I just got a call from the local police informing me one of my employees has passed away. He was apparently told by the mother to tell me as I’m his boss. I approved knowing as I assumed he had no called no showed and I work in a high turn over rate industry. But I’m a bit worried that a cop called. Does that mean it was violent? Or a car accident? Or do police get involved with something like passing in your sleep? I imagine I will find out what happened as I have his mother on Facebook but I’m just….I don’t want to imagine he passed violently as he was a great young man and thay would mess worh me head.
Comments
Police will investigate an “unattended death”, which means someone was found dead. It could be natural and even peaceful, but it could be drugs, or even foul play, the police just don’t know until they investigate and have a coroner do an autopsy. When my FIL died at home surrounded by family, the police were not involved. They literally told the coroner how he died and he did not do an autopsy, he just put what they told him down as the cause of death. When my BIL died, that was also strange. His wife came home, he was fine, she went outside to the garden for a few minutes to pick some vegetables and came back and he was dead. He had a bad heart, so no autopsy was done, and he was cremated quickly. Police only came because she dialed 911.
Yes, police are usually called for all deaths other than people who are on hospice and people who die in the hospital of known illnesses. Most of the time, they just verify that there’s no reason to suspect the person was murdered or anything
It’s very normal for the police to come out to an emergency call. That doesn’t necessarily mean any crime happened, if there is no need for further investigation they just write a report and close the case. It probably means it was unexpected, I wouldn’t infer more than that.
It’s normal for the police to call up about deaths, peaceful or not
Most likely, this means an accidental death. The police will investigate if the circumstances of the death are strange, or somebody might be at fault, or if a person is reported missing or their neighbors report a terrible smell from inside their house or whatever, but in most cases the investigation doesn’t turn up any foul play (or there isn’t a real investigation because the cause of death appears to be something obvious and innocent).
The only times the police don’t get involved at all are when the death was expected, like somebody who died in a hospital or a super old guy surrounded by family and friends.
My dad died a few years ago (UK).
I called an ambulance (what to do was a voyage of discovery, as it was all new to me). The police came automatically.
My dad was 93 and was suffering from advanced COPD. He’d been bedbound for the previous few months. It was his time, but it was still devastating.
I, too, wondered if they were trying to finger me for something. But it’s just procedure.
Police often have to investigate deaths, not so much because a crime has been committed as to rule out that a crime has been committed. For example, if I found my neighbor dead the police would probably be called by their family, their insurance company, etc, to investigate to determine how they died. They would interview me to determine how I found the body, did I see anything suspicious, etc, even if I was not really a suspect in the death. If the police determine there was foul play it becomes a murder investigation, and if not then the insurance company and everybody else involved starts their part of it and the cops are no longer involved after that usually.
The police will show up along with paramedics to any unattended death in the USA once called in.
The have to so they can perform rudimentary checks and an investigation. No one in a civilized world would ever take someone’s claim at face value that another person died peacefully.
…That being said, the police won’t call anyone unless to establish a family link when no one has claimed that person and are unaware of the death.
The police would not call an employer. That’s weird.
Yup cops get called to your residence when you call 911 if active death or non emergent police/sheriff for an already dead person. Then, in my area it’s the Sheriff deputies who come out with fire truck and ambo, ambo will “call it” non official, they’ll then call the JP to come out and pronounce a death. Then, the JP (Justice of the Peace) will then ask if they can call anyone for you, typically as in family members but if say the mom was there she might have said to contact their job to let them know.
I personally went thru this 4 years ago with my mom. Now, 21 years ago my dad was on hospice. When he died we called hospice his nurse came out to pronounce then the funeral home came out no popo/fire/EMS involved. Which is the only way popo/fire/EMS won’t come out is if it’s a hospice patient or in a facility either skilled or assisted. Every other time popo/fire/ems will be called.
Police as far as I know are required to attend all deaths to determine foul play or not, if there’s no evidence of foul play the police will pass it on to the next relevant authority
It’s more indepth than that but ya
We have no way to know. It could be he did the mother a kind service due to her grief. As you said she asked him to call you.
But no it does not automatically mean a suspicious or violent death.
My old landlady’s mother (who had just celebrated her 98th birthday) passed away at the house. The police were informed, they stopped by and got everyone’s names and relations, and basically were just making sure it wasn’t foul play. That was a hard day.
If the death was unattended and unexpected, then police are often involved. If the death was expected, police may not be called in. My spouse died at home, under a physician’s supervision. The death was reported to the morgue via phone but that was it.
I dated a girl that did the legal part of death processing for the law firm she worked for. You might be surprised how many people “die in their sleep” from murder.
I wouldn’t worry about it though, the police just called to save the family the trouble of calling a list of people to repeat over and over that their child is dead.
A family friend died of cancer, he died in his home. I was there when he died, the cops, the paramedics and the medical examiner all came out.
They asked a bunch of redundant questions, confirmed he was in fact actually dead, counted his pain management meds (opiods) to make sure he didn’t overdose (he did not.)
And then they all left, they didn’t even take the body (apparently they don’t actually do that unless it’s a murder) but they did put him in a bodybag, we (my family, the friend who died had no family) had to make arrangements with a funeral home and they came and got the body.
The cops might have found him during a welfare check, or done a cursory investigation of his death, since it seemed like it was unexpected. Even if it turns out to be just a heart attack, they have to make sure there’s no obvious sign of poisoning or whatever.
Yes I went to many unattended deaths when I was working patrol. Its basically when someone is found dead unexpectedly outside of a hospital or nursing home or in hospice. In those cases a doctor or registered nurse will determine if its natural causes.
When police respond they determine if it seems suspicious or not and then the coroner or medical examiner determines the cause. The police will often notify next of kin or the persons work or anyone else that might need to know.
My dead hung himself. First thing I did was call 911 when I found him. Police come out, ambulance comes out, and a police investigator comes out. They need to confirm there was no foul intent. As of for calling you. If that was something he said to have done then they probably did it out of respect and by request. Otherwise the family ussually needs to go about everything. If I killed myself tomorrow I’d want my boss to know simply becuase I get along with the guy.i wouldn’t want him to build hatred becuase im suddenly not showing up when expected leaving him short handed only for him to find out I was dead and feel a self resentment thing
Depends where you are.
I provided end of life care for my mum. About two weeks before she died the community nurse spotted some clear signs (discolouration in her feet) and took us aside to explain what that meant and that someone would be visiting every day from then on.
When she died, we just needed a doctor to confirm and she was away to the undertakers, but if she’d died before that conversation with the nurse the police would have given her a once over.
Yes, unless someone dies expectedly, the cops will be involved, if only for clerical reasons and to confirm it wasn’t a suspicious death.
Definitely in the case of an accident. We learned my grandmother had died (in or preceding to a car accident) when an responding officer called my uncle nearby to notify him.
It varies by jurisdiction, but in general, all deaths are investigated to determine the cause and manner of death. There are some exceptions, but in general deaths will be looked into.
Source: am death investigator
My grandfather passed at 97 at my parents house. As my mom was a nurse he wasnt on hospice or anything towards the end. He passed peacefully at night. My mom called the cops and they sent everyone. They also kept my mom and step father in the kitchen, supervised until the coroner cleared them.