Officer Down

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Episode 293 "Officer Down"
Original Air Date: October 11, 2007
Written by: Janine Sherman Barrois
Directed by: Christopher Chulack
Guest Stars:

Mimi Kennedy - Sergeant O'Malley
Chloe Greenfield - Sarah Riley
Dayo Ade - Shooter
Daniel Samonas - Finn Andrews
Allan Wasserman - Mr. Goldstein
Cisco Reyes - Auxiliary Officer Tim
Miles Heizer - Joshua Lipnicki
Elizabeth Wright - Auxiliary Officer Lauren Goldstein
Natacha Roi - Serena Lipnicki
Kim Estes - Lieutenant Higgins
Eva Kaminsky - Mrs. Andrews
Aidan/Andrew Gonzales - Joe Kovac

Starring:

Maura Tierney - Dr. Abby Lockhart
Mekhi Phifer - Dr. Gregory Pratt
Parminder Nagra - Dr. Neela Rasgotra
John Stamos - Tony Gates
Linda Cardellini - Samantha Taggart
Scott Grimes - Dr. Archie Morris

Staff:

Troy Evans - Frank Martin
Leland Orser - Dr. Lucien Dubenko
Marc Jablon - Dr. Larry Weston
Gil McKinney - Dr. Paul Grady
Paul Carafotes - Police Officer
Christopher Amitrano - Officer Hollis
Gina Ravera - Dr. Bettina DeJesus
Angel Laketa Moore - Nurse Dawn Archer
Laura Cerón - Chuny Marquez
Joe Manganiello - Officer Litchman
Brian Lester - Paramedic Dumar
Lyn Alicia Henderson - Paramedic Pamela Olbes
Brendan Patrick Connor - Paramedic Reidy

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Abby is a little frustrated as she sits in front of an uncooperative Joe in his high chair. He is refusing to eat any of the things she lifts to his mouth with a baby spoon. She tells him he loves bananas. Neola comes down the stairs as the phone rings. Abby hurries toward it and says that it’s probably Tanya saying that she is stuck in traffic. Neola smiles at Joe and sits in front of him. Abby is talking and says that Tanya didn’t tell her that he was sick. She stops to wipe something up off the floor. She tells her that she should stay and that she can get her neighbor. She hangs up and tells Neola that Tanya’s kid has pneumonia and she might be out all week. Joe takes a look at Neola and starts to wail. Abby is searching the refrigerator for Miriam’s number and is increasingly agitated when she can’t find it. Neola offers to watch Joe and Abby ignores her as she rifles through papers and things on the table. Neola tells her she is having a melt down and Abby says it’s a ‘pre-meltdown….a meltdown involves throwing things.” She gets it. Luka’s father has had surgery but the chemo could take six months and they have a life here and Joe will be walking soon. Neola insists that she will be fine with Joe for the day. She insists that he loves her. Abby watches as Neola fusses with him and Joe continues to wail.

Cut to Pratt’s apartment where he and Bettina are rolling under the sheets on his bed. Pratt is grinning and totally satisfied with himself. Bettina says they need to get to work, Pratt’s face falls when he realizes she was lying to him about ‘it’. She gets out of bed and he is incredulous. Cut to them walking on the sidewalk from the el. He wants to know why she would lie about ‘it’ and she says that she is a woman and it’s easier. She brushes him off as a paramedic calls to Pratt from the rig. Bettina tells him they will talk about it later. Pratt’s patient is a 16 year old kid named Finn. He is syncopal and has evidence of trauma. His mom is with him and says there is a bug going around school. She says he has always been healthy. Pratt is giving orders as he accompanies the gurney into the ER. Cut to Tony’s apartment. He is coming down the circular staircase talking on the phone with someone about a cohort trial program. He is obviously trying to enroll Joshua in the program and is unsuccessful. He is dressed in a steel blue dress shirt and tie (ala ‘Luka blue’….aiiiii!) He hangs up and is distracted to the sounds from the door. Someone is trying to get in the apartment. He picks up a stick of some kind and is ready to clobber when Sarah pushes her way in. She tells him that she has run away. Tony is clearly agitated and confused. She tells him she couldn’t wait till their planned visit in a couple of weeks and not to call her grandparents. She told them she was spending the night with Janet and they were going to the mall today. Tony tells her to stay in the apartment and they will talk about it later.

The desk in the ER is very busy. Frank interrupts Morris’ conversation with Grady about a patient to tell him there is a call form his cousin in Iowa. Morris takes the call and in the background we see Frank telling someone that Randi isn’t even available to come in to work. He also says that Jerry has moved to Alaska and is slinging beers in some bar (reference to Abraham Benrubi’s role on “Men in Trees’). We can see Morris’ face during this exchange in the foreground as he is talking on the phone. He is stricken and clearly upset by what is being said.

Finn’s mother is standing at the foot of his gurney and asks Pratt if he should call Finn’s father. Says he lives in Ohio but could be there in a couple of hours. Finn is worried because he has a wrestling match next week and needs to be healthy. Suddenly his head rolls to the side and he is in V-Tach. Pratt and Dawn move in to action with paddles and epi.

Morris is striding out to the ambulance bay with Larry and Grady. He gets his hand caught up in his gown and angrily shakes it free. Abby crosses the ambulance bay and Morris tells her he needs her on this one. A police car spins into the bay with an ambulance close behind. Abby doubts that this would be a good case for an intern and Morris disagrees. She exchanges a wary glance with Grady. There are two young gun shot victims. Morris and Larry head inside with a young girl while Abby waits for the second ambulance. She had Grady head inside with a younger Hispanic guy.

Larry is examining a very bloody young girl and asks if they really let her work without a vest. The girls tells them no guns, no vests…they are volunteers. Larry reports on her breath sounds and a very angry Morris tells him to be quiet. Lauren explains what is happening as they examine her and we cut to the next room where the story continues with her partner as Abby and Grady are working on him. They were just walking their beat and came across a guy who was trying to carjack a woman. They were told that if they ever saw someone with a gun not to get involved. But what were they going to do? There could have been a kid inside. Abby has been directing Grady all around the room as he looked for a thoraseal and then holds up the x-ray. She says he needs a chest tube and Grady ask if he can put it in. Abby tells him he can and watches as he lays the tube across a tray of instruments. She tells him to get another tube because this was is no longer sterile. He has contaminated the entire tray. Sam says she will get another one. Abby draws some meds into a syringe and tells Grady to keep his gloves on. He is very frustrated and glances at her.

Cut to Joshua’s ICU room and Tony strides in. Josh tells him the Cubs are down two in the ninth. He is ignoring Tony as he examines him. Tony says he has talked to the guys at Hopkins and they are trying to enroll Josh in an IVF-1 trial. Josh tells his mother it’s an insulin like growth factor. Tony says it would project the nerve endings and slow the progression of the disease. Josh’s mother is delighted but Josh less so. Tony starts to leave and tosses Joshua a candy bar. He tells him to keep his weight up.

Cut to the trauma room where Grady is trying to insert a chest tube into Tim. He asks if the girl is okay. Says she caught the worst of it and has only been out for three months. Grady is having difficulty as Abby leans in to talk him through the tubing. He finally tells her to do it. Sam asks what is up. He did it fine with Moretti last night. He says that Abby makes him nervous. Abby looks up. “Me?” she says. Grady shifts and tells her to never mind. He shouldn’t have said anything.

Cut to Pratt looking over Finn’s labs. He apparently has pancreaitis. Pratt assures his mother that he will get better but pancreaitis is generally associated with excessive alcohol use. Finn insists that he doesn’t drink. A scan with the sonosite reveals a large cyst in his pancreas. Pratt doesn’t want to risk another bout of V-tach and tells dawn to page surgery and radiology to the ER.

Cut back to the trauma room where Morris is overseeing the tube placement results with Abby and Grady. He asks Grady about something and Grady says maybe it is a clot and pulls the tube out a bit. Sam says his lungs are expanding and Morris tells Grady it was a good catch and reminds Abby to consider a clot the next time. Larry opens the door and says they are losing Lauren’s blood pressure. Morris leaves. Grady is embarrassed and Abby is amused. She asks why he didn’t mention the clot earlier and he didn’t think about it till Dr. Morris asked. He says he told her that she makes him nervous. Abby tells him they are going to have to find a way to work together without him getting brain freeze. He says his brain works just fine when she is not in the room. Transport pulls the patient from the room. He tells her to stop yelling at him and she says she isn’t yelling she is teaching him. He tells her that her tone isn’t helping. She asks what he wants…to be breast fed? He rolls his eyes. She tells him to get on his game and he says he is trying. She tells him to try harder. She turns and stalks away as Morris barks at her to get in there.

Morris, Abby and Dubenko are examining an unconscious Lauren. Dubenko says the live is intact and Morris is examining the sonosite screen. He says her pelvic region is unremarkable. They bring in Sergeant O’Malley, the officer in charge of the auxiliary program. (It’s Dharma’s mom! Mimi Kennedy…with an anti make-up job that is very distracting) She asks if Lauren is going to be okay and Morris says she would be if they had of given her a vest. Mimi says that it’s not in the budget. Morris is really off and angry and tells her they sent them out without any back up. Mimi explains that they are supposed to call in if they see anything suspicious. Morris says they wouldn’t send a soldier into battle without the right equipment…oh wait, they did that too. Mimi says they couldn’t make her feel any worse. They are like her kids. Close up on Morris as he tells her sharply that she didn’t take care of them. Action in the room stops as they all look from Morris to Mimi. She turns and leaves the room. Lauren wakes up and Dubenko asks what they were doing when her bp dropped. Chuny says they were starting a second line. Morris shakes his head and says it was all vagel. Lauren says that she fainted the last two times she gave blood. Dubenko is amused and tells Morris to take a better history next time. He asks how Neola is doing and Abby says she is drinking all her coffee. Dubenko says maybe he will stop by and see her later. Morris is angry.

Bettina is looking at an ultrasound screen and tells Pratt Finn has a large pseudocyst that needs to be drained immediately. Pratt tells Dawn to page surgery. Bettina interrupts and walks Pratt away. She tells him it can be drained internally with an endoscopic ultrasound and she is between cases and would be glad to do it. Pratt says he has never heard of that and she says they did a study. He asks how he knows she isn’t…faking…her data. She grimaces and then reels off some data. He tells her to ‘do her thing’. Paramedics call him to deal with a 32 year old male with a single gunshot to the left thigh. The patient is fighting them mightily. One of the officers is Lichtman…Sam’s speed date guy from the week before. The patient is the shooter of the volunteer cops. Sam approaches and frowns a bit as she sees Lichtman and the blood covering his shirt and forehead. She slows. Pratt wheels the gunman toward a trauma room and Sam grimly tells Lichtman to come with her. Morris strides out of Lauren’s exam room and sees Mimi standing against the wall in the corridor. He dips his head and looks for a way to avoid her. Chuny stops him right in front of her and ask for his signature on a chart. Morris obliges and then tells Mimi that they have sent Lauren to CT to see if there is any internal bleeding. Mimi ells him that it shouldn’t have happened. Lauren just started and Tim hasn’t even been with them six months. She tells him she saw the program work in New York and thought it would work there as well. She’d taken Lauren under her wing and had found Tim on the street with meth. Staryed the program and he wanted to join. Thought who better to clean up the streets than someone who knew them? Lauren’s gurney is pushed back down the corridor with an expanding liver hematoma. Lauren’s dad is admitted to the trauma room and is dumbfounded that she is there. He had no idea that she was working for the cops. Morris and Abby are trying to find the problem and Grady is bouncing around behind them trying to speak. Abby finally tells him to go outside and work on his charts. Morris tells her to let him stay and someone notices that Lauren is bleeding from her old IV sites. Grady says he has been trying to tell them. Abby rolls her eyes as Morris orders a DIC screening. Abby tells Grady disdainfully that he has to be bold in the trauma room and that if he knows something to speak up. They need someone in the next room and Larry offers to go. Grady says no…he’ll go because they have things under control.

Cut to a curtained area where Sami is working on Lichtman. She tells him that this is why she doesn’t date cops. Because they are always getting into a shout out with some scumbag. Lichtman says he has never shot anyone before. Sam says he should have killed the guy for what he did to the volunteers. Lichtman says it’s not that easy. It’s never easy to pull the trigger…even if it is the right thing. Sam bites her lip and says she knows it’s not. (heh..shout out to the Sam/Steve situation in last season’s outstanding premiere - ‘Bloodline’) Lichtman says they will take his gun and make him talk to some shrink. She tells him it’s just protocol and he’ll be back on the streets in a week. He nods and they grin as they kiss. The curtain is pulled back by Tony and they part. Gates asks about a patient they were sending up to the unit. Sam says she will get the chart and Tony follows her to the desk. “Were you sucking face with Barney Fife?’ he asks. Hee. He hands him the chart and asks her – hypothetically – what if her kid ran away and crossed state lines to stay at a friend’s house? Hypothetically? Sam says for a minute she thought maybe Sarah had run away from her grandparents’ and was at his house. He sees Dubenko and turns away as Sam tells him to send her back. Dubenko is in a rush but Gates asks him about a friend of his at Hopkins and asks him to put in a word for Josh and the trials. They enter Lauren’s room and Dubenko tells them to call surgery and tell them to get a room ready. Larry tells him there is another problem – DIC. Gates looks at the chart and tells them her counts aren’t consistent with DIC. Thinks it might be von Willdebrand’s disease. Tells them it will take 10 minutes to find out. He has seen a lot of coalgupathy in the ICU and they might be able to treat her without surgery. Morris says he has 10 minutes.

Cut to Pratt in the treatment room with the shooter. There is a cop goading the patient – who is still fighting them all. Benny, the antigonistical cop keeps it up as Pratt, Dawn, Grady and Sam try to treat him. Lichtman tries to pull Benny off and Grady steps in front of him and catches a pretty powerful swing to the face.

Cut to Neola dozing on the couch with Joe on her chest wailing away. She lifts Joe and croons to him. We see him in the high chair and she is trying to feed him as he screams. He calms and then there is a shot of her face as she smiles…and then is pelted in the face with food. Joe is wailing away as Neel is washing his feet and legs off in the sink. He is screaming and struggling as she changes his diaper and holds him in her lap as she folds the ‘nasty, dirty nappie’.

Cut back to Lauren’s trauma room and Gates is insisting that they wait to admit her for surgery. He says that the abdominal wound has already stopped and they have given her the ability to clot. Dubenko agrees and say it was a good pick up They will admit her and monitor her closely. Gates tells them to tell Moretti and maybe he will let him back down there. Morris tells him it wasn’t that good. Abby and Gates exit the room and tell Lauren’s dad and Mimi that they can go see her now. Abby tells him it was smooth. Cut to Grady’s bruised cheek being seen in a mirror. Dawn tells him there is no point tenderness around the orbit and to ice it three times a day. Abby asks him how he got it and Grady tells her he was being bold in the trauma room…he was bold. Gates tells him he might want to dial back on the boldness and leaves. Abby sighs as she looks at Grady. She rolls her eyes and walks away as he lifts an ice bag to his cheek.

Pratt enters the radiology room and tells Betina her gsw is being prepped. He asks about Finna and she tells him it went well, the cyst is drained and his bp is up Pratt approaches and tries to talk to him but he is still groggy. Pratt lifts his hand and notices calluses on the kid’s knuckles.

Reviewed by Lynda Foote on October 14, 2007

ER DOCS RUSH TO SAVE TWO DOWNED COPS—When a teen wrestler comes in the ER with severe vomiting, Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) quickly tries to solve the problem only to find out that the cause is much more serious. While working in the ICU, Gates (John Stamos) tries to help a young kid with a deadly disease. Meanwhile, Abby (Maura Tierney) and Morris (Scott Grimes) jump in to save two volunteer cops brought in with gunshot wounds. Parminder Nagra and Linda Cardellini also star.

TV Guide Review

October 11, 2007: Officer Down:

Abby and a distracted Morris work to save two officers shot when interrupting a carjacking; Sarah pays a surprise visit to Tony, who realizes she has run away from her grandparents; and Dubenko drops by while Neela babysits Joe, and he's ready to discuss his feelings---and their kiss.