Chapter 46: Second Administrative Leave

"The suspect is down, you may enter," Jimmy called out to the two city police officers outside. He then walked over to the suspect, kicked away the handgun that had fallen to the ground, holstered his weapon, and began checking the suspect for a pulse and breathing.

This was standard procedure, a mandatory step. Although Jimmy was already certain the man was dead, the proper protocols still had to be followed.

Of the two city officers, one stayed by the suspect while the other went upstairs to find the caller. Jimmy said to the remaining officer, "I've discharged my weapon. Per regulations, you'll need to hold onto my sidearm for me until someone from our department arrives."

Jimmy walked back to his patrol car with the remaining officer, used the radio to contact dispatch, and instructed them to notify Captain Skaggs to come to the scene. He then unholstered his service weapon, placed it with his duty belt, and locked them in the trunk of the patrol car.

The officer stood by the trunk, watching Jimmy intently. Jimmy completely ignored him, sat down on the ground next to the patrol car, and lit a cigarette.

His "Mind's Eye" ability, combined with the pinpoint accuracy of a revolver, allowed him to achieve total battlefield dominance. As long as the range wasn't too far, it posed no difficulty for him at all. Of course, if there were too many adversaries, that would be a different story—stray bullets were still something to be avoided.

Jimmy realized he had truly changed. When he fired just now, he hadn't even felt nervous. It was as if he were playing a shooting game with a wallhack enabled: observing the target near the wall, stepping out, firing, scoring the kill, and completing the mission.

Now, having time to review the entire process, he discovered a major problem: he had forgotten to communicate with the suspect before entering the house. Earlier, after using his ability and discovering that the caller on the second floor might have been harmed, his immediate instinct was to go in and apprehend or kill the suspect. He had completely forgotten standard police procedure, which required issuing verbal warnings and attempting dialogue before deciding on a forcible entry.

Jimmy's head was pounding. Before anyone else arrived, he needed to figure out how to address this issue.

A few minutes later, other Little Rock Police Department patrol cars and an ambulance arrived at the scene. After examining the suspect, the paramedics directly pronounced him dead. The elderly woman in the upstairs bathroom was also found dead, her cause of death being a gunshot wound. The suspect had already killed her beforehand and only engaged in a desperate armed standoff with the police upon their arrival, refusing to come out and surrender.

An LRPD captain walked over to Jimmy, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Good job, brother, your aim is incredible." He then left with the officer who had been guarding Jimmy's equipment, because Jimmy's direct supervisor, Captain Skaggs, had also arrived at the scene.

Skaggs looked at Jimmy, who was sitting on the ground smoking, and was left speechless. As he had mentioned before, the rate of violent crime in Arkansas was actually quite low, yet Jimmy had already shot and killed two suspects in a very short period of time.

Unwilling to discuss the matter at the scene, Skaggs walked over to the LRPD captain, borrowed an officer to drive Jimmy's patrol car, transferred Jimmy's equipment to his own vehicle, and drove Jimmy back to the county sheriff's department.

Upon arriving at the precinct, Jimmy immediately sat down to write his incident report. The entire logical sequence had been fully sorted out in his mind during the drive. While he couldn't guarantee it would pass smoothly without a hitch, at least he had a rationale ready.

Once the report was finished, Jimmy went straight to the break room to sleep, knowing that routine questioning would begin early the next morning.

The following morning, Sheriff James and a colleague from Internal Affairs were already waiting for Jimmy in the interrogation room.

Jimmy recounted the incident once more, matching the report he had written the previous night. He detailed everything from receiving the dispatch notification during his night patrol, arriving at the scene and communicating with the LRPD officers, observing the situation from the side window, entering the house, and finally firing his weapon. He laid out the entire process step-by-step, placing special emphasis on the timeline: notified during patrol a little after 10:00 PM, arrived at the scene at 10:30, prepared to enter the house at 10:40, and fatally shot the suspect at 10:43. The factor that compelled him to enter the house was that the caller had been out of contact and made no sound for nearly an hour, leading him to suspect the caller had been harmed and making it necessary to go inside and verify.

With all the information recorded, Jimmy was granted a second administrative leave and headed straight home. He decided to use these few days off to further refine his patrol light design and make a few prototypes. Once the patent was approved, he would need to approach the police department to discuss procurement, which meant he would also need to find a contract manufacturer in advance.

Jimmy's only firearm was currently impounded at the precinct. Stuck on administrative leave, he couldn't wander around and could only honestly stay home, cook, and watch television. He planned to save up a bit more money to buy a computer; the patent application process had nearly wiped him out financially.

Although the internet wasn't as developed as it would be twenty years later, using it to look up information was at least feasible. The year was 2000, and personal computers in the United States were still quite expensive, costing over two thousand dollars for a complete setup. After checking the prices earlier, Jimmy had given up on the idea. Although he frequently worked overtime, he had only been earning a salary for a few months. After deducting rent, utilities, and the expenses for his patent and materials, he was practically penniless—if not living paycheck to paycheck, he was certainly stripped down to bare essentials.

His only remaining pastime was watching television. He walked down to the supermarket to buy groceries and semi-prepared food, intending to hole up at home and not go out.

This period of administrative leave was one day longer than the last. On the third day, he received a call from the precinct telling him to report back.

It was the same old routine, the same familiar formula. Sheriff James and the Internal Affairs officer briefed him on the prosecutor's office's investigation results and told him to return to work the following day.

However, Jimmy was in luck this time. The prosecutor's office had interviewed the LRPD officers who responded that night, and they mentioned a crucial detail Jimmy had overlooked: before entering the house, Jimmy had made tactical hand signals, signaling the officers for backup while he went in. This action added procedural completeness to Jimmy's behavior. Because the LRPD officers had previously stated that the suspect was armed and had fired at their patrol car, Jimmy entering the house with backup support and subsequently shooting the suspect fell under the category of a known, high-risk armed confrontation. He had used a handgun to counter a threat of equal force, committing no procedural errors.

Jimmy finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since the suspect hadn't fired directly at him this time, strictly speaking, his act of shooting the suspect could have been viewed as having a preconceived stance and premeditated intent to kill.

With this matter brought to a close, besides adding extra thickness to his personnel file, Jimmy received an unexpected bonus. According to the county sheriff department's traditions, probationary deputies received a single chevron upon completing their probationary period, and a second chevron after five years of service. While both represented the rank of deputy sheriff, two chevrons denoted a senior deputy, which came with a pay grade increase and Field Training Officer (FTO) authority, allowing them to train any incoming recruits.

Additionally, in some police departments, detectives were selected from among the two-chevron deputy sheriffs to wear plainclothes and drive unmarked patrol vehicles while carrying out assignments.