Question for our LEO members:

[TSSUNAMI]

This is mainly directed towards those who work for law enforcement, but any opinions are welcome.

Last night I was driving home at about 1 AM. I saw what looked like a huge dog sitting straight up in the middle of the road. (55mph heavily traveled road)

As I got closer I slowed to about 10 mph, (no traffic behind me) and saw that it was an injured doe. She wasn't mangled, but as I pulled closer I could see that she had been hit by a vehicle. She couldn't use her hind legs, and was sitting straight up in the road. I slowed almost to a stop, as I rolled by she struggled to crawl off of the road.

To the point. I pulled over, and notified local law enforcement. They said they'd get someone over since it was definitely a driving hazard.

Five minutes later I stop at a gas station nearbye to grab a few things, and there's two local officers, and a sherrif parked outside they're all congregated and joking with one another. I politely asked if I could interrupt them for a moment and let them know that there was a dangerous road condition. I wasn't even expecting them to rush out and do anything about it. I just didn't want one of them to hit the damn thing while they were out patrolling!

They had already been notified apparantly by their dispatcher. They seemed super annoyed by me saying "If you are patrolling route 5 towards Oneida be careful, there's an injured deer sitting right in the middle of the road.": One of them even kind of made fun of me. He said "We know, let me guess, you're the one that called? Why don't you go back and put it in the trunk of your car?"

Yeah dude. I'm going to jam a live deer into the trunk of my Camaro. I laughed it off and told them to be safe and have a good evening.


TLDR. Is calling in something like this a bullshit call that wastes their time? I'm pretty thick skinned, but the attitude kind of made me think that maybe I had wasted an officer's time. I legitimately thought that a dying deer, a large one at that, sitting in the middle of the road would be a serious hazard for travelers. Should I have just kept driving and not called? I'm not one to report every little thing I see, but I do report road hazards if I see them. (accidents, disabled vehicles, etc.)

Anyway.... opinions?

[13blackLS]

I would hope that a police officer would appreciate a call like that because it could help prevent a worse call about someone hitting it and something worse happening...people with families would probably appreciate it knowing u couldve saved a family member or friends life...ive seen horrible accidents from ppl hitting wildlife...

[Hitman84]

This kind of reminds me if the time I was traveling one of the local interstates. Speed limit is 65 mph.
In the left lane when approaching an overpass in the middle of it was what appeared to be the remains of a large truck bumper. I almost hit doing 70 and other vehicles were swerving in and out of the lane.
So I did what I thought was the right thing and called 911, I didn't know or have safe access to state police phone number and wasn't gonna google it from my phone while driving.
When the operator answered I politely said "non emergency for police" the attitude I got from this woman was amazing. She went on how I shouldn't be using that number unless it was life or death situation and didn't stop until I told her it would soon be an emergency if she didn't stop berating me and was able to get an officer there to safely remove the large bumper taking up most of the lane.
She kind of huffed and transferred me to state police....

[upflying]

Originally Posted by TSSUNAMI

I rolled by she struggled to crawl off of the road.

The call wasn't urgent if you told the dispatcher the creature was crawling off the road.
Most LEO agencies depend on Animal Control to respond to incidents like this.

[TSSUNAMI]

Originally Posted by upflying

The call wasn't urgent if you told the dispatcher the creature was crawling off the road.
Most LEO agencies depend on Animal Control to respond to incidents like this.

True. Although I did let them know that the animal was attempting unsuccessfully to get out of the road.

Also. I didn't dial 911. I pulled over and googles the local police dept. I wouldn't ever tie up 911 with something like that.

Anyway.... I don't know what was in the officer's head that I spoke with. Maybe it was his way of being funny and I just wasn't expecting it. Not a huge deal. I just don't want to be calling them in the future if this is a situation that doesn't warrant their attention. My thought was this: if a driver came upon the animal unexpectedly I would have felt terrible to learn that someone was hurt or killed because I didn't report the hazard. I have a family and I would hope that others do the same.

On the other hand, I know that nobody wants to scrape a half dead animal off of the road, I also don't want an officer tied up euthanizing and or clearing a deer from the road preventing them or delaying their response to a serious matter. I was actually hoping that the dispatch would send animal control out to the animal to euthanize it. But at 1 am I figured only the police station would be open, so that's who I called.

When I approached the group of LEO's my only intention was to warn them of a road hazard. This guy seemed genuinely annoyed by my presence LoL. Ahh well. Maybe he was having a shitty day.

[Globemaster]

Do not know what to tell you about that you would think they would want to clear the road and end its suffering. On another note where I live even a stray dog is a 911 call, found that out when I looked up the police department number and called them and they said call 911 and say it is a non-emergency.

[rsflyer]

...donuts and coffee are far more important than this type of call....

[MMC]

I know around me thats a good 911 call and they would shoot the animal and drag it off the road, then notify the DOT or town to pick it up the next day.

[Scalded Dog]

911 is for emergencies only. Like, when there's a really dangerous situation, one where somebody could be hurt or killed. Like when there's a 100- lb. traffic hazard dragging itself unpredictably around on a highway, something that might startle the ever-lovin' crap out of somebody and cause them to crash and die. So, yeah, you were absolutely right for calling, making the effort to make the road a safer place for other motorists. I would have done the same, and would consider somebody derelict and lazy for NOT reporting a circumstance like that. The cops not giving a rat's a55 about it isn't cool... but, who knows... maybe the dispatcher relayed an entirely different story to them... or, maybe, as people, they just happened to be a bunch of dikkhedds. The only thing I beg to differ from you in is that I would certainly have justified that as 911... it is absolutely, positively an emergency. 911 is not purely reserved for JUST murders in progress... it's there for OTHER emergencies, too.

[Scalded Dog]

...and, random tale bonus: A couple of years ago, I was driving along, when I came across a couple of guys wrestling with a bloody deer, in a traffic lane, on a mountain highway. Turns out, the deer had been hit by the guys' Jeep, and was badly injured (hindquarters destroyed, guts hanging out), but kept trying to drag itself back INTO the road, creating a traffic hazard. I stopped, offered my services, as I had a Colt .380 Mustang with me. The guys were happy to accept, so I point- blanked three shots into it, putting it out of its mortal misery, and eliminating the traffic hazard. To this day, I have not met anybody else who has "taken" a deer with a .380 semi- auto with a 2" barrel.

[CamaroSkooter]

Originally Posted by Scalded Dog

...and, random tale bonus: A couple of years ago, I was driving along, when I came across a couple of guys wrestling with a bloody deer, in a traffic lane, on a mountain highway. Turns out, the deer had been hit by the guys' Jeep, and was badly injured (hindquarters destroyed, guts hanging out), but kept trying to drag itself back INTO the road, creating a traffic hazard. I stopped, offered my services, as I had a Colt .380 Mustang with me. The guys were happy to accept, so I point- blanked three shots into it, putting it out of its mortal misery, and eliminating the traffic hazard. To this day, I have not met anybody else who has "taken" a deer with a .380 semi- auto with a 2" barrel.

Sand-bagged.

[CHMSC]

You did the right thing, they were unprofessional in the way they handled the situation.

[skipinminn]

I'd figured they'd be racing to the SPOT so one of them could shoot the deer LOL

[TSSUNAMI]

Thanks for the input folks. After a good night of sleep, and seeing the response here, I am feeling as though I did the right thing after all.

Very cool Scalded Dog, that you were able to end that deer's suffering. I honestly felt terrible for the beast last night, yet another occasion where I wish that I was not so lax in applying for a pistol permit in NY state. By the time I get around to it, slingshots will likely be all we have left here. Prime example of a responsible citizen using their sidearm for a good purpose.