Some 911 calls from “You Called 911 for What?”

Cap’n Craig Colantoni I actually got a 911 call from an older lady that stated that she need the paramedics out at her house because her husband was having a stroke. She stated that he was in his 70’s and then she told me the one thing i didn’t want to hear, and she said i shouldn’t tell u this but we just got done having oral sex, well com…(yarr)e to find out they did and her husband died as a result of it, Man she must have been good…..

Lady Princess Of Law Enforcement Best call I ever got was a female who wanted the police to respond to a domestic. Of course since she was female and made the call, officers responded. When they got there, she open the door naked as the day she was born, told the police to arrest her husband because this was his 3rd time coming home this week trying t…(yarr)o have sex with her and all 3 times he basically sucked and should be arrested. Needless to say, the police had to arrest her eventually because she just could not understand why they would not arrest him for being the worst lay ever…..

Lady Megan Henley Top call from last night:

0200: Chest Pain
“What’s going on?”
“My heart keeps stopping…the only way I can keep it going is to hit myself in the chest when I feel it stop.”
“Ah ok….are you having any pain?”
“Yeah, right here” (points to central chest)
“When’d that start?”
“After the second time I restarted my heart…”

Lady Dawn Pope heard over the radio this weekend….21yo complaining of a swollen vagina. had it pierced 2 months ago and cant get the piercing out. We almost fell out of the rig laughing

Lady Emily M Kolkmeyer-Wilson One of the junior fighters was bored one weekend so he called in 4 FAKE calls so he could have something to do. Then he lied about it when they figured out it was him because he called from his OWN cell phone.

Lady JayLynn Sharpe Caller (at 2 in the morning and with great anxiety in her voice): There is a cat stuck in my wall! It is meowing and whining in great distress!
Dispatcher: Ok ma’m we will page out animal control
(30 minutes later and after animal control has been woken up and paged out)
Caller: I called earlier about a cat stuck in my w…(yarr)all.. Well see yesterday was my birthday, and my daughter gave me a clock shaped like a cat.. Well I didn’t know when the alarm goes off it meows, so that is what I was hearing.

Lady Brittany Higginbotham My personal favorite happened earlier this week

The following occured in spanish
0340
Hispanic male walks to ambulance… My feet are gone
me: your feet are right there
Him: No, they are gone, like the bottoms of my feet are gone
me: you just walked to the ambulance, cant do that if your feet are gone
Him: (proceeds to remove…(yarr) his unsocked feet from sneakers) See! My feet are gone
me: (gagging) Thats the worst case of atheletes foot Ive ever seen
Him: What do I do?
me: (still gagging) Well I can take you to
Him: No! No hospital, how do I fix it
me: Tinactin, Lamisil
Him: Ok, thats it, thank you

UGH Atheletes foot is NOT a 4 am 911 call people! just FYI

Basketball

So I guess the basketball season begins today with both a men’s and women’s game going.  In fact, I see two of my coworkers popping in right now – they must be working the game over at Carver.  I haven’t received any paperwork on it yet but that doesn’t surprise me really.

Basketball is not as big a deal here as football.  Carver holds significantly less people and basically everyone is a bit more civilized about the whole affair.  People don’t show up drunk and don’t usually leave drunk either.  They don’t come downtown to celebrate or drink away their sorrows at losing.  Police wise, basketball is much easier.

We obviously are very shorthanded here as I am seeing people coming in to work the game who just got off work four hours ago.  I should never complain about being tired, some of these guys look like they came straight out of “The Night of the Living Dead.”

In a little bit my regular coworker comes in – she is here 11am-7pm and will have a trainee so our office area will be busy as well.  What fun – let the games begin.

Actually, I’m going to go take a break about 11:30 for a half an hour as I’m starving.  I stopped at Burger King on the way into work but found it to be quite unappetizing when I got ready to eat it.  The egg was jelly and the bun was rock hard.  It was gross.

Que Sera Sera.

I started writing on my story via my laptop but then put it away as my lead worker doesn’t like us using them and she came in.  It isn’t a bad thing, the words were coming out forced anyway. 

Hell Night #1

Tonight was a hellish night – fun, but hellish.  I don’t even know where to begin so I won’t try.  Tomorrow night will be Hell Night #2 – hopefully also fun though busy. 

The costumes we saw parade by our cameras were fun, imaginative, and most of the females were rather risque.  Guess it is a good excuse to wear a mini-skirt.  Course, a lot of them have the body for it so why not? Our own young dispatcher was a Captain Morgan Girl and looked so damn adorable it was sickening.  Hopefully she will post pictures on Facebook.  The outfit was not one I would want a daughter of mine wearing, but she has the body and personality for it.

One of the officers was rather rude to me tonight and embarrassed me in front of others, but on the drive home I tried to put myself in his shoes.  It was a busy night, we had some busy calls and a couple bad calls so I imagine he was a bit testy.  I can understand that.  Still it kind of hurt my feelings but feelings are a liability in this business anyway.

Had my first 10-33 call tonight.  Nothing wakes you up faster than a 10-33 call – it means a full-blown emergency and if an officer calls it out, you know it must be just that.  It was a hit and run with injuries.  In fact, the ambulance called a trauma alert for a head injury.  We did catch the car and the people inside – the driver had been drinking.  I will probably find out tomorrow night how badly the person was injured – or maybe the morning news will have it.

I must admit, I don’t think I performed as well as I could have tonight.  I can give a few reasons however, I think I should have done better despite them.  It gives me something to work on – I don’t think a good dispatcher is ever 100% happy with every call.  It breeds complacency when we don’t self-evaluate and lord knows we have too many complacent people in this business already. 

Lord I’m tired.

Traffic and Laundry

Decided to take the “long” way home because that is the street the Laundromat is on although I had half talked myself out of doing the it. The rain has been pouring down and really, who needed clean clothes anyway?

Got past the Super Wal-Mart signal light and traffic came to a screeching halt. I had already seen two car accidents on the strip so figured that is what was happening further up too. The green light loomed in the distance and I was barely creeping towards it. Cars zoomed by in the other lane figuring they would make it through the light before their lane ended – I could feel the seething anger coming from the drivers, like myself, who had decided to keep their place in line even though we were barely crawling along. I know the fast cars all made it through long before I did but you know what? I didn’t care in the least.

I had my tunes going on the radio via my mp3 player and was enjoying listening to the songs mixed with the sound of the pounding rain on my roof. What was the hurry? I was just going to the dreaded Laundromat and then home. My son didn’t have time for me today which was fine – I told him yesterday not to sweat it if he didn’t because I had plenty of other stuff to do.

Took about eight minutes, I half timed it just for the fun of it, for me to get up to the light. Once there, much to the chagrin of those behind me, I let ALL the speedsters from the other lane go ahead of me. Yep, it was that kind of day where I just didn’t care. Earlier, at a car accident, my lane was blocked by the officer and people in the accident. No one wanted to let my lane in to go around so I finally pulled into the other lane, totally stopping that lane dead, and let everyone ahead of me into the moving lane. The car behind me honked but I just gave him the one finger salute and kept going. Irritates me that people can’t let others in the lane when there is obviously a need for it. Such assholes – where are they rushing off to? No where, most of them aren’t even happy at home so why rush to get there? I try to always let people in if their lane is blocked through no fault of their own – it is the courteous thing to do.

Anyway, my lane barely moves – it takes almost a full half hour to get the four miles to North Liberty where suddenly the lanes were clear for going the speed limit. There was no accident, no stalled cars, nothing! So why was traffic so backed up??? I have no idea – can only think that someone at the very front was going too slow or that we were behind a tractor or something that turned off before I got up there. Whatever the case, I was a tad bit miffed that I had just spent all that time in a traffic jam for no apparent reason – would have at least liked to have seen a stalled car or something. Ridiculous.

Got to the Laundromat and put my clothes in the washer. It was absolutely pouring outside but I decided to go outside to that horrendous pop machine to try to get a soda. This machine has only actually worked ONCE in the past 15 months. So I stood in the freezing rain plugging quarters into the machine. I had 20 quarters and tried them all to no avail. Some would work but most just fell right through. I tried a dollar bill along with one of the quarters that worked but again, no avail. By this time I am soaked despite the raincoat.

Frustrated, I made my way to the Tobacco Bowl next door and they had soda there – forty cents more than the machine but who cared at that point? The guy looked at me and said “wow, you are wet” and I wanted to have a smart comeback but bit my tongue because it was not this nice man’s fault that the pop machine didn’t work or that I had wasted time in a reasonless traffic jam. I just smiled and said “Indeed I am” and came back to the Laundromat with my Diet Pepsi. My fingers were bright red and so cold they hurt – no it isn’t that cold outside but I think it was the length of time I was out there and the cold rain that made them so chilled they barely worked to open the soda.

As my clothes spun around in the front loading washer, several college age guys were also doing their clothes around me. Of course, I had one bra in the entire two loads and what gets plastered against the window for practically the whole 22 minute cycle but that bra. I guess it is better than a pair of underwear but still…why? I have tons of shirts and pants in there…but no, the bra. Figures.

Rescued Tiger in Malaysia

I know I harp on this a lot but it infuriates to the point of rage when people think they have a right to poach animals off refuges or anywhere.  This kind of thing needs to stop NOW before all our endangered species are no longer endangered but have moved to the “extinct” category.   This video brought tears to my eyes.  That poor tiger might lose it’s paw because of this.

Here is part of the article at the WWF website:

The Tiger was freed from the snare early Sunday morning by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) officers who were called to the scene. The Tiger is being treated by Perhilitan at the Malacca Zoo and vets are hopeful that they might not need to amputate the animal’s leg.

Perhilitan Perak Director Shabrina Mohd Shariff said investigations into the case were ongoing and that initial information showed the suspected poachers were from Kelantan.

The rescue should set alarm bells ringing for the remaining wild Tigers in the Belum-Temengor forests, one of the last strongholds for this species, said a WWF Malaysia and TRAFFIC joint press statement.

Veterinary surgeons use pliers to cut free the metal snare
© Wildlife and National Parks Department

Research carried out in the area by both groups has indicated that the rescued Tiger is very likely just one of many that have been poached in the area.  Illegal hunting in the Belum-Temengor area is rampant and the demand for tigers continues to drive criminals into the forest to kill the remaining ones.

The Belum-Temengor forest complex is one of three priority areas identified in Malaysia’s National Tiger Action Plan. It is also part of an area of global priority for Tiger conservation. Yet it is highly vulnerable to encroachment and poaching for several reasons.

The area lies close to the porous Malaysia-Thai border and is easily accessible because of the 80 km long Gerik-Jeli highway that cuts across the landscape, providing hundreds of easy entry points for poachers.

Apart from the Perhilitan-WPU joint patrols, neither the vast and wildlife-rich area, nor the highway is systematically or thoroughly patrolled, making it an open target for poachers.

In August, a Thai national was caught by the police with pangolin scales and agarwood in the forested near the highway. He was one of 10 poachers arrested in the area over the last nine months. In that time also, Perhilitan, Police and the WPU removed 101 snares from the area.

“If the WPU rangers had not spotted the suspected poachers the story might have been very different for that Tiger. We were lucky this time. Who knows how many tigers we have already   lost?” said Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma, CEO of WWF-Malaysia.

“This incident clearly demonstrates the need for a stronger enforcement presence in the Belum-Temengor area. If this isn’t enough of a clarion call for the government to afford more resources to form an anti-poaching Task Force, I don’t know what is,” he added.

TRAFFIC Southeast Asia’s Regional Acting Director, Chris R. Shepherd said that at the rate Tigers were being killed throughout their entire range, they did not stand a chance.

“But here in Malaysia, there is still hope of saving tigers. It will mean increasing enforcement efforts to protect crucial strongholds such as the Belum-Temengor complex and coming down hard on poachers,” he said.

“These poachers are criminals, and are robbing the world of one of the most amazing species to have ever walked the earth”.

The official estimate of the wild Tigers in Peninsular Malaysia is only 500, a sharp decline from 3000 estimated in the 1950s, explained wildlife biologist Dr Kae Kawanishi.

“Snares kill indiscriminately. This illegal act of cruelty should be condemned by the whole society. Despite the harsh penalty imposed by the law, it has been a major problem to wildlife throughout the country,” said Kae, a member of the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers Secretariat.

“In order for the Malaysia to realize the goal of the National Tiger Action Plan, which is to double the number of wild tigers in the country by the year 2020, poaching cannot be tolerated.”

Today’s Truth of the Matter

is that I don’t want to do this anymore.  I don’t want to be stuck at this desk, looking at these monitors, trying to fill hours and dealing with all the crap everyone dishes out.  I’m sick of it – weary and disenchanted.  As one of my friends in Florida would say when things went FUBAR: “I don’t want to play anymore.”

I don’t want to care about students who get so drunk they pass out – will they make it home safe? will they suffocate on their own vomit? will they be in a fight? will they be raped because they take stupid risks?

I don’t want to worry about my officers – will they make it home safe? will this next traffic stop be the one that gets them injured or killed? are they in a good mood? are they prepared for when the shit hits the fan? can they depend on me? can I depend on them?

We picked up someone the other day on a warrant – they had a history of being a child molester.  As I was reading the warrant information I felt so disheartened and angry that this person was out on the streets in the first place.  People do their time and they get out but then they re-offend or offend in some other manner and who loses? the victim of course.  The person doesn’t care if they go back to jail – they know they’ve made it through once so they can do it again.

But each new offense has another new victim who must fight their way through something that no one should ever have to do.  If that offender had never gotten out, there would be no more victims.  I don’t care if the person did do their time – obviously it didn’t cure them or deter them from going back to prior behaviors.  I know, so what do we do…keep people locked up forever?  Obviously we can’t do that either.

Some days Nietzsche’s saying about looking into the abyss rings so true with me that I shudder at it all.  Evil walks amongst us and while so many people can wear blinders to it, I see and hear about it almost every day I work.  I’m so jaded and poisoned.

Granted, I am very tired and this has not been a good day.  Maybe once I am refreshed from a good, long, peaceful slumber I will feel ready to face the masses again – ready to battle evil – and summon my herculean concentration to keep everyone safe.

I know what my sister will say – “get your book published and you can stop working that job.”  Ohhhh, if only it were easy to do.

Liquor Laws

I have another complaint – might as well just get it out in the open because it is going to fester otherwise.  No doubt the conservative state of Iowa thinks it is really doing everyone a great service with this stupid law but I find it asinine. 

When I got off work at 3am I was coughing and feeling like crap.  On my way home I had the great idea of stopping at HyVee for some Corona – maybe alcohol would kill whatever this virus is that is knocking me on my ass.  I have Busch Light at home but, and I apologize to all you Busch drinkers, I think it tastes like crap.  Corona or Miller Light is about the only beer I can tolerate – well, and St Paulie Girl if they still make that and a beer that comes in a little bottle with red on the label…Red Stripe…is that a beer? I don’t know, I haven’t drank it in years – not since Gary and I broke up.

So I grab a few other things while I’m at HyVee – doggie treats and orange juice…that sort of thing.  As I go to check out the clerk informs me that according to Iowa law, one can not purchase beer between the hours of 2am to 7am – Monday thru Saturday.  Now isn’t that the stupidest thing ever?

Let me explain – last call at the bar is 1:20 to 1:30 am – they start kicking people out around 1:30.  The object of the law is that they don’t want the already drunk people leaving the bars to go get beer to continue drinking.  Another one of those “we have to save people from themselves” laws that irritate me.  Anyway, it is stupid because the people all leave the bar about 1:30 am so it gives them time to get to the nearest store to buy beer before they head home anyway.  If the law was going to even attempt to be effective – they should stop selling it at midnight.

What also irritates me is that, for the conscientious person like myself who would never drive home with an open container, I am also inconvenienced by this ridiculous law as I don’t get out till 3 am.  I know, it makes me have to plan ahead but I so very rarely want a beer that it didn’t come up until tonight.  Normally I buy it when I buy groceries but this last time I bought groceries on a Sunday and GOD FORBID anyone  be allowed to buy beer on a Sunday morning…another law I find antiquated and incredibly laughable.

So there you have it – another beef I have with living in the state of Iowa.

Body Found

Well, they found Annie Le’s body and I was right – she never left the lab.  I told my coworker I bet they’d find her body in there somewhere – a false ceiling or sub-floor kind of thing.  It ended up being in a wall that housed conduit between floors but I just had a feeling she was there somewhere.

For one thing, with all those cameras around and throughout the building, if she had left – even forcibly – something would have shown up on one of them.  If someone snuck her out, they still would have had to put her in something big enough to carry her which would have been on the cameras and therefore suspicious.

What kind of sick individual kills someone and stuffs them in a wall? Plus, a key card was needed to get into the lab so finding a suspect shouldn’t be that hard, should it? Of course, when the fire alarm went off she might have started out of her office and someone forced her back in but again, that would show up in the key card file.

Yes, she could have let someone in – I know our security system shows every time the door is opened, even from the inside going out – so somehow this would show up as well.  We know she didn’t stuff herself in the wall so who else had access? Who else logged into that bldg? What visitors had received passes?

Plus, why was she killed? We won’t have an autopsy report right away to know if she was sexually molested – if not, then this had to be someone jealous of her in some fashion.  It also had to be someone familiar enough with the lab to know the spot was there to stuff her in.  It seems like a crime of passion to me – whether hate, jealousy, love, anger, whatever – it doesn’t seem premeditated because one; it was a very public place and two; who plans to kill someone in the middle of the day? Not many people.  Plus they wouldn’t do it in a place where disposal of a body is so limited.  Granted it took the police six days to find it but find it they did.

My heart goes out to her folks and family.  What a horrible thing to have to face when they were so ready to celebrate her wedding.

Spilling My Guts

I turned toward the voice – it was a young man who identified himself as a reporter for the Herald Tribune there in Sarasota.  He wanted to know if I had a few minutes to answer some questions.  I almost said no but a part of me felt that 911 was given a bum rap and this could be the way to correct that.

We stepped to the end of the hall where three officers sat taking a break from the trial.  I answered all of the questions – how did the call make me feel? What ran through my head when the phone went dead? It went on for about twenty minutes.

I told him about the stresses of 911 – how a person answers a call that is horrible, helps do what they can, disconnects only to take the next call which potentially could be as ghastly as the last one.  I told him how we make a connection with the caller – even calls that only last a few minutes.  We take on the responsibility for helping that caller the moment we answer the phone.  We aren’t machines – we care about each emergency call and want to save everyone.

The reporter seemed flabbergasted that the staff involved in Denise’s call didn’t get to go home right after taking it – shouldn’t the supervisors sent us home due to the stress? I shook my head – we stayed, it was our job to be there and to keep answering phones.  We couldn’t stop – it isn’t like 911 calls can go to voice mail for us to pick up at our leisure.  My shift didn’t end until 11pm – Denise’s call came in at 6:14pm.

I won’t say I didn’t get up from my cubicle and go out of the room crying – I did and I spent awhile crying before I could compose myself enough to go back in to continue my job.  I have had people die on the phone with me, had people discover a loved one who committed suicide, had people who were choking, children whose parents find them not breathing, etc., etc., etc.,  You do the best you can do, hang up and take the next call – heart break and personal drama have to take a backseat to that.

The reporter took about five pages of notes as I praised the 911 call center under the umbrella of the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office – they are an awesome group, their training is very in depth, and we bond quickly into a family like atmosphere.  My supervisor on shift that night was incredible – she knew exactly what to do and did it.  She had to notify North Port PD to alert them to the kidnapping and notify the entire state because we had no idea where Denise was.  She did a phenomenal job and when it was done, she sat and cried with me.  No one, unless they are put in that situation, can understand the feeling of total helplessness one feels when a call doesn’t have the outcome we try so hard for.

Everyone in that room stood poised, ready to jump in the moment we had a location to rush too.  Officers were on the alert immediately and everyone wanted to help.  It was so difficult to have to stand by and do nothing.

Once the reporter had everything he needed, we shook hands and parted ways.  I have no idea if talking to the press was the right thing to do but it felt good to explain how much we all tried for a successful conclusion to this call. 

I headed to the lawyer’s office to pick up my travel bag and change into shorts before going to the airport.  One the way up the elevator, indeed the whole building, briefly lost power which gave everyone inside the small square box a moment of panic.  Luckily it kicked back on very quickly and we arrived safely at our destination.

I had a few minutes before the cab (um…executive sedan) arrived so I sauntered over to Tropical Smoothie on Main Street for a Tidal Wave.  I hadn’t had one in over a year – it was delicious.  The walk over was very hot but I cooled off a bit with the iced drink and then walked back in the heat.  By the time the executive sedan had arrived, I was sweating up a storm again.

The ride to the airport was spent listening to the driver tell me very graphically how his cousin was murdered a decade or two ago and how that trial went.  He said that murderer is p for parole soon – I hope the guy doesn’t get it because the murder was rather gross.  My driver dropped me off at American Airlines gate more than four hours before my flight.  I was starving so decided to check out a restaurant.

Into the Lion’s Den

Even as I took my seat the Defense was on their feet to object to my very presence.  They were adamant that the tape not be played but the Judge waved their objections aside impatiently.  He reminded them that he had already ruled on this point last week and wasn’t about to address it again now.

The Defense requested a side bar so the judge hit a button that filled the room with a loud humming noise so no one could hear what the lawyers were arguing over in front of him.  I glanced over at the Defense table and inadvertently made eye contact with the Evil One.  I tried to project all my hatred and anger into my glare as our eyes locked – I wanted to see even a small signal of remorse.  But my righteous anger could not penetrate the swirling fog of evil that surrounded him.  There was no remorse, no guilt, no shame in those cold eyes glaring back at me.  I almost think he was enjoying the attention.

Regretfully I couldn’t hold the stare.  The power goes to the one who holds the stare – it is weakness to be the first to look away.  I loathed being the weak one but his malevolence was boring a hole into me psyche.  Niche’s saying  about those who deal with monsters must make sure they do not become a monster and if one stares too long into the abyss, the abyss stares back, popped into my head and I had to look away.

Karen brought me back to the warm folds of impending justice – I wrapped myself in Justice’s reassuring blanket.  As I sat there feeling very self-conscious and not liking how the lawyers and Judge talked about me as if I wasn’t in the room, the Prosecutor put up a form on an overhead projector and started asking me to point to stuff.  This wasn’t in our pre-trial briefing – I wasn’t sure what I was suppose to do.  As I stood to point with my finger at something, she said “use the laser pointer.”  I had no idea what she was talking about.  The only thing near me was a box of Kleenex and a pen.

Blushing with inadequacy, I noticed the pen wasn’t a pen at all but a little laser so I picked it up and pushed on the clip thinking the light would come on.  It didn’t.  I foolishly said I didn’t know how to work the thing to which I swear I heard snickers in the crowded room.  I was mortified that I was behaving so stupidly.  How could the jury believe I’m competent to take 911 calls if I can’t work a damn laser pen??? I took a deep breath, glanced the pen over and figured out how to make it work but the whole thing made me feel even more self conscious and foolish.

I started answering all the standard questions the Prosecutor threw at me – my name, where I lived now, where I lived at the time of the call, where I worked now, where I worked then, etc.  Almost right away the Defense was on their feet again to object to something.  The Judge ordered the Jurors out of the room so he could listen to the lawyer’s arguments and render a decision on what the jury would be allowed to hear. 

The objections were in regard to the transcript of the tape.  The Defense objected to the idea of a transcript – probably because it revealed even more what a cold bastard the Evil One was.  I was questioned about a few things on the transcript – asked to clarify things I said.  A couple of times they argued about something I said on the tape and I wanted to interrupt them to tell them the answer but I’m not allowed to speak unless spoken to…hmmm…is it because I’m a woman? Just kidding.

The Judge told the Defense that I certainly could tell who said what because I was, of course, there at the time of the call.  The Defense said they still wanted it on the record that they objected.  Whatever.  Then, because the Judge ruled the transcript could be introduced as an evidence aid (not evidence itself), the Defense started tearing it apart over things they wanted omitted.  One of the things they wanted out was the last two lines when I’m saying “don’t…don’t…Kris, I lost her.  He got the phone away and hung it up.  Can I call it back?” in utter panic.  The Judge agreed it wasn’t germane to the call so that was to be stricken from the transcript and the tape had to be stopped before that part could be heard.  It wasn’t important anyway.

The Defense wanted an earlier part where I said I thought Michael King (ie Evil One) didn’t know she had the phone and that she couldn’t hear me talking to her because she didn’t have her ear pressed against it, taken out of the transcript but the Judge refused.  He declared that to be important and that, if I as the 911 operator perceived that she had the phone and he didn’t know, then the Jury could hear it.  It really is evident in the call anyway.

Because the Defense kept standing up to object to every little thing in the transcript, the Prosecutor’s staff said we should go through it page by page to make sure we got a ruling on every sentence so there wouldn’t be any objections while the tape was playing.  The Judge seemed pleased with this idea so they began the process of dissecting the call while I sat there in the witness box with nothing to do.

Unfortunately, that gave me time to let my eyes wander around the courtroom…