I'm a cop and 99% of the time I'm happy to do my job, often to the point where it interferes with my life. This was the 1%.

I didn't know what to call this story, but basically a couple of months ago we got a report from a woman saying she was out walking her dog, and a car pulled up. A man got out and started masturbating in front of her. She said the car was a red SUV with a man and a woman inside. She gave a very detailed description of both of them. <br><br>This happened in an area where this has never been reported as far as I know, and where I have never had a call that wasn't a false alarm or a domestic. It's a very quiet, exclusively single-family houses kind of area, and this happened in the middle of the day when a lot of people were outside mowing their lawn. I found it very strange that nobody else saw or reported this. <br><br>I did a lot of follow-up Canvasing, looking for cameras that would've had a view of the street around the time this happened, and I couldn't find any other witnesses. I was pretty sure this woman was making it up, either for attention, to try and get someone in trouble, or as a prank to waste our time. But she was very persistent, following up with me about it every day or so to see if I had found anything. She was very believable and descriptions of the two people in the car were very detailed. <br><br>I finally decided to use her tax dollars more efficiently, and do some/proactive canvassing in that area to see if I could catch a possible repeat offender, or find more evidence. I spent a full 8-hour shift driving around that neighborhood, as well as nearby neighborhoods. I didn't find anything. <br><br>For the record, I do not think that people that are chronically ill or mentally ill should be Scientology or locked up or abused, unless they have committed a crime. But I do think that people that are a threat to others due to their illness should be helped in a controlled environment. And I really believe that a large portion of our crime and violence is the direct result of people who need help, and aren't getting it. I say all of this, because I want you to understand the gravity of what I'm about to say. <br><br>I have never been treated badly by a mentally ill person. I've never even been threatened or sworn at, and I've dealt with a lot of them. I don't like inside jokes or sarcasm, but I am sympathetic, I am patient, and I am understanding. I've spent hours talking to people with extreme mental illnesses, and I've never had a problem. I am not stating this as something to be proud of, but I think you need to know how I handle situations like this before I tell the rest of the story. <br><br>So, a few weeks later I got another call from that same woman. At first, I rolled my eyes and thought, "here we go again". But she said this happened again, at the same spot, at the same time of day, and she gave me the same description of the car and the two people inside. Lo and behold, I was already in the area, and was there within literally two minutes. And there it was, a red SUV with a male driver, a female passenger, matching both descriptions. <br><br>When I pulled over the car, I was already partially on edge, because I'm 100% certain this woman had lied the first time. I'm also already annoyed at having to waste time on this again. When I approached the car, I realized why the description was so accurate, and how she could see the two people so clearly. The passenger was holding a 3 year old child, and she matched the description of the female. <br><br>The driver matched the male description, but he didn't seem right. He was definitely not acting like he was trying to get in trouble with the law, and his reaction seemed genuine. When I asked him for his license, and asked why he had pulled over, he said he had pulled over to help his friend, who had gotten sick. I looked in the back seat, and I will not describe what I saw in detail out of respect for this innocent child. <br><br>This was one of the most disturbing, sickening things I have ever seen as a police officer. I was completely caught off guard, because like I said, I have never been treated poorly by someone with a mental illness. I don't even remember what I said, I just remember I couldn't bear to look at this woman. I told him to drive slowly and I would follow him, and I intended to call A&D and have her taken for an emergency evaluation. <br><br>I don't know if she heard me, but as I was walking back to my car, I heard him scream that she shouldn't drive. I looked up, and she was behind the wheel, with the car in drive, and rolling towards a park. I tried to get to the car as fast as I could without hurting myself, but she was already gone. I knew there was a small trail in the park, a small creek, and one of those plastic children's playground sets. I went after her as fast as I could. <br><br>I didn't catch up to her until she had already driven through a small gazebo, and was on the path that went along the creek. The road was about 40 feet higher in elevation than the creek, and I could see her car was in the creek. It was upside down, and there was movement inside. I could not see the occupants, but I could hear a woman screaming and a child crying, and I could see the car was catching fire. <br><br>I went down the hill, I tried to open the doors, they were locked. I tried to break the windows, but the car was old and they were thick. I could see the inside of the car from one of the windows that had shattered in the crash, a 3-year-old had been cut all over her body, but was alive. I tried again and again to break the window, until I finally succeeded. I could see the two occupants in the front seats, they were dead. I think they must have been wearing their seatbelts. <br><br>I started to pull the little girl out of the car. I tried to be as slow and gentle as possible, but I had to do it fast because the car was catching on fire. I could see fuel leaking onto the flames. I pulled the little girl out of the car, and I tried to walk up the hill. But she was screaming in agony, my back had gone out from trying to break that window so many times, and the car was catching on fire. I was pretty sure it was going to blow up, and I didn't have time to walk up the hill, so I slid on my back down the hill towards the creek. <br><br>I rolled down the hill, and it probably saved my life because as we got to the creek, the car exploded. I held that little girl, I comforted her, I told her everything was okay. I'm not a religious person, but I prayed out loud that she would make it. I can't describe how awful this was for me. I don't want to describe how bad she was hurt. It was absolutely terrible. <br><br>I finally got a little composure, I called for help, and I gave her the most details I could. I'm just a cop, not a medic, but I knew some basic things to look for when I couldn't see any injury, apparently she was bleeding internally. I tried to elevate her legs. I held her hand, and I told her again and again that everything was okay. She kept asking where her mommy and daddy were, and I kept telling her that they were okay, they were at the hospital, and I was bringing her there. I knew it was a lie, because I had seen them. But I had to tell her that, she was 3 years old and her family had just died in front of her, and she was in extreme pain. <br><br>The nearest fire department was about 30 minutes away. I held that little girl in the creek for over 20 minutes. I finally got help, and she was taken to the nearest hospital, then a children's hospital. I didn't hear anything for weeks, but I finally got an update she was going to survive, and she was placed with a foster family. <br><br>That woman, and everyone she knew, are people I would never want to meet again.