What a morning
Oct. 27th, 2006 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanFor what I believe is the third time in my life, I just saw a dead body in the city. Alexis and I frequently make what seems now to be a very unfunny joke that, walking dogs in the park at night as we do, we will inevitably find a dead body. I'm always looking into the river as I walk to the train, looking to see unusual ducks, or a swimming muskrat. Instead I saw a pair of pale legs in the dark water. I stopped and stared for a while, eventually convinced that I was looking at someone's idea of a halloween prank--a partially dressed mannequin dropped into the river to scare someone like me, and waste the time of emergency responders. I actually considered for a moment, getting a long stick and dragging it out of the water, to keep someone else from wasting police time.
I struggled with it a bit, and finally called 911. When I said the words "body in the river," the officer on the line repeated them, shouting to the others in the room or on the dispatch line. "Body in the river!" I tried to stammer out that I suspected it was a prank, but the action was in place and he cut me short. I took a few steps, turned back, paused, and then walked to train platform, worried that I was going to be late for work. A man with a T uniform was there; I asked if he was a T policeman or inspector, and he said no, but I told him what was going on anyway. As I was talking to him, sirens and blue lights arrived on Longwood Ave, and I realized that they were going to have to find the body/dummy which wasn't close to a street.
I resolved to be late to work and went back into the park. In seconds there were cruisers on the path, and officers with flashlights everywhere. I found the first policeman and told him "it's over here--I called 911." An EMT caught up with me and I took him to the site. A very frightened looking man (a familiar face from the park) was there, and I was saying that I thought it was a dummy, the cop shook his head and said, "this man found a note." He explained to other officers that the man had found a backpack with what appeared to be a suicide note in or on it. It wasn't until then that I realized that it wasn't a sick prank, but that I wished that it had been. Some mother's daughter is gone.
I struggled with it a bit, and finally called 911. When I said the words "body in the river," the officer on the line repeated them, shouting to the others in the room or on the dispatch line. "Body in the river!" I tried to stammer out that I suspected it was a prank, but the action was in place and he cut me short. I took a few steps, turned back, paused, and then walked to train platform, worried that I was going to be late for work. A man with a T uniform was there; I asked if he was a T policeman or inspector, and he said no, but I told him what was going on anyway. As I was talking to him, sirens and blue lights arrived on Longwood Ave, and I realized that they were going to have to find the body/dummy which wasn't close to a street.
I resolved to be late to work and went back into the park. In seconds there were cruisers on the path, and officers with flashlights everywhere. I found the first policeman and told him "it's over here--I called 911." An EMT caught up with me and I took him to the site. A very frightened looking man (a familiar face from the park) was there, and I was saying that I thought it was a dummy, the cop shook his head and said, "this man found a note." He explained to other officers that the man had found a backpack with what appeared to be a suicide note in or on it. It wasn't until then that I realized that it wasn't a sick prank, but that I wished that it had been. Some mother's daughter is gone.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 07:56 pm (UTC)You found her, had courage to call 911, now her loved ones won't have to wait weeks or even longer trying to figure out what happened to her. Now she can "go home" to her family.
Sorry you had to witness all of this, hope you see a sunset this evening that makes you feel better.