Guest Post from Hercule: No Big Deal

 

Hercule is a former reporter and U.S. Marine from Belgium. He has been working for the department for over 2 1/2 years. His submission is honor of the 7th anniversary of the blog.

Shortly after midnight on a Monday, a glorious Friday for me, my partner and I are counting the minutes until the weekend when we get dispatched to a domestic violence call.  

We arrive at a historic 1915 apartment building and the caller leads us up the staircase. Two floors below and we already hear the sounds of a dispute. The noise gets louder as we approach and we have no problem finding the correct apartment. As I tell dispatch our exact location, I hear an object slamming against the wall and the sound of glass breaking. I take a half-step back to kick the door in as my partner knocks, announces, and demands someone opens the door. 

A woman opens the door. Next to the door are a shoe and a broken picture frame. I grab the man and take him in the hallway for an interview. He barely speaks English so I have him write his name in my notebook. Nothing happened, he says. I ask him where he’s from. He’s lived in a couple of countries, most recently in my hometown, in my sister’s neighborhood, Halfway across the world.

We switch languages and the story comes out.

He grabbed her, against her will. He even shows me how.

"Had to control her," he says. 

"No big deal," he explains. 

I consult with my partner to get her side of the story and I arrest him. 

"No big deal," I explain.