MM>       He never moved under his own power again, and I'll never
 MM> forget his death rattle. After a  while I developed a manner to deal
 MM> with it, mostly "humor".  Possibly worst reminder was a teletype
 MM> from another division congratulating me on "doing my duty". I
 MM> realize now that we are NOT trained in how to deal with this
 MM> situation.
Mike, I've not been in this situation, thank heavens. It's been close
numerous times, but I've not been placed in this position. I don't think that
you could train for this, and I think this would be very difficult for anyone
to handle, regardless of the circumstances. My department offers debriefing
with a psychologist who specializes only with police officers. Regardless of
department procedure, there is still much that the officer will handle alone
for the rest of his or her life. I don't think that anyone can say that they
understand unless they have been there and done that. A friend and fellow
officer would probably ask you to think about all the acts you may have
prevented by doing what you had to do. There would be many other questions
that fellow officers might ask you. What if the officer had been someone
other than you, someone with less skill, and someone else who lost the battle
and didn't go home to their family that night? I guess there might be dozens
of other thoughts, but you had the right to live and go home to your family.
Tom Rightmer - A Victims' Rights Advocate
... I spilled spot remover on my dog.  He's gone now.
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
---------------