on me as the wife of a police officer. So just sit back, relax and enjoy today's content. I can remember a night very vividly when Clint came home. And he shared a story with me that he held on to until he got home that night and it's a story that he's telling me so naturally. And we had the lights out because we were watching tv at the same time.
And I remember just pouring tears down my cheeks while trying to remain silent the entire time that you're telling me this story and I don't think it was until you were done telling the story that you realized that I was on the verge of sobbing based on what you were talking to me about and it was so emotional for me that I had to call my dad. Because that same emotion that was evoked in me, I didn't receive in reciprocation from you and I needed immediately in that moment to talk to somebody who would understand how the story that you just shared had such a major impact. And really a wakeup call to me being your family and based on my dad's reaction also to him being your family. So baby if you can go back to that night and maybe try to recall the story as you remember it.
Clint: Well it was normal day. You know I worked in special detail. Me and my partner were asked to go help our detectives go do knock and talk at a house because a deputy's gun and duty belt were actually stolen out of this car in our city. And they had located one of those off duty weapons as well in another area of our city and we tied it back to a specific mobile home on the west side of our city. And so after briefing about it you know we didn't have a search warrant. We were just going to go talk to the people there and find out what happened or if they knew of anything surrounding that incident. So me and my partner arrive at the mobile home and knock on the door and a mom answers and she greets us, and she was very nice and allowed us to come in and the detectives came in with us. Now that we had the mobile home secured.
We didn't clear the whole thing it didn't appear as though anyone else was inside. So just the mom and her three-year-old little daughter who is in the back bedroom watching cartoons. Which we allow that to happen, we don't want to scare the little girl to think of you know us as bad people. So the detectives start interviewing the mom asking where her husband or boyfriend at the time was and she said she didn't know and it just kind of progressed from there. Where they further asked well. Did you see any you know like belts that looked like ours. And we pointed to our duty belts and or firearms and started really talking about a gun and specifically the deputy's gun that was stolen.
And she told us she did recognize it, but she didn't know where she had seen one of those from. So at this point she started getting pretty uncooperative with us and not answering any questions. So we wanted to make sure that there was no one else inside the mobile home. And as me and my partner walked to the far end of the mobile home, it was almost like a t hallway where the hallway runs parallel and then you have a room on the left and a room on the right. So as we're walking to the room, I see the 3-year-old little girl coming out of the bedroom holding a gun. And it was pointed right at my face. And her finger was on the trigger.
And I just calmly talked to her. I mean my gun was out, but I'm not going to shoot a 3-year-old little girl who's holding a gun at me, because she doesn't have a clue what's even going on. And I just started quietly talking to the little girl and approached her and I was able to luckily secure the gun. I twisted it out of her hand so her finger couldn't pull the trigger while I was doing it and I secured it. And then my partner grabbed the little girl and just calmly carried her over to her mom. And at that point my partner and I finished clearing the room to make sure now that there was no one else hiding inside the mobile home. And we located the duty belt and another firearm as well as all the equipment on that deputy's duty belt. At this point we're all secure.
Where we know what just happened. The firearm secure, all the ammo was secure. And I make the weapon safe. Excuse me, which means I take out the magazine and I lock the slide back. And when I did that, I realized there was a round in the chamber as well. Just like most police officers carry their weapons. We always have one in the chamber. And that's when it kind of struck me as, wow if she would have pulled that I could have easily been dead and my partner who was right by me thought the same thing and we both had like a oh shit moment when that happened. And then one of our other partners realized everything that just transpired, and she went off on the mom and we call her mama bear now just because of how she went off on him. And one of the detectives was inside at the time and we immediately take the mom into custody for child endangerment and secure the deputy's equipment. And at that time you know it was shocking to us just to realize that the 3-year-old little girl who we didn't pay any attention to, she was just watching cartoons in the back could have just taken one of our lives.
And after the fact people say, oh well she didn't have the power to pull the trigger which I believe is absolute bullshit. Because a lot of guns nowadays you can pull a trigger very easily when there's one already in the chamber. And that's when that like adrenaline rush kind of kicked in like, wow I could have just got shot right there. And this is just one of many instances in which I've had those close calls on. But that one specifically struck out because we talked about it. We debriefed it afterwards just me and my partner and we go, man we were so fortunate that it turned out the way it did. Because it could have gotten way worse. And we recognize the fact that I mean, yeah, she could have only gotten one round.
But I was literally looking down the barrel of the gun when I was making the approach to her and I didn't want to scare her. I didn't want to freak her out. She was just kind of going off probably what she was taught from her parents. So later on after the fact the detectives started talking about the story and how it happened to them too and it was funny to see how the story transpired after that. But that's really what happened to my partner and I on that day and it was a very eye-opening experience. I've learned from that dramatically and I don't like kids just sit and watch cartoons in those instances anymore.
Ashlie: So two things here. The first thing that sticks out to me with you recounting that story to me for the first time since that night when you told me about it to begin with, how unfortunate it is that we live in a society regardless of what profession we're in where people feel the need to take ownership of some sort of badge of honor during a situation like that. That's number one. Because you and your partner were the only ones in that hallway. And yet other people felt the need to really fallacy the fact that they were there too.
Clint: What's kind of funny with that is, actually that story made national headlines. And in this story, it says detectives were faced with this predicament and it didn't talk about us who were just officers. That could have been just a typo or whatever else it maybe.
Ashlie: It could have been. A number two, I feel like the way that you're telling this story now is actually resonating with you quite a bit deeper than it did that first time you told it to me. And maybe there's some sort of growth and development that's happened since then.
And I think for me I've been involved in so many other incidents now that I can really sit back and analyze them on more of a personal basis to see how it could affect me and to recognize those and address those, so it doesn't affect me long term.
Ashlie: And as scary as that is and how uncomfortable it was to hear that story both times, for me listening to you compared that story with other things you've experienced it sounds like you're reflecting on the fact that you learned from that mistake and I would bet to guess that you've probably made sure that even if it's just a three year old girl down the hallway watching cartoons, that you still take that as another human who could potentially cause you harm.
Clint: Yeah. That's something that I don't mess around with and anybody who tells me otherwise, I will tell them no. And I take that situation and address it how I need to address it.
Ashlie: And I think it's important to point out that even in something as hostile as this situation could have wound up, I mean call it what it is there is a good chance that you would have been justified had you decided to pull your own trigger in a deadly situation like that. You were in a deadly situation and it's one of those instances where you really had to use your own judgment as an officer and as a human being to decide what you wanted to do in that moment.
Clint: Yeah. And the judgment call is not only one based off of my own safety. It was just straight, could I live with myself if I were to just say shoot the little girl. Which I would have been justified. It would have been a whole horrible nightmare media wise and everything. But in justification, I could have done it.
Ashlie: And I want to point out that I remember us having this conversation that night and me having to rebuttal what you just said with the fact of how would I have felt knowing that this 3 year old girl was some deadbeat parents just took the life of my husband and my husband sacrificed her life in return for it. How selfish would I be to feel that way? And as the wife of a police officer, like I don't care. And that's the honest truth. I am so proud of you for making that decision. It's one that not a lot of officers may have sided with and in that moment, in that adrenaline, that heat of things that could have gone like one of two ways and you decided to go with option number one. And I know that for me as the spouse of you I don't know how I would have felt in knowing that that little girl had she pulled the trigger took your life and then I had to deal and live with that.
That humbling decision that you made, and I think it's one of the struggles as a spouse that we face. And that's just me being blatantly honest. Like I don't give a shit about the 3-year-old girl. I give a shit about you. I will never meet her. I want to see your face every day when you come home. But I think that as an officer it's only you that has the ability to make those split-second decisions with your own judgment. And it makes me really glad to know that you do work in a city that's active enough to where you get the kinds of experience on a routine basis to be able to further instill really the strength and the mental muscle power that's needed in order to make the best possible split decision for yourself if something like that ever happened again.
And I think no matter what you do in your profession, by having the ability to just practice your strengths and to practice what it is that you do for a living in a way that showcases your own interest in what you do every day for work, then you're able to better prepare yourself for these moments of I need to decide now what I'm going to do. Because this could affect my life and the life of many other people if I don't choose the right thing and in knowing that you have the power to do that and that a lot of times all that you can do is based on your own experience allows you to put yourself in a situation to where you can try to grow more of that experience.
Maybe that means signing up for overtime, maybe that means taking extra classes. Sure it sucks nobody likes to do that on the nights or weekends. But those are the types of things that we need to do in order to grow and to move forward and to better prepare ourselves for these types of moments. And when you allow yourself to expand in that capacity, then that's really how you're able to enjoy your tactical living.
Balance. Optimize. Tactics.
Hit that subscribe button so that you don't miss a day of the added value that I am dedicated to sharing with you weekly.
Let's Connect!
Email: ashliewalton555@gmail.com
Website: www.leowarriors.com
