What ever you are summoned to handle in the 'coping' sense of the word eventually means you end up 'handling' it in the grab a hold and don't let go sense. And some time what ever or who ever you are grabbing a hold of bites.
My first bite was from a teenage girl. She was a runaway from up north. Arrived in town on a Greyhound Bus and was panhandling at the bus station. They reported her and she was brought to the station until we could find an agency to house her until her family could come get her.
She was less than enthusiastic at the prospect of her adventure coming to an end and copped an attitude. She swung, kicked, twisted around, went limp, bowed up & head butted the two officers who transported her.
They decided the safest place for her to wait was in the holding cell aka, drunk tank. Though in this case since she was not drunk we referred to it as the Think Tank. Sit in there and think about your attitude. It offered excellent accommodation for someone in her frame of mind. NOTHING! No mattress, no pillow, no nuthing. Just a cement room with a cement bench and a flush drain in the floor.
Suicide attempt is a real consideration that has to be anticipated. She was wearing a rolled up bandanna as a belt thru the loops in her jeans. It needed to be removed. The officers who brought her in decided it would not be appropriate for them to fiddle around trying to get the knot out of it as the knot was perched above her pubic area. So they called for me to do it.
They held her down on the bench while I worked on getting the knot untied. She arched her head up and got me in the under arm. When I pulled away she dropped back and knocked her noggin on the bench. I do believe she saw stars. Took two weeks for my bruise to heal up. Hurt like a bitch too.
Handcuffs bite too. I always get a kick watching TV cops put handcuffs on. Presto - changeo cuffs are on. The bad guy just offers up his wrists and the cuffs go on lickety split.
Not in real life. Even a cooperative subject can be difficult to cuff properly. Some people have arms so big their wrists won't meet close enough in the back and you have to use two sets of cuffs. I even had one guy that took 3 sets to span from wrist to wrist.
Cuffs like to get stuck in long sleeves too. If you happen to snag even a smidgen of cloth it can be a nightmare getting that undone. Meanwhile the originally cooperative subject has time to reconsider their pickle and often has a change of heart. Opting to start to struggle. Once that starts it's on.
Getting cuffs on someone who wants to fight it is a real treat. The teeth on the gate of the cuff often take chunks of skin out of the person applying them. Try taking a pair of scissors and just nipping a little piece out of one of your fingers if you 'd like to simulate that experience. There isn't a cop on patrol who has not been bitten by his or her own cuffs. Now days that often results in HIV testing for a year, more fun.
Then there are the animals who don't necessarily appreciate the fact that you are there to help. Like the rat snake I found taking an asphalt nap at the entrance of the golf course one morning. It was about 6 am and I knew he'd come out during the night for the warmth of the road. I figured some duffer with an early T time would squash him just for the fun of it. So I stopped to shoo him off the road, I like to save animals, what can I say.
Well, I put on the overheads, got out and thought a little nudge with my night stick would encourage him to move on. Apparently he was having a bad dream and decided to cop an attitude. Did you know a harmless little rat snake can lunge the entire length of a night stick? He didn't have fangs, just little needle teeth that left nice, evenly spaced rows of scratches down the back of my hand.
Since they eat rats I figured it might call for a tetanus shot. I signed out at the ER for the shot. One of my fellow officers, sensing something interesting was happening that he didn't want to miss out on arrived shortly thereafter for the show. When the doc came in to give me the shot I opted for hip rather than arm. I asked my brother officer to vacate the cubicle while I dropped my gun belt and pants. He just laughed and said "Not on your life, I'm staying for this!"
Of course this was in the late 1970's when it was just funny. And it was funny. These days it would end up in a law suit for 'sexual harassment or hostile work environment'.
Whatever.... I say ladies, quit yer bitchin', and suck it up.
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