In my latest modern fantasy, a Mormon man tries to overcome his lycanthropy. One night, while walking under the almost-full moon, he comes across a teenage girl who appears to have tried to commit suicide. He carries her back to his remote cottage, and, well, um. . .
Calls 911. What? He's MORMON! What did you expect?
It turns out that he finds out that the girl has been missing for three days, and the police show up along with an ambulance. My law enforcement question is this: in this case would they take him back to the station for questioning, or would they question him at his home? Does it just depend on the officer on scene, or is there a standard procedure for all cops to follow?
Posted by JannieJ (Member # 8683) on :
Well, I think a lot would depend on how werewolfy he was looking.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
If you put a line in there about how he can't help being a werewolf, but he can help eating children, I'm going to have to kick you. Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
At the point that he finds the girl, he is not looking werewolfy at all.
Tom--
I didn't even think it.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Depends, Scott. How did she try to commit suicide? Was it through some sort of trauma (hanging, slashing wrists) or something they think could have been inflicted by him rather than her?
I love this thread title -- it would work great as a Weekly World News headline...
FG
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
She slashed her wrists, but didn't cut deep enough.
Posted by whiskysunrise (Member # 6819) on :
I knew a girl who used safety pins to do this. They didn't go deep enough either.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
They might take his name and statement there, they might take him in to make a statement. I agree it would depend on how he looked and how the surroundings looked and how suspicious the cops were and how apparently self-inflicted her wounds were and whether they suspected a runaway or a kidnapping and how his 911 call had gone and whether he had tried to do basic first aid to save her or what.
Also, a medic shows up with the cops, right?
In any case, they would at the very least take his name and contact information to make sure he wasn't a convicted child molester or anything and in case they needed to contact him again.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
That's a good answer, KQ. Thanks.
Posted by 0range7Penguin (Member # 7337) on :
To heck with it just have him go werewolf on the cops and eat them all.
Also did you know that Iowa State Troopers are armed with silver bullets. Or atleast one......something like that. My dad used to be one( A Iowa State Trooper not a werewolf) and i just dont remember whether it was they carried some or all of them were silver encased.
My dad also has an irrational fear of werewolves. Anyone come to the same conclusion I came to? . . . . Theres werewolves in Iowa! And the State Troopers are in charge of hunting them down!
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Scott, the person who reports the crime is almost always under some sort of suspicion, as are close family members and significant others.
They will definitely take a statement and he may be questioned more than once to see if his story stays consistent.
The police will want to know where he found her and he most likely will need to lead them to the scene.
He may well be called days later, like I said and questioned again. But unless the scene looks really suspicious, it's doubtful he would be arrested and taken to the station.
Edit: Forgot to mention from the perspective of the paramedics - if she refuses medical treatment (and some people do if they're trying to commit suicide,obviously) then the medics will need the police to step in and arrest her and put her in custody in order to force her to get treatment.
That's how it is in Alabama, anyway - they can't treat someone against their will unless they are a minor, or mentally incapacitated (either unconscious or not oriented to date, time and place) or under police custody.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
She's unconscious from three days of being out in the desert, and blood loss, and emotional trauma. She's definitely a minor.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Oh, and thanks, Belle-- you've helped quite a bit!
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Orange--now you tell us. Bob-S recently married into a family of Iowans. I don't know if that is bad news for Bob, or for the Werewolves.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Iowa? Pah! It's Wisconsin that has the real monsters. We've even had thunderbird sightings.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Scott, the answer to this depends entirely on how you want the police to appear. Do they "ask" him to come down immediately? Ask him to come in tomorrow? Question him extensively right there? Simply let him give his statement?
You can believably get away with almost any range of behavior here as long as you don't devolve into "What we have here is a failure to communicate" schtick.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Dag-- I may be stressing over the question a bit much. This particular scene isn't terribly important to the overall story-- I just wanted to get it right.
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