Back in Hiawassee
Michelle and I have been living in Hiawassee for over a month now. We moved from Kennesaw on March 27, and I started with the Towns County Sheriff's Office on March 30. I started out riding with another officer on day shift (6:00 am to 6:00 pm). Once they figured out that I knew what I was doing, they put me out on my own. I stayed on day shift for a couple of weeks until an incident occurred on night shift that left two officers on administrative leave. Once the GBI completes their investigation I'll be able to say more. In the mean time, I'm working night shift to help cover the beats.
A self portrait from 2:00 am. I felt as tired as I look.
It’s nice though. I use to get terrible headaches everyday and I lived on migraine medicine. Since moving back to Hiawassee, I haven’t had any bad headaches. That either means that the headaches were stress induced, or the tumor that was causing them miraculously disappeared. It’s also been greet to be able to stop at home and eat with Michelle or stop at my parent’s house for coffee.
There are some drawbacks to moving back to Hiawassee though. I took a 50% pay cut. This blow was softened with a take home car, a county cell phone, and a free house (provided by Michelle’s grandmother, not the county). It’s also difficult to police in the town you grew up in. I’ve had to arrest a former classmate, and I know most people I pull over. If I don’t know the people I come across at work, then they either know me or my family. I’ll be talking to someone, and they’ll suddenly say, “Are you Stephen Smith’s son? He taught me algebra when I was in high school. He was the best teacher I ever had, and the best thing to happen to the school.” It’s hard to write a ticket to someone after they say something like that, but I manage anyway.
Some Pictures
A thunderstorm rolled through Marietta on February 18th. I happened to be sitting in the parking lot of Holy Family Catholic Church working on a report. When the sky started to fill with clouds and lightning, I pulled out my Sony Cyber-shot H9. I hoped to get pictures of the lightning itself, but that didn't happen. Instead, I changed the shutter speed to 30 seconds and sat the camera on the roof of my car. Here's three of the pictures that came out well. Holy Family has a great cross in the front of the parking lot that made for a great focal point.
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I responded to a report of an accident with injuries one afternoon. When I arrived, I found this Honda wrapped around a telephone poll. The teenage driver was miraculously not injured. The telephone poll snapped in half, and the top half came to rest feet from the car, still standing. It took the EMC hours to fix the problem.
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These Hands Give Life
On February 23rd I had an interview with the Towns County Sheriff's Office. It went very well. I wasn't promised a position, but the lieutenant said that he would hire me on the spot if it was up to him. They're supposed to have a position opening this month, and hopefully I will fill that position.
On February 28th, I was dispatched to a call where a 24 year old male had fallen unconscious and stopped breathing. One of his friends, Friend 1, called 911. The other friend, Friend 2, started CPR. I had been at a coffee shop nearby when the call went out, so I arrived quickly. Typically, the fire department arrives at medical calls before the police do. They're usually dispatched first, and they are usually on scene doing what they can do before I ever roll up. When I pulled into the subdivision, I heard the fire truck behind me. I pulled up to the house and Friend 1 ran outside. I took the stairs to the front door three at a time and ran in the house. The Friend 2 jumped up and ran to me, telling me what happened. I'm not sure what he said, because I immediately took his position on the floor next to his dying friend. His face was deep blue. I started with chest compressions. After 100 compressions, the man took a breath. At that time, the fire department came in with all of their medical equipment. I did 30 more compressions and he took another breath. The FD checked for a pulse and found one. He still wasn't breathing well, so they began pumping air into him and monitoring his pulse.
I caught my breath and went to talk with Friend 1 and 2. They said that they hadn't seen their friend in a couple of weeks. He came by the house today randomly. His lips were blue when they answered the door, and he asked for a cigarette. After he put the cigarette in his mouth, he passed out and the rest of his face turned blue. They said that he was a heavy drug user, but they weren't sure if he was on anything at the time. While the FD started an IV, I searched his pockets, but didn't find anything that would have killed him. I asked dispatch to have a detective call me, and I started searching his car for any clues.
The ambulance pulled up while I was searching the car and brought a stretcher to the stairs. I spoke with the detective and told him what was going on. He said he would notify the family, and asked that I call him if there were any major changes in his condition. By the time I finished speaking with the detective, I saw the paramedics wheeling the stretcher back to the ambulance, but there was noticeable lack of a body on it. I went back into the house and the dead guy was standing up, rubbing his chest and scratching his head. I went back outside and called the detective. Once I convinced the detective that I wasn't joking, the fire captain came outside and told me that the guy was refusing to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, we can't force someone to go to the hospital unless a doctor or judge orders it. The fire captain called Kennestone Hospital and spoke with a doctor while I went inside to talk to the no-longer-dead-guy.
He told me that he felt fine, and didn't need to go to the hospital. We tried to explain to him that whatever he had taken that killed him was still in his system. When the medicine from the IV and whatever shots they gave him wore off, he would likely die again. He continued to assure us that he was fine and didn't need to go to the hospital. The captain came in and said that the doctor said that he would order the committal. When faced with a three day committal, or a voluntary visit to the hospital, the no-longer-dead-guy chose to walk to the ambulance.
The fire captain told me that it was because of my effort with the CPR that the man lived. He later emailed my lieutenant, informing him of the work I did.
When I left the scene, one of the first thoughts I had was, "This would make a great Facebook status update." So I updated my Facebook status to say, "Paul just brought someone back from the dead. CPR works wonders."
Since then, I've had a great excuse for getting out of chores I don't want to do. I simply hold out my hands and tell Michelle, "Honey, these hands give life. They don't do dishes." When she presses me further to do the dishes, I again hold out my hands as if in awe of them and say, "Honey, these hands give life. They can take life too." She laughs at me and I end up doing the dishes anyway.