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Last Updated: Nov 14, 2008 - 12:49:26 PM |
After getting home late from Lynchburg the other day, I was sitting in my den, and heard my dog start barking. I was actually close to going to bed, so I went outside to try and quiet her down. She would come over to me, but then she would go back to the corner of our fence and keep barking. When I looked next door, I saw a person with a flashlight, attempting to pry up on the window. Though it did not look like my next-door neighbor, I yelled over, calling his name, and asking if he had locked himself out of his house. The flashlight then shined on me. I went next door, and it was three police officers, thank goodness. They informed me that they had received a call from a family member asking the police to check on the welfare of my neighbor, whom he had not seen or heard from in two weeks. We were able to verify that we had seen him within the past two days, but had been gone all day, on this particular day.
I shared what information that I knew about my neighbor, as well as the things that did not look right tonight. For instance, he normally keeps his bedroom and/or dining room light on until quite late at night. On this night, both lights were off. His car was in the driveway, the side screen door was locked, and where he had been painting recently, the front screen door was stuck closed. The police officers continued to look for an open window, or an easy way to get into the house. Unable to find such, they were not given authorization from their supervisor to force entry, and told me that a family member would be the only one that would be able to authorize forced entry. They then left.
Not feeling comfortable about this, mainly because of what I have seen on other welfare check cases, I attempted to find one of his children. The problem was that I had probably only met him once, and that had been years ago. I began looking through the phone book, and happened to see a name that looked familiar. At midnight, I called the number and by the grace of God, it was the right person. Once I talked with his son, he had asked me to call the police department and ask them to return, and that he was on his way. Two police officers and a sergeant returned, and I went through the whole story. Enough probable cause, plus the permission of the son, had been obtained for them to make entry. As we went to the back door, my neighbor was standing on his back porch. The officers spoke to him for a moment, and then they left. I did the same, and then we called it a night, since it was now about 1 a.m.
My neighbor came by the fire station the next day and told me what had happened. He had taken his prescription medicines, and decided to take an over-the-counter medication since he had been having trouble sleeping. The over-the-counter medication had combined with his prescription meds and had caused a harmful reaction that could have been fatal. He told me that he remained sick for the remainder of the night, but did not know why until he had spoken with his doctor the next day.
The points to come away with in this story are:
1) Talk with your doctor before you take over-the-counter medicines, especially when you take prescription meds.
2) Getting to know your neighbors is a good thing. You may even want to know where they keep their spare key, or get them to give you one.
3) Do your neighbors, or especially your neighbor’s children feel that coming to you would be safe refuge when they are in trouble?
4) When things don’t seem right, they probably aren’t. Don’t be afraid to get involved; someone’s life may depend on it.
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