Thursday, August 11, 2005

8/11/05 WARNING: GRAPHIC/DISTURBING

9:14 a.m. This is the continuation of the story I started last night. I encourage you read the warning I posted there and decide for yourself if you want to read any further. It gets a lot worse.

The next morning I walk into the office and see two NCIS agents from the Navy base. The baby's father was a yeoman on a ship and NCIS was directly involved in what happened to the baby. Apparently, the father was skimming money out of the ship's coffers. NCIS got wind of it and these two agents showed up at the father's house with a warrant for his arrest.

The father let the agents into his house. He was home alone with his little boy. The mother was at work. The agents sat down on the couch and watched the baby toddling around the room while the father confessed.

After several minutes, the father picked up his son and asked the NCIS agents if he could go out on the porch for some air. They didn't see any harm in it and so let him go. But when he got outside, the father bolted.

The agents followed him in foot pursuit and called for backup. They ran several blocks down the street. The agent telling me the story, Agent Gray, looks pained. He says he could hear the little boy crying as they gave chase.

At this point, the ME walks in and tells us she's ready. We all walk over to the autopsy suite as the agents recount, again, what had happened...this time for the benefit of the doc. I see the little boy across the room. The autopsy tech had taken his blankets and his diaper off and was taking photographs.

The ME takes the IV out of the baby's arm. She cuts the bandages off his little head. More pictures. She feels the back of his skull and winces. She says she is shocked that he lived 12 hours after such a traumatic head injury. "He was a fighter," she says quietly.

As the doc works, Agent Gray continues his story. He tells us that the father stopped running when two cop cars blocked the road in front of him. He was surrounded. At this point the little boy was screaming. His father held him up above his head and told the agents not to come any closer or he'd throw the boy down on the concrete.

Agent Gray has a haunted look in his eye. "We stopped," he said. "We stopped but he still did it."

I watch the ME take out a scalpal and reflect the skin off the little boy's head. I suddenly feel nauseous and dizzy. I excuse myself and run to the lady's room down the hall. I sit on the toilet with my head between my legs. Get a grip, Polly. Do your job. I squeeze my eyes shut and will the tears away. There will be time for that later.

I return to the autopsy suite and am shocked to see the baby's skull. Hematomas and fractures all over. I am dizzy again and I have just enough time to say, "I'm going to faint." The two agents run up and grab me just as the world turns mercifully black around me.

I wake up on the cold floor. Several faces are circling above me. Brunhilda is there and makes a joke that I must have had too much to drink last night. I am mortified.

A few minutes later Brunhilda walks me over to the investigative section. I sit in a chair and put my feet up on my desk. Brunhilda brings me a cold glass of water before heading back to the other side. I take a sip and stare out the window for a long time before the telephone rings and I'm pulled back into life.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a religious person ... but I know this much to be true.

There is a special place in hell for people who hurt children. There they will suffer in ways no human could ever imagine. For eternity.

And there is a special place in heaven for the children who have been hurt. Where they are safe, always ... and are able to run, play and laugh and eat all the cake and candy they want and never get sick. Where they are always happy ... for eternity.

PollyME said...

Thank you, Punky.

I believe that, too.

Anonymous said...

*is speachless*

How could he? so innocent.

PollyME said...

I know, Kibby.

Why? It doesn't make any sense.

Anonymous said...

That totally blew me away. I mean, an innocent child had to die over a bit of money? I hope this guy was court-martialed, given the most dishonorable discharge imaginable, and is rotting in prison somewhere sharing a cell with Bubba the Goat Rapist.

PollyME said...

He was originally going to court-martialed, but I think that the military decided to let the state take him since Florida is fond of the death penalty.

Anonymous said...

Just utterly despicable that anyone could treat a child like that.

And for what? Ugh.

Very sad.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame that ba$stard wasn't in Texas ... we not only have the death penalty, we've lobbied for an express lane for jerks like him.

Speaking as a Christian, I will try to answer what can be learned from this. Man is utterly depraved without the mercy and salvation of God.

I won't go quoting Scripture (which would offend some) but I offer this URL for those who would seek more information.

Polly, I am glad you are blogging this. It lets us know that Hollywood isn't a true picture of an ME. They have emotions and lives. They put themselves on the line for the sake of serving their community. I pray for you.

Anonymous said...

Dreams Untold
by Stacy Vincent-Clark

I look upon your face, peaceful in eternal rest
And shed a tear for those lives never to be blessed.
I imagine those liquid eyes, now shut forever more
Looking upon a family you adored.

I imagine those pink and tender pads, in time worn black and rough.
For when following your little boy no ground's too sharp or tough
I touch the velvet of just one tiny ear
And wonder at the secrets, that your girl would have whispered here.

I feel the downy chest that holds a heart of gold
That would have named a million stories, now to be untold.
I see a little girl adorning your regal neck with ribbons and with bows.
And with a joyful heart would’ve finished with a kiss upon your nose.

But alas these dreams were stolen, your dawn's become your night
You’ve done no wrong, little one, so worry not in the light.
In the light of heaven's gate, there are children all around
That during their time on earth, love just never found.

Perhaps like you they died without having that chance
For others, sadly, they were born to ill-wrought circumstance.
So take your golden heart, your tender pads, and ear
For there are children in heaven, waiting to draw you near.

Anonymous said...

Umm, brat? That reads like it was meant for a dog?

Or is it just my imagination?

Anonymous said...

Polly,
Must be very hard to see these things and have to go on to do ur job. But ur doing sth that needs to be done, sth which many others wont choose to do...
((hugs))

I cant imagine what that little child endured :(
Sometimes I just cant make sense of things.

~Bangi

Anonymous said...

You know, I've been accused on several occasions of being a heartless and unfeeling bastard.

I don't even know what it takes to get a tear to fall from my eyes, as I can't remember it ever happening in the last 10 years. Even after deaths in my family.

Now, being the father of an 8 month old boy and envisioning him in on that slab, I am writing this through very moist eyes.

Thanks Polly, it's nice to know that there may be some emotion in me somewhere. It just takes the right kind of person and perspective to bring it out.

Anonymous said...

bangi!

how great to "read" you.

we miss you!

Punky

Leetie said...

Becoming a parent changes everything, doesn't it?

*hugging my little girl*

Anonymous said...

There's a poem by W.H. Auden, Stop All The Clocks (too long to post here) that came to mind when I read this....

{{{Polly}}}

PD Investigator said...

Yes becoming a parent does indeed change the way you look at the world. I find it hard to deal with those cases except We offer the chance to hear the voices of those who cannot be heard anymore

PollyME said...

Exactly, medical investigator!

I am so glad you showed up here! Nice to hear from a guy who knows what it's like.

How many years have you been doing this work?

PollyME said...

BANGI!!!! You sizzlin' cat, you. How's things on the other side of the world?

Anonymous said...

Even though this guy is clearly scum who doesn't deserve to live, I don't believe in the death penalty, MOTW. I believe he should rot in prison for as long as it takes until he dies.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to post this here in this serious thread ... but I just wanted to let anyone who may be interested know I have a blog for the Hitchhiking in Heels chapters.

http://penguinthongs.blogspot.com/

Nancy French said...

Dear Polly,

I love your compassion for the disenfranchised and the unloved. I think it's so wonderful to see such an appreciation of life even in the face of death.

THanks for your sweet compassion, how in your own way you tap into the True Eternal Love that does not fail and cannot be extinguished.

Love ya,
NJ

Anonymous said...

Nice to see ya, Bangi!

Polly, I'm glad they let the state throw the book at the guy. The death penalty's too good for a guy who would murder his own son.

The world can be such an evil place sometimes...

MeL said...

How could you do that to someone who was your own flesh and blood? To someone who can't defend themselves?

People who do that to kids have no mercy. Do they not love?

May the babe rest in peace and his suffering ever cease, into the pale mist and fading light, to gain his angel wings and take to flight.