A Break From The Norm

The call came in around 3 in the afternoon. It was for an unknown medical (which always makes me wonder how dispatch knows there's a medical problem in the first place). As we turned the last corner we noticed several PD units right about where we needed to go (while they are usually there at the same address we had, on the previous call, ran into an officer taking a report from the neighbor of our patient). Dispatch also updated us and said we were assisting PD with a ladder.

After talking with the officers we found out that our potential patient was a 65 year old man that had recently lost his job. His mom said that he had been heavily drinking for several days and that he hadn't answered knocks on the door for quite a while. She said that there was also a loaded shotgun by the locked bedroom door.

The sergeant set up a plan where PD would stack up outside his bedroom door and wait for the signal to bust in. Meanwhile we would very quietly set up the ladder outside the bedroom window. Thankfully the blinds weren't drawn all the way down. Then another officer would scale the ladder and peek in the window. If the suspect/patient was not near the weapon he would give the signal and the officers in the hallway would make their entry.

It all went off without a hitch.

The man had been sleeping off his booze and wasn't really thrilled to see us but was none the less cooperative. He was adamant that he didn't need medical attention but the officers disagreed. They placed him on a psychiatric hold (5150) and AMR took him to the hospital.

In the end we were all just happy that the outcome was such a good one. There was a lot of potential for things to go sideways.