Monday, February 16, 2009

Another EMT Story

A friend just sent me a video of a woman kicking the living p*ss out of a guy. From the context, it seems that he started it (after he got drunk), but she finished it. Reminds me of a story from when I was a firefighter. I was driving the ambulance this time, unlike my first story. The call was for a "person injured in a fight". The part of town where the call came from was not, shall we say, a good part of town. Any time the cops went in there, they went (a) in force and (b) loaded for bear. We pulled into the community behind two cop cars who raced ahead. By the time we got there, there were already five cop cars in front of a townhome.

Now, picture this: A small townhome. A front door made of glass and the glass is completely shattered. Surrounding the front yard is a 4' high chain link fence. The fence is roughly 15' from the front door. Lying on the ground where the fence hits the grass is a man, clutching the fence as if his life depended on it, crying, and he's yelling, "She was trying to kill me! She was trying to kill me!" Standing on the front porch are three women. One is relatively slender and of normal height (5' 8" or so). The other two are, shall we say, more substantial. All three are looking at this guy lying in the grass as if he were a cockroach to be stepped on. My aide and I start working on this guy. He's pretty well banged up. Has a nice cut over his right eye and a knot that's getting egg-sized. And more cuts all over. Oh, and he reeks of alcohol. We get him loaded into the back of the ambulance. Once we do, I ask the cops what happened because my aide needs to put it into her report.

Turns out that this guy has a history of domestic violence. This was his third time attacking the slender woman mentioned above (his girlfriend). In most cases, victims of domestic violence figure it's their own fault. Perhaps this women did, too. The first two times. But not this time. She called her two sister's to come help her. The two sisters (uh, BIG sisters would be the apt term here) came over and, uh, helped. They proceeded to give this guy (as another buddy called it) a "severe thumpin'". They finished him by tossing him through the front door. The plate glass front door. How in the world he did not wind up with deep gashes and life-threatening arterial bleeds, I will never know.

Let's just make this simple. The idea of "Don't Marry a Woman Bigger Than You" or "Don't Live With A Girlfriend With Two Sisters Bigger and Tougher Than You" isn't easy enough. How about, "Don't Commit Violence On Your Wife / Girlfriend / Significant Other"?

Just a thought.