STORY
BEHIND THE POEM FLYING DEAD MAN
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Gary Cameron and his partner had attended
a sudden death call. The fellow had died of natural causes and had been
removed from the scene and taken to the morgue by ambulance. Gary and his
partner went up to check out the body and to collect any personal effects
left on him.
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When they arrived, they found the
morgue locked up and had to hunt down a security guard to let them in.
The checked the log book and found the drawer he was in. Gary went to the
refrigerator unit and opened the proper compartment.
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Bodies are normally stored in refrigeration,
lying on a steel tray. There is a hydraulic lift cart with rollers that
goes underneath. Gary didn’t know this part and went to pull out the tray.
Thinking the guy looked fairly heavy, he gave a mighty heave. Unfortunately
for Gary, the tray was on some well oiled rollers as well and it came rocketing
out before he could stop it.
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The tray crashed to the floor and
skidded across the smooth concrete. The body rolled off and came to rest
against the far wall. Gary said later that it scared the hell out of him.
He also said that, he was glad there was no phone wherever this guy’s spirit
came to rest, because the last thing he needed was another internal investigation
at that point. Gary contributed the last verse to this poem, the first
and only collaboration I have done.
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Just as an aside to this story, Gary
several years after this was stabbed in the side by a suspect, whom he
later had to shoot. Gary was off work on stress leave for quite some time
and was just due to return to work when he won 1.8 million dollars in the
lottery, which he split with someone on the other side of the country who
had the same numbers. Gary took his $900,000, resigned from the police
department and invested it wisely. He now lives comfortably with his wife.
Gary also has since written a book about his adventures in policing. The
book is called "Shots Fired".
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