Another Dr Pepper If You Please

Some gifts keep on giving long after first being shared.  For example, this morning, as part of a habit after taking my vitamins, I tore off a page of the calendar which has a trivia message as part of the incentive to keep up to date.  If I’d taken my vitamins, I get to read that day’s trivia.

Today I read, “Vending machines kill more people than sharks per year”.

I was reminded of an old police incident involving the “Killer Dr Pepper Machine”.  Some of this incident was included in an unpublished novel, Pecaw’s Gift; but that’s a whole other story as they say around here. 

Upon using the search engine on an older thumb drive I was surprised to find my Field Training Officer’s (FTI) report, the original as sent to the police academy while a Probationary Police Officer (PPO) was in training. If memory serves, the rookie officer was Dan Starr, a fine officer and well worth having as a friend all these years.

There were 25 areas of interest that needed to be addressed on a regular basis, documented to show the department had fulfilled its obligation to properly train each rookie police officer; his or her knowledge of laws, procedures, familiarity with locations, map use and so on, each item matching a given number 1 – 25.

It was fun reading the summary as it was written, not complete sentences; but sufficient information to cover the training.

 

Self initiated investigation Accidental Death of a Juvenile 1601

Pech at 01:47 hrs. # 56396886.  FTI heard call being dispatched

to unit 5f22 and had PPO volunteer to take it (3,12,13,17,25). 

PPO was familiar with the location (10) and drove to it in

reasonable amount of time.  FTI and PPO arrived to find that an

attempt had been made to burglarize a soda machine but that the

machine had fallen on one of the suspects causing his immediate

death (6). PPO talked to HFD and determined that it was necessary

to call the ME and JUV.  PPO was given instruction over the phone

as to how to investigate and protect the crime scene (23).  FTI

called for CSU and protected the scene while PPO was on the

phone.  PPO talked with witness/(suspect) to determine what had

happened.   PPO showed good judgment and command bearing while

interviewing both family members and other police officers who

were at the scene (1,4,24).  PPO kept extensive notes so that he

would be able to make a report later on.  PPO and FTI had to hold

back the mother of the dead juvenile when she arrived to keep

her from disturbing the body (22).  After the scene was secure

and all the other support units had conducted their investigation

PPO and FTI transported "witness" to central so that he could

make his sworn statement.  FTI and PPO stood at a safe distance

to avoid being stuck by lightning when statement was signed (4).

PPO then finished his report (14,15,16). PPO left off weather

on the front of report and also that the soda machine was a

damaged article.  PPO then took the complete report to records

so that it could be entered into the system right away (5). PPO

and FTI then took witness home and completed the call (18).  PPO

stated he understood what was needed in homicide reports (2).

PPO also looked up locations in Key Map (9)._____________

 

I’m told the family of the deceased young man, the suspected burglar of a coin operated machine, the one who got crushed under the soda machine; his family tried to sue for damages on the grounds the soda machine had not been properly secured to keep it from tipping over.  I never bothered to find out if that information was accurate or not; I was too busy laughing.