The Baby

ID: 1728102   (Rated: 13+) The Baby  My first case as a patrol officer in a small Texas town. by J.P. Ruiz

         It was a nice fall day, cool and the leaves had began to change. I was a new patrol officer at the time and it was my day off.  I has on my way to the Chief's residence for some target practice. We were sighting in our sniper rifles because we would be starting a sniper certification course the next day. I was excited to be doing this, I had always wanted to this certification.  My wife Emmy was driving me she was off of work that day also so we were spending the day together.



         As we arrived my Chief was already in the progress of sighting in his rifle. I pulled my equipmen and rifle out of the trunk of my wife's car.  As I walked towards the table where the Chief had his equipment I could smell the aroma of catfish frying. My Chief lived on the outskirts of town so he had a firing range behind his home.  Chief was always cooking something when he had people over.  This time it was a fish fry.  He was good shot and a better cook.          



           It the background the police radio was blaring, this was Chief''s way of always knowing what was going on in town.  As I was preparing to fire a shot a call came over the radio for a county deputy. The call came out several time and there was no answere soon the call came out for our patrolman.  The dispatcher was requesting our officer make the location of this call until a deputy could be reached. The call was a shooting call just east of our jurisdiction.  The Chief okayed the request and our officer was in route, I jumped in our vehicle and my wife drove me to meet with our patrolman.



         The patrolman and I speed to the residence with lights flashing and sirens blaring. The dispatcher came back on the radio and advised that a small child had been shot and the incident was an accidental shooting. As we arrived, we jumped out the patrol car and ran towards the front door a young lady met screeming, " my baby has been shot, my baby has shot".  She was hystarical screeming at the top of her voice. "Where is the child", my partner asked.  The lady led us to a back bed room and pointed to a crib.  The child was a baby less than a year old I immediately pick the baby up to find the entrance and exit wound.  We found the entrance wound but cound not locate an exit wound. This was not a good sign.  The baby was not crying and had stopped breathing so I began CPR. Soon the baby was breathing again and had began to cry. I asked the mother for the baby's name, and she replied, " his name is Ryan". I began to speak to the baby calling him by his name attempting to comfort him. My partner had radioed for an ambulance and because were in a rural area he also requested an Airlife helicopter.



         I had been a medic in the US Army and my partner was also a paramedic so we took turns caring for the baby. When I had the baby in my arms he stopped breathing once again and began CPR and rescue breathing and I would call the baby by his name hoping for a response. This time it was different, he began to go into a seizure. Finally he began to cry again and I saw this look in his eyes a look of desperation, as if we calling me to help him. I began to talk to him and he smiled, then suddenly his eyes glazed over and he stopped breathing. I began CPR again and medics stormed the house taking the baby out of my hands. They immediately placed the baby on a gurney and away they went. In seconds they baby was in the helicopter and they were gone.



         I was standing on the porch of the home and I watched the deputies taping off the scene, their must have been twenty officers from different agencies both local and state at the scene. I was so invested in the rescue efforts, I hadn't realized all these officers had arrived. Suddenly I felt so empty a moment ago I had Ryan in my hands and now he was gone. The Sheriff was on the scene and he advised us that the child had not made it. He was gone, Ryan was gone. What was this child supose to have done in his life, now that was all over. As I looked in the yard I noticed toys that he would never get to play with. Why do this happen to this baby?



         I found out Ryan's big brother, who was 4 years old had climbed up some shelves six feet to where dad had kept a pistol for portection. Ryan's brother climbed down with the pistol and accidentaly shot his baby brother.