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Array
(
[sid] => 167773
[catid] => 1
[aid] => mick
[title] => THE BABY WHO NEVER WAS (PART 1)
[time] => 2011-10-11 08:56:43
[hometext] => A TRUE STORY ABOUT AN UNFORTUNATE EVENT IN MY LIFE
[bodytext] => While on routine patrol in the Shady Hills area in rural northern Pasco County, Florida, I had been dispatched to a secluded farm out along an old shell rock road way back in a wooded area, on a domestic battery call. When I arrived at a clearing on that path I observed it to be the front yard of an old farm house and observed a number of old trucks and tractors parked there. Between them I observed and heard an obviously pregnant woman (who was in her 8th month) lying on the ground and screaming at the top of her lungs while a 6 foot tall long haired hippy looking man covered with tattoos jumping on and off of the belly of the victim (whom I'll call Amelia). I quickly exited my cruiser after radioing for backup units and was immediately ordered to take cover and do nothing until back up arrived. Under my breath I said “Yeah Right” as I grabbed my shotgun from it's rack inside my patrol car. I then took two steps before I observed two older white males with long white beards pointing rifles at me as I approached and forced me to dive for cover behind one of their tractors. I heard one of them yell, “Don't shoot. You'll hit the tractor.” Then he yelled to me “You're trespassing here boy, and this is just a family taking care of it's private business. I responded by saying “I have back up on the way but before it gets here there are going to be at least 3 dead hillbilly's beginning with that man jumping on that woman if you don't drop your weapons immediately and then turn around and face the house on your bellies.” They complied but the male batterer was stil actively jumping on Amelia's belly and kicking her there as well. Because I was in fear of his killing her I locked and loaded my shotgun and was taking aim at him as I fully intended to kill him without any further warning. I suppose he sensed this as he stopped what he was doing and raised his arms up in surrender. Because of the commotion I had not heard my back up vehicle arriving at the scene and he yelled at me “Shoot the bastard!” The suspect fell to the ground face down and kept his hands raised. I remember thinking to myself “Dammit” because at that single moment in time my human weakness had a real and true desire to splatter his brains out. But something stopped me from doing something I may never have regretted doing but the something that allowed me to boldly go running without a second's thought for my own life into a hazardous situation was none other than the Holy Spirit. How many of His interventions overruling my human acts have kept me over the years from alternate outcomes I'll never know till I get to Heaven. My partner and I cuffed the prisoner and my partner escorted him to the back seat of his cruiser while I kept my shotgun aimed in the direction of the “Duke Brothers” I proceeded to tend to the victim. My partner radioed for an ambulance and a Paddy Wagon because if they hadn't figured it out already they, except for the victim, were all under arrest. Amelia lost her baby that day. Her husband had abandoned her months earlier when he found out she was pregnant because he didn't believe he was the father. But he wanted to return to his family compound where bootlegging was their primary income and reap some of their financial success. But he couldn't stand to look at his wife's huge swollen body, and after getting totally drunk became a raging monster and attacked her. No one in the family admitted to having been the one to call the Sheriff's Office for help. Amelia was transported by ambulance to a local hospital and subsequently taken into protective custody at an anonymous Spouse Abuse Shelter in the Tampa bay area and not in Pasco County. I booked all the men into the jail on Attempted Murder and Aggravated Battery charges. But things weren't back then in the 80's as victim protective as they are today. Not by a long shot. Three days later I had to attend a routine SAO Invest, which is a State Attorney Investigation into any alleged crime complete with the victims and the arresting officers and any other witnesses. When I opened the door and entered the SAO I lost my breath and my heart stopped when I saw all 3 male suspects and Amelia sitting with them in the waiting area. Amelia's husband was sitting with his arm wrapped around her and all of them grinned from ear to ear when I entered. All of them had testified that my report and the report of my patrol partner were all fabricated and that her husband never would have done such a thing as we had observed first hand. She had signed a “Waiver of Prosecution” and recanted her original claim of Battery by her husband. The fact that she was now barren of child was explained by her as having been a misfortunate accident. The State Attorney had already taken their statements and allowed her to sign the waiver prior to my arrival. But he had asked them to wait for me and my partner to hear our input into the decision. I behaved badly. I became “irate” and said none to softly, “If this woman is stupid enough to go back into this environment and live with these low life scumbags then I don't give a damn!” I then walked out of the office and slammed the door. This was a very unprofessional manner of behavior for me but my partner followed me out the door as well. Both my partner and I were contacted on the radios in our cars and ordered to return immediately to the State Attorney's Office. We were ushered right away back into the supervisors and told, not asked to sit. We were both still fuming over the earlier events, but so was the SAO chief attorney. He began, “If you ever do that again, I will have your badges and personally escort you into the presence of the Sheriff himself.” “What you don't understand is that we are just as angry as you are but under the current laws they provide for a victim to ask for and receive a waiver of prosecution. There is Legislation in the works seeking to give the State Attorney the sole discretion to file any charge on behalf of the People of the state of Florida and that a signed waiver would bear little weight in the making of that decision.” It's in the works, so be patient till then won't you please and then I don't have to report your actions to your Internal Affairs.” But we were reported to them by (You guessed it) the victim and the suspects and charged with abusive force. We were put through the ringer while an Internal Affairs Invest was conducted and were suspended for about 10 days with pay until at the conclusion of it's investigation produced a document stating that the claims against us were “Unfounded!” Well the legislature eventually passed the law giving the State Attorney's the total discretion to file or not to file criminal charges against any suspect. Unfortunately, it was too little too late for only several months later Amelia was found beaten to death along a rural highway in Hernando County just north of Pasco. What went through my mind instantly as I was being advised of these facts was this, “I should have pulled the trigger!” I was totally unaware that I wasn't just thinking it because everyone in the restaurant I was having lunch at was staring at me as I was yelling this sentiment at the top of my lungs. When I realized what had just occurred I left the restaurant with my head hung low in shame and went out to my patrol car and began banging the steering wheel and sobbed like a baby. It must have been quite a sight to any onlookers. Moments later my radio cackled “Adam 8, you have a call in the Adam 6 sector. And just like that I was enroute to another signal 7 call (another dead body)! Back in the saddle again, there was no longer any more time for tears. Not for Amelia or her “baby who never was.” By: Robert Edgar Burns [comments] => 1 [counter] => 149 [topic] => 51 [informant] => robert_edgar_burns [notes] => [ihome] => 0 [alanguage] => [acomm] => 0 [haspoll] => 0 [pollID] => 0 [score] => 0 [ratings] => 0 [editpoem] => 1 [associated] => [topicname] => Event )
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