Read the whole article because it’s hilarious.

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    18 hours ago

    An officer then allegedly pulled a sealed emergency release button that shut the MRI machine down, deactivating it, evaporating thousands of liters of helium gas and damaging the machine in the process. The officer then grabbed his rifle and left the room, leaving behind a magazine filled with bullets on the office floor, according to the lawsuit.

    The shutdown did have to happen (because the cop is a dumbass) but it obviously should have been done by someone who knows what they are doing. The guy should be suspended for being a dumbass and also for leaving his loaded magazine.

    • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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      2 hours ago

      To give some background on this, the huge magnetic field in an MRI machine is created by a superconducting magnet. A magnetic coil submerged in liquid helium that keeps it ultra cold has virtually no resistance, so the electricity can keep going round and round and round like a racetrack without being bled off by resistance. This lets the machine maintain a very high magnetic field with very little power input.

      An MRI technician can gradually ramp up or down the magnetic field power by slowly adding or removing current from the magnet. To retrieve the officer’s rifle, they could have slowly ramped down the power with a magnetic power supply while the magnet stayed cold.

      When the guy slams the emergency button that does what’s called a quench. It adds resistance to the magnet, which starts turning that power into heat, and that heat boils off all the liquid helium and rapidly ramps the magnet down to zero. This should only be done if for example a patient is trapped in the machine by a metal object or similar emergency, because it damages the magnetic coil and also boils away the liquid helium, which itself is worth thousands of dollars.

      LAPD (or more specifically, the California taxpayers) are in for a pricey repair bill.

      • turmacar@lemmy.world
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        16 minutes ago

        “Should” be in for a pricy repair bill.

        Unfortunately there’s a lot of precedent, up to and including loss of life, where the police “cannot be held accountable because it might impact their ability to do their duty in the future.”

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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      12 hours ago

      An officer then allegedly pulled a sealed emergency release button that shut the MRI machine down, deactivating it, evaporating thousands of liters of helium gas and damaging the machine in the process.

      Everything was fine until dickless here shut off the containment grid.

    • SacralPlexus@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      The mechanism they are describing here is the emergency one (like if a human is trapped against the machine by something metal and is being crushed - you need to kill the magnet NOW). There is a slower, much safer mechanism for deactivating the magnet that should have been used here but that would require the officer admitting he had made a mistake and asking for help.

      Also I just want to point out that the rifle should be considered no longer safe to use unless thoroughly inspected by an expert. In a similar case some years back, the police officer’s sidearm was pulled into the machine. After retrieval it was found that the weapon had been magnetized by the scanner and as a result the firing pin was able to spontaneously release.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        3 hours ago

        After retrieval it was found that the weapon had been magnetized by the scanner and as a result the firing pin was able to spontaneously release.

        Just hit it against a table a bunch while shouting “stop being a magnet”.

      • Skates@feddit.nl
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        12 hours ago

        Hey, fingers crossed the dude’s weapon goes off somewhere in their ammo storage area, taking out as many of these chucklefucks as possible.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      He probably shit his pants at the deafening sound of an MRI machine being quenched, and had to leave quickly to change them.

    • piecat@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      You don’t have to quench a magnet if it isn’t an emergency, field engineera can ramp it down slowly. Jfc what a moron.

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
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      16 hours ago

      He already got suspended. His weapon was suspended there, on this outside of the MRI machine.

      • Clent@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        With pay of course.

        Then a medal for bravery against a magnet.

        Later a promotion after his buddies clear him of all wrong doing.