This is a continuation of a series of articles regarding the different types of stressors that officers face daily, in their personal and professional lives from a personal point of view.
After my accident in June 2000, I was then resolved to my recovery.
Except for one thing that I was not prepared for.
After my accident while riding the police motorcycle in June 2000, I didn’t realize what I was in for afterwards.
LVMPD’s Fatal Division of the Traffic Bureau investigates accidents involving officers with severe injuries or fatalities. During the investigation, they mark the roadway with paint to indicate skid marks, positions of vehicles, bodies, etc. and the marks do not fade away quickly. Needless to say, the marks were on southbound US95 near Rancho and I traveled over the accident scene every day, sometimes several times a day. I saw the marks, drove over the marks and relived every part of the accident each time I did.
I already was having my doubts about getting back on the motorcycle after the accident, but experiencing the “shock” of driving over my accident scene was having a negative effect on me. Each time I drove over the scene, I felt a strange sensation, sort of like an electrical surge going through my body. I finally knew what “freaking out” was.
I was trying to deal with those feelings, doctor’s visits, physical therapy visits and the dreaded “light duty”.
Light duty is reserved for those employees injured at work and/or recovering from an injury or a medical procedure. While some employees relish staying busy, even injured, light duty was the bane of the injured officer. You would usually be transferred to a civilian position, hopefully still in your particular bureau, and be assigned usually to desk duty, depending on your injuries. I could barely walk. Every bone and muscle ached. My broken arm caused a lot of problems driving and felt wonderful every time I bumped it. I had to buy new clothes as there is a dress policy if you are assigned to the office. I racked up mileage on my personal vehicle driving to work, doctors, therapy visits, etc. The work load of the light duty employee could be heavy or light, but usually entailed doing work that no one else would care to do. My first duty? I was given a large box of radar guns, apparently that had been stored away for a while due to the large accumulation of dust on the box and asked to package each gun for delivery to a repair facility.
Fortunately, I was assigned to the “Hit and Run” detail of traffic, so I was still assigned to the Traffic bureau. I didn’t know most of the employees there but we grew close and had a good time working together.
Not sure if you remember my time in field training from my previous article and how the field training sergeant advised me that my field documentation of the trainees was too long and how he didn’t have time to read such a long dissertation.
His office was directly next door to the Hit and Run office.
He would repeatedly come into our office and proudly display pictures, printed on LVMPD equipment and time, of women that he had been dating and those he planned on dating.
No wonder he didn’t have time for reading.
I recovered from my injuries thanks to a great surgeon, supporting doctors and physical therapists.
I now needed to deal with my fears. Do I want to get back on the bike?
I had support from my co-workers with whatever decisions I made.
I’ve always been one not to let anything scare me away from what I wanted. I wanted to ride the motorcycle. “Live to ride and get paid to ride”.
So back on two wheels I went.
Was it the best decision? There were times…many times I wondered.
To be continued…
No comments:
Post a Comment