Beware The Writing On The Wall

Sometimes we don’t see what’s right in front of us. This time the writing was literally on the wall and I missed it.

Calls for us to check on people are a dime a dozen. They happen a lot. Most turn out to be nothing or just end with a trip to the hospital to talk to someone. But they can also turn into a complete disaster. You just never know which one you’ll be going to.

Where There’s Smoke

With an hour or so to go on my midnight shift, another officer and I were dispatched to check condition on a guy who had posted a good-bye message on social media. We arrived at his apartment door around 6:00 a.m. and knocked but there was no answer. Based on the information we had, we determined we would need to go in and check on him. A non-exigent forced entry required the approval of a supervisor so we made the request over the air and stood by and awaited a boss’s arrival. While we stood around on the front stoop the smoke detector inside the apartment started going off in its typical high-pitched series of tones.

My partner and I looked at each other and wondered if this was about to get interesting. We didn’t see or smell smoke but it wouldn’t be the first time someone burnt the toast. The sergeant arrived on scene, we gave him the rundown, and we forced the door open. The entry opened up to a bare wall and then the kitchen was off to the right with some adjoining rooms. There was a gray-blue smoky haze clinging to the ceiling and the distinct smell of a charcoal grill was in the air. I started clearing to the right noting the closed doors that we would have to deal with. Then from behind me, my partner called out, Hey, we need to back out! There’s carbon monoxide in here!

Silent But Deadly

He took me by surprise because carbon monoxide wasn’t even on my radar. I mean, sure there was a little blue smoke, but it was no big deal. I figured we could clear that apartment in a couple of seconds and be out of there. I was an idiot. Carbon monoxide is silent but deadly, much like being trapped in an elevator with someone on a high fiber, high protein diet.

We backed out of the apartment and once outside my partner pointed out the writing on the wall that I had missed. Lo and behold, there on the white wall facing the entry door written in black marker was a skull and cross bones with the words Beware! and Carbon Monoxide! And not only at the front door, but on other walls as well. I had completely missed it and walked right into an invisible kill zone. But even if it didn’t kill me, I’d be losing some brain cells and I only had so many to spare.

Firefighters Are Cute

With the fire department now on scene the amount of blue smoke had increased. Of course, the firefighters were too scared to go in, because, well, they’re firefighters. So my sergeant and I got outfitted with some SCBA’s (self-contained breathing apparatus) which is the full face mask attached to an oxygen tank you wear on your back. Besides the weight of the tank, breathing in that thing was awesome. I had assumed it was going to be like wearing a gas mask, but oh no, it had none of that restricted breathing feeling.

Now masked up with an air supply, my sergeant and I entered the apartment and began clearing. The apartment was small and the two rooms off the kitchen were all we had left to contend with. The bathroom was clear, leaving the last room — the bedroom. We forced the bedroom door open to find thick gray smoke had filled the room. The source of the smoke actually was a charcoal fire that was somewhat contained in an aluminum foil casserole pan sitting on the floor. The smoke was so thick I couldn’t see into the room. I squatted down to look beneath the smoke and panned back and forth with my gunlight to reveal glimpses of a cluttered room. That’s when I saw the victim lying on a mattress on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head and a handgun nearby. The only threat now was the charcoal fire.

We backed out of the building and let the firefighters know there was no need to be scared — there were no monsters under the bed. They went in and did what firefighters do — break stuff, trample potential evidence, and then threw the charcoal-filled aluminum tray out the window where a waiting hose-chucker gave it a thorough dousing. Now that they had saved the day and acquired a new war story to tell, they were on their way with that after-action glow and leaving us with the cleanup.

Writing On The Walls

The investigation into the death showed that this guy had intended on killing himself via carbon monoxide poisoning by way of a charcoal grill. When that took too long or was ineffective, he implemented a contingency plan and blew his brains out, leaving the charcoal to fester and burn. Despite this person’s sad state of affairs and decision to end his own life, he had made an effort to warn anyone who came looking for him by writing on the walls.

At the risk of being over-dramatic like a firefighter (sorry, I’m on a roll), my partner saved my life that morning. He had his head on a swivel and saw the danger signs that I had missed. I was so focused on being the point man, covering the threat areas inside the apartment, and being quick about it that I had overlooked what was literally right in front of my face.

Signs

Much like Mel Gibson’s wife in the movie Signs when she tells him to “See,” we need to have our eyes open — both literally and figuratively — when clearing rooms. No matter where you are in the stack or what areas you find yourself clearing, you need to have your head on a swivel to break that tunnel vision, identify potential threats, and look for work to do. Your biggest threat might not even be a person, it could be something else like a booby trap, poor footing,  or other environmental hazards.

Let’s break it down:

1. Move only as fast as you can process information and shoot accurately.  This will likely feel too slow in the moment, but going any faster could cause you to miss things — whether that be missing information or missing a shot.

2. Keeping your head on a swivel means physically turning your head side to side and up and down to break any tunnel vision and force you to take in your surroundings. If a deer would only turn its head it wouldn’t get caught in the headlights. The same goes for us.

3. Looking for work is just making the conscious choice to find anything left that still needs doing.  That could be threat areas to cover, secondary searches, or supporting your teammates by acting as security while they are actively engaged in a task.

4. Communicate what you see, what you need, and what you are about to do.  Saying things out loud not only keeps everyone on the same page but can also act as a stop-gap for stupid or crazy ideas by giving your teammates an opportunity to add their perspective.

Now get out there, get tactical, and slow down so you don’t miss anything … and beware the writing on the wall.

__________________________

– Have you missed something during a search?
– Were you moving too fast or not really seeing?
– How did you feel when that something was found by someone else?
– What could you have done differently?
__________________________

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