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I've got to work on my tackles.
It was 10AM and my unit was working a 12 hour shift detail, from 10AM to 10PM.
I got to work on time and was just driving around waiting for the rest of my unit to show up.
Being that we normally all meet up once everyone straggles in, I wasn’t suited up in my vest because I wasn’t really doing much of anything except burning gas and putting miles on my car.
BEEP!!!!! ATTENTION ALL UNITS. 5 BLACK MALES ARMED WITH GUNS IN FRONT OF AN ABANDONED HOUSE AT XXST NW XXAVE!
You’ve got to be kidding me, I was half a block away, so I started hauling ass over there, figuring someone else in my unit or at least some road units would get there with me and back me up.
Upon arrival I saw 5 black males gambling in front of the address listed and had a feeling this was more a drug deal related call-in and someone thought they got ‘jipped’ so they were going to make the false 911 call to get the dealer screwed.
I pulled up to the group, most of whom I already knew from previous arrests and jumped out of my vehicle.
I drew my sidearm and pointed it at the crowd.
In a calm and somewhat quiet voice I said, “Everybody on the floor, now.”
Those that knew me already laid down immediately and the one that didn’t took his time until one of his buddies yelled at him to lay down for me.
Okay, backup should be arriving shortly… but I really needed to check for guns while I still had them in that initial shock.
“Gentle, I’m going to check you one at a time for weapons. First person to move will have a T-shirt made ‘In memory of’, are we clear?”
They all said some form of ‘yes’.
I started from left to right, patting them down. I found no weapons but one of them did have a small bomb (few bags of marijuana in a larger bag).
A few guys on my squad showed up just as I was getting to the last guy. They started doing their thing while I went to my car to toss the ‘evidence’ in.
All of the sudden, I heard some of our undercover units yelling on the tactical channel we operate off of that they were a block south of us and had a tall black male running north west from them reference drug sales.
I threw my evidence in my car and started running west to see if I could cut the guy off, while my squad mates (minus 1 who stayed to watch the guys I had stopped) took chase after me.
Coming up to the cross street, I looked south and saw a guy matching the description given running north directly towards me.
I started running at him.
We got about 10 feet apart from each other when I realized that he was not just tall… he was 6’5 and had at least thirty pounds on me.
Screw it. I went for a low body tackle.
As luck would have it, he decided he wanted to do the same thing to me.
We met shoulder to shoulder and I blanked out for a second.
As I realized what was happening, I had already gone up and over him, landing solidly on the ground, right on my left shoulder which was apparently already dislocated.
I looked down at my shoulder, which was now in front of my chest.
Damn it.
I rolled over, slamming my arm into the ground, forcing it back into place like I’d done several times before.
The adrenaline was pumping at that point and I don’t remember feeling any pain.
I got back up and chased the guy another block with my squad mates just behind me.
The guy jumped a chain link fence and I followed suit.
I ended the chase when I took out my pistol and told him to freeze. He didn’t and I gave him a pistol whip to what I thought was going to be his head and ended up being his eye ball.
He went down to the floor immediately and my guys jumped on him, effecting the arrest.
One of my guys turned to me, “Hey Dash… you need to get to the hospital man. Look at your shoulder”.
It was already swelling.
Crap.
I refused the hospital because that would put me on official light duty and instead went to the firehouse a few blocks away. They basically told me that I needed to ice it and take some Ibuprofen but if it didn’t go down in swelling in a few hours to go to the hospital… Then they gave me some of their freshly cooked hamburgers/fries and water for lunch.
I had my supervisor write the First Report of Injury paperwork and I wrote up my arrests with my functional hand, calling it a day. My partner for the day did her best to help me out and my wife took care of me when I got home. Long day and I’ll be babying my arm for a few weeks until it gets better. Hurts a whole damn lot.
Long story short, I need to work on my tackles.
I’m on unofficial Light Duty per my LT until the arm is healed. I can come to work and do my thing but he wants me laying low for a bit.
Also.. I’ve amassed too many complaints/uses of force/IA cases in my tenure in the unit and I was basically told it’s time to start looking for a new home.
I’m hoping one of these interviews that I did come to fruition soon, my personal jacket is getting too thick.
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