Expert: Jack Toomey - 3/7/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi Jack -

My novel involves a sixteen-year-old girl who was kidnapped.  Two months after her disappearance, she shows up near her home with some memory loss.  When police approach her, her initial response is wariness and suspicion--in fact, she tries to run away.  I'm wondering how an officer might approach this situation.  Would she be forced into a patrol car?  Would she be sedated?  Taken to a hospital?

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Thanks,
Becky

ANSWER: Becky,

As you might suspect I cannot answer for every police officer in the country.  Every call is different, every circumstance is different, and each person that an officer encounters is different.

Is this on a public street, in a home, on a rural roadway, in a school, or where?   Is the officer by him/herself, is the girl alone?  Let me know and I will give you a general guess on how it would be handled.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Jack -

Absolutely.  I realize every circumstance is going to be different, and every officer's approach will vary, and I appreciate that you're trying to give me your best answer.

In my story, there is only one officer present, and he finds the girl in a field just outside a small town in Maine--so definitely a rural setting.  Also, he finds her late at night.

Thanks again,
Becky

Answer
In that case if the officer is certain about the girls identity then he has the right and most likely would detain the girl by any means possible.  I am sure that a police officer would be strong and fast enough to overpower a 16 year old girl so it would be a matter of latching on to her and bringing her back to the patrol car.  If she was out of control and acting like a wild child then he (I) would simply  sit on her or detain her in the field until another officer got there so they could carry, drag, or bring her back to the patrol car.  In a rural part of Maine the nearest backup car might be twenty miles away so if she really out of control the officer might be there for awhile.  Not a place that a male officer would want to be with a 16 year old girl.

No matter how wild she is in the field she will calm down so I cannot see her being taken to a hospital unless she is injured or mentally ill.  So that would eliminate any thought of sedation.