You never think it’s gonna be you. That’s the way you have to approach this job or you’ll drive yourself crazy with anxiety. The day started out like any other day. Briefing, getting the patrol vehicle ready, going through all the equipment checks. Making sure my rookie trainee was squared away and ready to begin his shift.
The day seemed like a normal one. Running off homeless people from businesses....minor accidents....found wallet....then we had lunch. We just finished up eating at Chili’s and all I could think of was “3 more hours and I’m off and on vacation for a week.” The Whitetail rut is heating up in Oklahoma and I’ve been checking the weather all week anticipating getting off work today and getting to the cabin. Then it happened. There’s always a slight anxiety for a police officer when the dispatcher keys up the mic and you hear that dead air come across the radio and you know you’re getting a call and you don’t know what it is.
Dispatch: “Units, copy call.”
Me: “Go ahead for both.”
Dispatch: “Report of a black panther. Too large to be a cat.”
You don’t know adrenaline until you hear those words coming over the radio. I look over at my rookie, a 27 year old black male that grew up in the inner city and he’s staring back at me like
My mind is racing as we are en route to the call. What if there are kids playing in the creek where the panther was seen? What if it’s actively attacking someone’s pet? We arrive on scene and I deploy my AR-15 and the stress level is high as we search the creek. In the back of my head, I recall the stories I used to read of wounded leopards and lions attacking hunters as they tracked them through the brush. The citizen who called this in points to where he last saw the beast and I see a glimpse of black fur and eyes staring back at me from underneath a pile of brush. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I flip the lense cap off the front of my Aimpoint PRO red dot sight on my AR-15, as I slowly raise the rifle to my shoulder. I squint as I try to get a better view of the animal when suddenly it springs from the bushes. I almost defacated on myself from the explosion of speed and the blur of fur that shot from beneath the pile of brush that had washed up there last week. The cat ran in fear rather than a full on charge (thank God) and we lived to talk about it. Animal Control was later able to capture the beast so we could get an up close view of the elusive species that I’ve always heard rumors of and always seen the mob heckle anyone who says they’ve seen one in person. I’m here to tell you that what that man and my group of officers saw today was a real animal. I know, “pics or it didn’t happen”, so here you go. I’ll start with a pic of the call sheet, the names have been redacted to protect the innocent.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The day seemed like a normal one. Running off homeless people from businesses....minor accidents....found wallet....then we had lunch. We just finished up eating at Chili’s and all I could think of was “3 more hours and I’m off and on vacation for a week.” The Whitetail rut is heating up in Oklahoma and I’ve been checking the weather all week anticipating getting off work today and getting to the cabin. Then it happened. There’s always a slight anxiety for a police officer when the dispatcher keys up the mic and you hear that dead air come across the radio and you know you’re getting a call and you don’t know what it is.
Dispatch: “Units, copy call.”
Me: “Go ahead for both.”
Dispatch: “Report of a black panther. Too large to be a cat.”
You don’t know adrenaline until you hear those words coming over the radio. I look over at my rookie, a 27 year old black male that grew up in the inner city and he’s staring back at me like
My mind is racing as we are en route to the call. What if there are kids playing in the creek where the panther was seen? What if it’s actively attacking someone’s pet? We arrive on scene and I deploy my AR-15 and the stress level is high as we search the creek. In the back of my head, I recall the stories I used to read of wounded leopards and lions attacking hunters as they tracked them through the brush. The citizen who called this in points to where he last saw the beast and I see a glimpse of black fur and eyes staring back at me from underneath a pile of brush. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I flip the lense cap off the front of my Aimpoint PRO red dot sight on my AR-15, as I slowly raise the rifle to my shoulder. I squint as I try to get a better view of the animal when suddenly it springs from the bushes. I almost defacated on myself from the explosion of speed and the blur of fur that shot from beneath the pile of brush that had washed up there last week. The cat ran in fear rather than a full on charge (thank God) and we lived to talk about it. Animal Control was later able to capture the beast so we could get an up close view of the elusive species that I’ve always heard rumors of and always seen the mob heckle anyone who says they’ve seen one in person. I’m here to tell you that what that man and my group of officers saw today was a real animal. I know, “pics or it didn’t happen”, so here you go. I’ll start with a pic of the call sheet, the names have been redacted to protect the innocent. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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