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15 Police Officers Share Crazy Stories That Are Wilder Than The Movies
Article created by: Rugile Baltrunaite
When little kids dream about their future careers, becoming a police officer is at the top of many lists. But as they grow up, they start realizing that the job is much more demanding than chasing criminals, playing the hero, and saving the day. This deters a lot of them from ever becoming one, never really getting to know what such a profession really entails.
For those who are still curious about what a police officer’s job looks like, we compiled a list of real-life stories shared by people working in law enforcement themselves. Scroll down to check them out, and don’t forget to upvote the ones that surprised you the most.
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#1
Not a cop, but a cop friend of mind in SE Washington, DC. He got a domestic disturbance call and arrived to a calm scene. The husband explained he and his wife had been arguing, and that she had gone over the top, but they were both fine now. The wife confirmed the story, but stated she didn’t want the husband back in the house that night. My friend asked if the husband had a place to go, and he agreed to go to his mother’s house for the night. The husband left, then my friend and his partner left soon after. About an hour later, they get a call back to the same house. When they get there, the husband is in the kitchen dead. The wife explains that right after the police left, her husband came back and resumed arguing with her. He got in her face and she stabbed in the neck with a chicken bone, hitting his carotid artery.
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#2
Dad tells the story of a guy he knew who kept getting caught for writing bad checks. He was such a big guy he wouldn’t fit in the police car so they would just meet him at the magistrate office and write him tickets. (I know, some trust) but a year or so after this kept happening, he got a call that there was a domestic dispute at the house. So they rush over there and he’s got an axe in his hand sitting on the front porch all bloody. They approach and tell him to put the axe down which he does and proceeded to tell them that his wife is in the bathtub, or at least her head is. But guy was completely open and cooperative, didn’t run or anything. Asked if he could meet them at the magistrate office and dad was like yeah nah dawg you’re gonna have to get in the car this time.
#3
When I was little, we lived on a main avenue in a small town. My (then a police officer) dad had serious anger problems with people speeding on our street. Like instant screaming, red faced, throwing rocks anger. He would always write their plates down and call them in to our local PD. My brother and I would joke about it all the time.
Years later when I was in college my dad told me a story. One hot summer day he was riding shotgun in an unmarked car looking for someone who had just robbed a store. They passed a group of kids playing ball on the sidewalk. A moment later he heard a loud bang, looked in the rearview, and saw one of the kids flying straight up into the air. Someone had been speeding up the street and slammed into the kid who had stepped off the curb to get their ball.
My dad’s partner turned the car around and my dad called in for an ambulance. By the time they pulled up, another car had already driven right over the kid and stopped. The kid’s head was pinned between the muffler and the street. So they got every able-bodied man on the block to come and lift the car up on one side so they could slide the kid out. But when they did his head was falling apart. Dad said he was holding the top of the kid’s skull on with one hand, and that his torso sounded like there was broken glass inside. He just held him and told him to hang in there, but the kid died in his arms before the ambulance even arrived.
This all happened when my brother and I were about the same age. Some days when my dad got home from work he would come and immediately hug my brother and I. I’m guessing this was one of those days.
#4
I babysat for a cop (2 toddler daughters)(10/10 kids, cute and very affectionate) and he told me of one story where he was called to this old lady’s home. When they got there they found her husbands rotting body under a pile of newspapers. So apparently the lady had really bad dementia and had thought the husband was a robber and hit him in the back of the head with a rolling pin. The poor dementia lady went back to bed and he was dead in the morning. She didn’t know what to do, so she covered his body with newspapers and somehow managed to survive on her own for a few days. A neighbor started to worry and came to check up on them. The neighbor was the one to call the police. That story haunted me for like a month....
#5
Wasn't me, but an ex-cop that I used to work with told me he once got a call about a gorilla on a street corner in Boston. He thought it was a joke until he actually got there and saw the freakin' gorilla that escaped from a zoo.
#6
Not really crazy but the one that stuck with me. Context, my dad had a heart attack when I was 13 and I was so panic struck at the time I couldn’t do anything but watch. If it weren’t for my stepmom calling an ambulance, he likely would’ve died.
I responded to a call in a building in a corporate business district for a man who collapsed at work and is unresponsive. Go inside, see a 50s-ish year old man on the ground who had turned a white-ish blue. About 25 people were sorrounding him while one person was *attempting* to do CPR. I stepped in immediately, no pulse, and began CPR. As I began, I broke his ribs (indicating guy who was doing CPR before me was likely doing it incorrectly). After a little over 10 minutes straight of me doing CPR, I finally obtained a pulse. After 15 MINUTES of doing CPR, paramedics arrive (this was an excruciatingly long response time for my city). They begin hooking up their automatic CPR rig and begin medicating. They transported him to the nearest hospital where he passed due to a lack of oxygen to his brain.
The entire time I was doing CPR, all I could do was see my dad. I was doing what I should have done for him to a complete stranger. I looked at his pale body and saw my dad laying their, dying. Every cop deals with different calls differently, both at the scene, and mentally after. This one personally wrenched me.
#7
While serving in South Korea, my team was on patrol in the local drinking village when we heard someone drunkenly singing the US national anthem. At a loss for where this individual was, we finally looked up and there he was....tight rope walking on the ledge of a building 3 stories up. This is when precision of language is of vital importance...especially when dealing with a drunk. The sergeant on scene said, "Hey, come down here!" The drunkard said, "On my way!" And proceeded to step off. Under the impression I was about to witness my first death, I was in shock. Through some bit of weird luck/science, he glanced the hood of a slightly misted Daewoo truck and slid down to the ground. We ran over to him and he said, "Hey guys, how's it going?" He had open fractures on both femurs and after some makeshift splinting and controlling the bleeding, he was transported to the nearest hospital. Soju is a hell of a thing.
#8
I knew this kid in high school who got pulled over for a minor traffic violation. He decides it would be funny to jump out of the car and book it down the street. The cops of course go chasing after him and after a couple of blocks he stops, turns around with his hands in the air, and yells, "Psych!" The cops didn't find it as funny as he did and they tackled him to ground and put him under arrest.
I just can't imagine how crazy that must have been for the cops having someone flee like that and then turn around suddenly. This was before smartphones amd YouTube pranksters, so the kid was just doing it because he was an idiot. He came from a wealthy family though and didn't even end up in that much trouble for it.
#9
My mom has been a police officer for quite some time now (over 10 years i guess) and she had this habit of giving her personal phone number for emergencies.
One time, some crazy woman called her telling her that she keeps seeing green orbs on the wall and that the government wants to expose her to radiation so the aliens could take her.
#10
I know a guy, who was a cop in Texas when I was in middle school. He told me about this one time this woman called 911 because her house was haunted. He preceded to put handcuffs on an invisible "ghost" and acted like he was putting it in the police car.
#11
Dispatched to a double stabbing. Two victims outside, one adult male with a large would to his neck and his adult daughter with a wound to her scalp. They were in stable condition but I could hear screaming and yelling from inside the apartment. They said the suspect (ex-wife/stepmother) is still in the house with other possible victims. I approach the door and its already been kicked in and there’s a trail of blood leading outside. There’s blood on the floor and and the walls, looked like a slasher film. I go in as it is an active situation and luckily and second officer showed up and followed me in pretty quickly. We’re inside the apartment and the screaming is so loud we can’t hear each other. Two distinct voices, one yelling “momma” and the other just incoherent screaming. We start checking doors and find one that’s locked. I announce myself but got no response. I then raise my foot to blast the door open. As I do the families 18 year old Down syndrome daughter opens the door and runs at me and grabs me around the waist. Her forehead runs into the muzzle of my pistol. I’ve never been so close to pulling the trigger and it would have ruined so many lives. Her mother was in the next room covered in blood, but was apprehended without issue. I really thought I was going to bust the door in to find an active stabbing.
That was my rookie year. I’m so thankful I didn’t immediately react and took an extra half second to identify the situation. Opposite side of the coin though, if it was suspect that opened the door I would have definitely been stuck with the knife before I got a round off.
#12
This is my uncle's story but he doesn't have Reddit so I'm telling it but the short version is he pulled a car over and they were drunk so he cuffed them. He let the people call someone to get them or the car I don't really remember what he said but when those people came they were drunk so he cuffed them. Then he let them call someone and they were drunk. This happened so many times he ran out of cuffs and had to use zipties.
#13
Sorry for being late and for not being a police officer, but my friend’s dad had to stop a man from taking his own life by jumping off of the edge of a huge mountain. In the end he had to tackle him down and the whole time the man was screaming and crying and apologising for his mistakes. The way he told me about it was heartbreaking, and you could hear the emotion in his voice. Definitely one of my least favourite sleepovers.
#14
Not a police officer, but my Mom did not have the best childhood. One day Mom was spending the night at her friends house. Her friend's parents started arguing. She heard the mom say "what are you going to do? Shoot me?" Followed by a gunshot. The farther called the police then sat on the steps outside until the police came. He had shot her in the head.
#15
Responded to call from a young male who attempted to shoot himself and survived. When I arrived, he was crawling on the ground holding his guts in. He was shirtless with a huge X drawn on his chest in sharpie.
Inside, there was a letter addressed to his ex -gf with tear stains, practice rounds fired in a closet, and a .22 rifle near a desk chair.
As they were loading him into the back of the ambulance, he said "ma'am, may I give you some advice?" to which I replied, "if you think you're qualified to do so...". His sage advice: "don't ever try to shoot yourself in a rolling desk chair". Aimed for the sharpie X, recoil rolled him back, and he got a gut shot instead. Missed everything vital and survived.
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