time for today's police question

[Alpo]

In the television show I just saw a clip of, cop number one shot the bad guy.

 

He then gets on his radio and says "shots fired, suspect down, requesting an ambulance and a supervisor".

 

Cop number two comes in, quickly looks at the guy on the floor, takes out her radio and says "cancel the ambulance, suspect is deceased".

 

Can the cop make that determination?

 

It just seems to me that they would still have to roll the ambulance and let some medical professional decide that the guy on the floor in the pool of blood is dead. Can the cop do that?

 

As I said, television show, fiction, but can the cop do that?

 

I would hate to be the police officer that said somebody was dead, and then the autopsy decided that he had lasted another 20 minutes. There was plenty of time to have gotten him to the hospital, but his pulse was so weak that I couldn't feel it so I said he was dead.

 

Aside from I would probably feel bad about that, the lawsuit would bankrupt me and the city.

[watab kid]

good question - not being a cop i dont know but my guess is the EMT needs to make that call once they are on scene - cant cancel that call - either way the body must be removed 

[Alpo]

39 minutes ago, watab kid said:

cant cancel that call

Now that's a good point.

 

Many years back I was a security guard. And a dumpster caught fire. So I called the fire department. Then I went and found a 5 gallon bucket and filled it up with water and poured it on the fire and I did that three or four times until it appeared to me that the fire was out.

 

So I called the fire department back and I said to cancel the call because the fire was out. They showed up anyhow. The man told me that they get called out they don't go back. They go out on a call they make the call. He also told me that it's really hard to put out a dumpster fire. And that the water in the truck had a wetting agent in it to make it wetter. You needed wet water to put out a dumpster fire.

 

And, oh, about 20 year back Mama had the rice boil over. That starch hit that burner and the house fills up with smoke and the smoke detector went off.

 

And since she was hooked up with ADT, they called in the fire department. We called them and told them there was no fire and they came out anyway. And I met them at the door and I told them there was no fire and they did not care. They came in the house looking for the fire.

 

Seems like an ambulance would be the same way. You get called out, you make the trip.

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

10 hours ago, Alpo said:

In the television show I just saw a clip of, cop number one shot the bad guy.

 

He then gets on his radio and says "shots fired, suspect down, requesting an ambulance and a supervisor".

 

Cop number two comes in, quickly looks at the guy on the floor, takes out her radio and says "cancel the ambulance, suspect is deceased".

 

Can the cop make that determination?

 

It just seems to me that they would still have to roll the ambulance and let some medical professional decide that the guy on the floor in the pool of blood is dead. Can the cop do that?

 

As I said, television show, fiction, but can the cop do that?

 

I would hate to be the police officer that said somebody was dead, and then the autopsy decided that he had lasted another 20 minutes. There was plenty of time to have gotten him to the hospital, but his pulse was so weak that I couldn't feel it so I said he was dead.

 

Aside from I would probably feel bad about that, the lawsuit would bankrupt me and the city.

 

Absolutely not. Not ever, in any circumstance. I can't emphasize NO strongly enough. That is a doctor's determination only, regardless of whether it's a police shooting or not.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

If the body is cold, MAYBE a cop can say he's dead and call the coroner or appropriate people to actually confirm instead of an ambulance.

[Rip Snorter]

From experience, if they have been dead for any length of time, you can spot a dead White person from across the room - blood has settled and they are a quite different skin color.  EMT & Coroner will determine actual ruling.

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

Departments have policy for these incidents.

I haven't seen a policy manual in over 10 years, so there is that.

But any injuries will determine a medical response.

I always let those folks make the decision to notify coroner, etc.

Even if it's obvious, (like a decapitation) I let medical people reach medical conclusions, and just report what I saw, felt (no pulse)etc. Upon arrival.

[Seldom Seen #16162]

One year at.the beginning of winter a elderly man walked away for his nursing room. It wasn't until.the following Spring that his frozen body was found in the bottom of a outside basement stairwell. EMS was still called to check his body and the Coroner had to rule the cause of death.

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

It's probably just proper procedure to call in EMS these days. But I remember many older TV shows where the responding Officer would say something like "Send Homicide Detectives and the Coroner out here".

[Utah Bob #35998]

Generally no.

[watab kid]

20 hours ago, Alpo said:

Now that's a good point.

 

Many years back I was a security guard. And a dumpster caught fire. So I called the fire department. Then I went and found a 5 gallon bucket and filled it up with water and poured it on the fire and I did that three or four times until it appeared to me that the fire was out.

 

So I called the fire department back and I said to cancel the call because the fire was out. They showed up anyhow. The man told me that they get called out they don't go back. They go out on a call they make the call. He also told me that it's really hard to put out a dumpster fire. And that the water in the truck had a wetting agent in it to make it wetter. You needed wet water to put out a dumpster fire.

 

And, oh, about 20 year back Mama had the rice boil over. That starch hit that burner and the house fills up with smoke and the smoke detector went off.

 

And since she was hooked up with ADT, they called in the fire department. We called them and told them there was no fire and they came out anyway. And I met them at the door and I told them there was no fire and they did not care. They came in the house looking for the fire.

 

Seems like an ambulance would be the same way. You get called out, you make the trip.

yup - thats how it works , i know a few firemen , LEOs and medics