WHO WAS THAT GUY?
by ardavenport
- - - Part 1
The police were there when they arrived, along with a crowd of curious college students, loitering in the morning sunshine. It was going to be another hot, California day. Officer Vince Howard ran up to the driver's side of the squad as Roy got out.
"What've we got, Vince?"
"Kid got beat up pretty bad and left behind the fraternity house. Looks like it happened late last night and he's been lying here ever since." Vince followed Roy as he went to the other side of the squad to get their equipment out.
"Is he conscious, Vince?" Johnny grabbed the biophone and drug box. Roy grabbed the trauma box and the oxygen.
"Kind of in and out. He's really beat up. Hasn't told us who did it, but from what he's said so far, it's somebody he knows."
Roy didn't know what kind of 'friends' would beat a guy senseless and then leave him lying in the bushes. Vince told them his name was Ron Turner. Male. About twenty-five. About six feet tall, 155 pounds. Broken arm, possible broken ribs and collar bone. Multiple contusions on the face and body. Roy gingerly touched the dried blood on his swollen face. No significant bleeding, but his blood pressure was low. Possible internal bleeding. He perked up right away after the IV went in and they gave him oxygen. But he didn't want to go to the hospital. He kept saying he would be okay, but just lifting his head was excruciating for him. He had to give in and let them take him. And they couldn't give him anything for the pain; he had a head injury.
"They didn't mean it. They didn't mean it." was all he would say to Vince through the oxygen mask as they loaded him into the ambulance. Roy sat down next to him. Johnny banged the doors close.
"Hey, you're going to be okay, but you've got to lie still." Roy only laid his hand on Ron Turner's shoulder, putting no pressure on it to keep from causing him any more pain. He hoped this guy would talk to the cops after the doctors patched him up. Ron Turner didn't need 'friends' like that. . . .
Incident: Man injured, assault
Location: Two-Eight-Six University Lane
Time Out: Nine-Oh-Six
Transported: Rampart . . . .
Seated at the small desk opposite the Captain's in the Station Fifty-One office, Roy finished the entry in the log book. Exhaling, he sat back in his chair. After examining at Ron Turner at Rampart, Dr. Brackett had sent him upstairs for surgery. He was pretty sure Turner had internal bleeding. The whole time, Turner had insisted that his friends didn't mean to hurt him. They cared about him. But when Roy and Johnny finished re-stocking the drug and trauma boxes, they ran into Ron Turner's very worried mother in the waiting room. None of his 'friends' were there, but a police detective arrived to ask her some questions.
- - - End Part 1