I met Charlie in a gay bar several years ago. A guy I used to know who hated me for my politics tried to pick a fight with me; he was pretty serious about it. Charlie was the one who stepped in to help when the bouncer refused. I havent been back to that bar since. It stuns me beyond words to hear that Charlie was wrapped up in something illegal as a cop. He loved being a cop. Im not going to speculate, but I and a couple of others think something else was going on and he wasnt intentionally keeping evidence and documents. At least we dont want to think he was doing it intentionally. Its always hard to hear that someone you knew and cared for wasnt who you thought they were. I am still angry at the press for releasing his method of suicide. Ive run enough suicides that I really didnt want to know how he did it because I now have an idea what that scene looked like. I wish we would have known. Even in EMS, though, we run so many psych calls that we know what to do with patients, but were lost when it comes to one of our own. We never ask for help because everyone is going to think were nuts. The second one of us does ask for help, it gets around quick. That person ends up being ostracized. Theyre watched as if theyre now expected to have a meltdown at any moment. Its no wonder he never asked for help; its practically verboten.
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 01:54:36 +0000