A lot of claret

Glass can be very dangerous. This is a story about a young burglar who left a bit more behind at a job than he probably took.

It is 3am on a very cold morning and I am on my way to a town 15 miles south called Rodster. There has been a break in at the rear of a jewellers shop. Police are on the scene and waiting for the key holder and me.

I arrived at the scene and assessed what it was that needed to be done.

“Sorry we have got to go to an other job. We will be back to see the key holder. Can you wait and let him know the situation?” the Police officer said as he walked over to me.

“No problem.” I replied, “I need to have access inside to secure this property but your burglar will not be far away.”

“Oh?” the officer asked curiously, “What makes you think that?” I led the officer to the back to show him the glass panel. I pointed to where the glass had been broken. I apologise for putting it so bluntly, but there was still a little bit of the burglar hanging from a large sliver of glass in the frame.

“Your offender has cut them self badly and will not be far away because of blood loss.” I told him.

“Are you sure?” he asked, “There is no red stuff?”

I turned around shining my touch to the ground moving it around in a wide circle till I spotted what I was looking for. Not five yards away I found what I was looking for and showed the officer.

“This is what I mean,” I said to the Officer showing him a very large pool of blood. “Your offender is going to need hospital treatment urgently.” The officer told me he would put a callout in for another car and off they went.

I put my seat back listened to the radio and waited for the key holder. I am not sure how long I had been waiting before there was movement on the flat roof on a garage opposite the shop a figure appeared and was trying to climb down. Then without warning the figure dropped to the floor and did not move.

Now I am thinking, “What do I do?”

Thankfully though, at that moment the key holder arrived. I quickly put him in the picture and he agreed to come over with me to where the figure lay. As we got closer we could see that it was a young man and he was groaning.

“You alright mate?” I called as we came alongside him.

I shone my torch at him and just by the colour of his face, my first aid training told me that he had lost a lot of blood. As I knelt down to get closer to him and that training properly kicked in. I turned to look at the key holder:

“Get an ambulance now! Tell them that the casualty is going in and out of consciousness and has lost a lot of blood from a large laceration.”

The key holder turned and ran back the way we had come. I pulled off a scarf that was round the young mans face and dressed the laceration on his arm as best I could with it to slow down what blood he had left in him and put him in the recovery position, all the while talking to him and waited for the emergency services.

“You were right.” said the Police Officer whom I had spoken to earlier. He returned as I was boarding up the broken door window. “He is in surgery right now being repaired and having a blood transfusion.”

Good job I had not fallen to sleep while I waited, or I would not have seen him fall down the wall!

If you’re wondering what happened to the young burglar, he pleaded guilty with 17 other offences taken into account and went down for 18 months so I never saw him again.