Writer's Question

[abirsk]

Hi,

I'm currently writing a book involving someone who receives a serious head injury after being pushed down a flight of stairs. My question is, on an emergency call such as this, would police attend with EMT? I'm not writing a detective novel; I want the guy who pushed to get away with doing it and I don't want a police investigation to be the focus of what I'm writing. That said, I do want to be factually correct.

If anyone can help, I will really appreciate it. I have a couple more questions on the same subject, but don't want to burden you just yet.

Many thanks for your time,

Andy

[uglyEMT]

Depends on your area, country, ect. Its not universal. In the system I work in police respond to all ambulance requests regardless of call type. So in my area, yes a police unit would be on scene with us.

So you have a can of worms here, from a writers perspective, being a PD unit is there does the EMTs notice signs of this person being pushed? If they do or the PD sees signs of foul play, it turns into a crime scene and detectives are called yada yada yada. If no sign of foul play, your golden. From a writers perspective only.

[abirsk]

Wow, that was real quick. Thank you!

My area is Vegas, but your reply confirms my thoughts. Police attendance, I mean. I'm curious to know how EMTs would make a decision as to whether or not someone had been pushed? Bruises, signs of a struggle, I assume. That said, I'm assuming the person who made the 911 call would have to answer police questions before going to the hospital?

Many thanks for your response.

[akflightmedic]

Do you live in a multi-level home and have you recently taken out any policies on your loved ones?

Just checking before we tell you "how to get away with it".

[uglyEMT]

Do you live in a multi-level home and have you recently taken out any policies on your loved ones?

Just checking before we tell you "how to get away with it".

[abirsk]

lol. Single story, conveniently enough. However, at the front gate there are a couple of *really* high cement steps

[fiznat]

In my system (big city), police will show up to 911 medical emergencies only some of the time. Generally if they are busy they won't bother with calls that sound "low priority," like cold and flu symptoms, low falls, etc. Police almost always show up on major trauma calls. Things differ a little bit when you get into more suburban and rural areas, but that's how it is here.

If you want this scene in your book to be without a police presence, you could have the ambulance get flagged down by a bystander, or make the initial 911 call for something else that sounds more benign (drunk guy on the stairs, something like that). Both of those events happen fairly frequently, and usually both would render the scene free of police.

Best of luck with your writing!

Edited March 24, 2011 by fiznat

[Bieber]

Around here, police only show up to MVA's and scenes with violent patients/bystanders, and code blacks (obvious deaths). If the calling party were to say that the mechanism of injury was the result of someone being pushed, they'd show up, otherwise it'd just be another one of many, many falls.

[abirsk]

My last post allowance for today spent on saying thanks for all your replies. Just found this website through Googling. Been laying awake all night thinking about this

[Herbie]

Agree with what is said. If we suspect something- as in the injuries do not coincide with the story we get about what happened- we can call the PD to investigate further. There are certain mechanisms of injury and situations where police automatically respond besides with the obvious(gunshots, stabbings, beatings, etc). Someone who falls on a city street, the police need to make a report. If there is a possibility of litigation, they need to make a report.

Good luck.