This is the first of my Mrs. Aiken series to be published.
See Cancel this (elevator shoving) for info on elevator operation.
Dragnet: The Big Disappointment
Sgt. Joe Friday: “This is the City, Los Angeles California, I work here, I’m a cop.”
“It was Thursday, July 12th. A normal day for L.A. with the ocean breeze cooling the West side of the city to the mid 80s while the East side and its suburbs were sweltering with 100 degree plus temperatures.”
“1:15 P.M, we were working day watch when Corporal Smith announced that a Mrs. Aiken and her son were here to report an assault.”
“I met Mrs. Aiken in the lobby and said ‘how can we help you ma’am’ ”.
As I was sitting down across from Mrs. Aiken her son answered. “My mother was assaulted on April 20th and suffered a shattered femur as a result.”
I asked “was a report made out when the alleged assault occurred?”
Mr. Aiken answered with “a 911 call was made and paramedics took her to the hospital, but no criminal complaint was made out by her. My mother was in no condition that evening to talk about what occurred and it took some time for us to determine what happened”.
I asked them “do you know if EMS made a report of a potential crime?”
He answered with “I doubt it since we are not aware of any followup”.
I asked Mrs. Aiken to explain what happened.
She explained with “I had just finished being awarded for ten years as a KOPS, that is my club’s term for my accomplishments, when my friend and I went back to our room. I led the way for her since her physical limitations are worse than mine and she also has mental limitations. While we were in the elevator the door opened and I started to walk out before realizing it wasn’t on our floor.”
“There were others outside of the elevator so I waited holding the door open until they decided what they wanted to do.” She continued adding that “everyone in the hallway took another elevator which was going down to the convention floor. I turned around to go back into my elevator when I saw the door begin to move. I’m not able to quickly move so I tried to wave my hand in order to make the sensor open the door. The door kept coming and pushed my shoulder which made me fall down.”
“I knew my leg was broken,” she continued. “I told everyone to leave me be until the ambulance could take me to the hospital. That is all I remember except for the sounds of machinery which I could hear with my head lying on the floor.”
I told her that “I am aware of elevator doors closing when people don’t want them to but most people get out of the way or push a button when they don’t want the door to close. I even remember one case where a man was killed and I, as a junior member of the forensics team, had to hold the button the entire time that the others were going over the scene and had the body removed. But I don’t see where that can be a crime I can take to the D.A.”
Mr. Aiken piped in with “my research leads me to believe that a criminal referral would be proper. Is it true that ‘corporations are people, my friend’ ”.
“Under the penal code that is true,” I replied before continuing with “but it is almost impossible to prove criminal culpability where a corporation is concerned.”
He had the right answer. “If we can show that the corporation policy was to engage in an underlying crime would that be enough?”
“It depends on the underlying crime” I began. “For causing injury to an elderly individual, such as you madam, any underlying crime would be sufficient but for causing severe bodily injury you need to show assault of some type.”
He came back with a plausible crime I had not thought about stating that “Isn’t threatening unwanted objectionable bodily contact enough? If you look at it the way the law is written, the company wants their elevator to keep running and use the closing of the doors to threaten people with bodily contact unless they can get clear or make the door open back up. That clearly shows knowledge and intent on the part of the business and not some rogue act of an employee.”
“Interesting theory but I can’t take that type of a case to the D.A.” I replied.
They thanked me and left.
“2:47 P.M. Frank and I went to the recently opened Downtown Hotel and Convention Center. We examined the elevator and concluded that the Aikens were correct in their description of how the elevators operated.”
I told Frank that I wished we could take Mrs. Aiken’s report but knew the D.A. wouldn’t go anywhere with it. Too many campaign contributions from business owners.
I also told Frank that we needed to revisit the case of Dr. Nikaidoh as we left the hotel.
The story you just read is true, The names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent.
I’m trying my hand at fan fiction in order to put some levity into a dry subject.
Please see the post script included in my last post. Cancel this (elevator shoving)
I will refer to the poll of that post to decide which of Mrs. Aiken’s tales to post next.
Copyright Tt: Edited by JLDS