Cop life: The sad calls

If you think you have an interesting story - maybe you do, but a veteran cop has many, many more. I spent 20-plus years as a cop, retiring as Lieutenant, and this is one of the many incidents that my brain cannot dispose of.

The father came to the police station, reporting he had found his son dead. He was clearly distraught but lucid. My partner and I went with the father to the young man's home and found him deceased on his bed. It was a clear suicide - but an unusual one.

The son had put a rope noose around his neck and tied the other end to the headboard of the bed. And he apparently worked his body towards the foot of the bed - thereby tightening the noose - which led to his death.

The young man's dad told us that his son owned a handgun and did a lot of target shooting. We found the gun which was an expensive, Colt .45 ACP target pistol.

The question arose - why did the son not take his life with the pistol. His dad answered that his offspring loved that weapon so much, he did not want it to be the tool that took his own life.

The father also added that his son had recently gone through a number of negative occurances in his life and had stated, "If this keeps happening, I know where I am going". Decades later, my mind still relives the final moments of this young man. And the sadness lingers, even as I write this piece.

The young man was dead, but the father will carry the incident with him forever.

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