Archive for March 19th, 2009
The Detectives
I just reread my last blog post. I need to correct an omission.
The last post was a bit whiny and it missed an important point - I’m alive! The EMTs and the trauma surgeons saved my life. I am extremely grateful.
I was rolled into the ICU around 4 a.m. on that Thursday three weeks ago. When I arrived in the ICU, I could breathe only with the help of a ventilator. I could hear conversations occurring around me, but I couldn’t communicate. I couldn’t even blink my eyes.
By 10 a.m. my eyes were open, I was breathing on my own, and I could speak in a whisper. The Sarasota police detective in charge of my case called the hospital to ask when he could drop by to take my statement.
By 2 p.m. I was sitting up, sipping water through a straw, and talking to two Sarasota police detectives. They asked me to recount what happened the night before. They recorded my statement and took notes.
I told them the story exactly the way I described it in the first post of this blog, the one labeled ‘Why?’
When I finished, they told me my statement matched what they had pieced together from statements given by my girlfriend (who witnessed only what transpired at the back door of my house), the two boys who were with the shooter, and two eye witnesses (who saw only what happened in the alley behind my house).
BTW - I never saw these eye witnesses, but I’m grateful to them. The detectives told me one was a kid on a bike. When he saw me drop like a sack of potatoes, he thought I had been killed. He rode home and told his parents. They immediately took him to the police station so he could report what he saw. The other eye witness not only corroborated my story when he gave his statement, he dialed 911 when he saw me drop. That’s why the EMTs arrived so quickly and another reason why I’m alive to write this blog. I assume I’ll get a chance to meet and thank both of these individuals during the trial.
Satisfied that I had no connection to the shooter, that I am the victim of a violent crime, the lead detective gave me paperwork to fill out so that the state can reimburse me for expenses not covered by my insurance. That is very helpful. If I had to pay for my deductibles plus received no compensation for business lost (I’ve been unable to work for the past three weeks), I’d have been approximately $30k out of pocket.
Over the past three weeks these detectives have also been helpful in other ways. I’ll tell you about those in posts to come.
