What would you do if you found a dead body?

I would call the police and ask for them to send an ambo, as I am not a doctor and cannot properly diagnose the motionless person’s medical condition.

I’d freak out. If the person obviously look dead (starting to decompose), I’d call the po-po. If I wasn’t sure, I’d check for a pulse with one hand, and be on the phone calling the police with another.

….call 911 and back out of the scene so as to not potentially mess it up….. it’s not for you to determine the cause of death, even….....

I’d freak out and call 911. Or call my family or boyfriend and freak out before calling 911. I’m not a medical professional and can’t even find my own pulse so I’d just wait for the police. I also wouldn’t want to contaminate a crime scene with my DNA or anything by touching it.

It would definitely depend on whether it was clearly dead or not. If the person was potentially just unconscious, I would try to revive them. If they were cold, however, I’d stop, and if they were clearly dead (had been shot, if I saw gray matter etc.) I wouldn’t try.

Call 911 take a picture. Show my friends.

@virtualist: But what if you’re unsure if the person is actually dead or not? I know I specified “dead body” in the question but what I really mean is if you can’t tell or not.

Cry.

@KatawaGrey How did the person possibly die? If it’s a car accident, I’d go up & see if I could assist. If I came upon a crime scene…HELL NO!

@KatawaGrey ..... after calling 911…....... 911 ops will tell you what to do…...

I’d call 911 immediately, as IANAD and anything I might do to a motionless body might be the wrong thing.

I would cry, and probably have a panic attack while trying to talk to the bacon. But main concern would be that they would look at me as a suspect.

911.
Then probably puke.

I would check for a neck pulse and noting the temperature of the person at the same time with those two fingers. If there was no pulse I would scan the area with my eyes to be sure there were no other potentially alive victims while calling 911. Then I would very carefully re-trace my own steps back out of the scene. It would be sad but I would not freak out.

I would call 911 if I found a body that appeared dead. I would still go over and check for a pulse though, but if they were obviously dead…as in blood all over…I may keep my distance, especially since I don’t just carry gloves around with me.
A friend of mine found a body in the river, he didn’t jump in but he called 911 and stayed until the cops came. I don’t think he did anything wrong, he did what most people would do.

fire up the grill, and get out that gallon of secret BBQ sauce that I have just been waiting to use, and call everybody over for a party. ~

Poke it with a stick.

Then cry and puke and call the police.

A friend and I did find a dead body. We checked his pulse and look for his chest moving. We didn’t find anything but we did see some foam around his lips so we called 911. The cops and an EMT showed up, confirmed he was dead, and took him away. We went on to the airport where I caught my flight to Pittsburgh. I later wrote a short story about it.

We later found out he had had a heart attack.

One Saturday evening we were out bike riding in the bush with the young dog. We were on a rarely traveled track, going along at a moderate speed, well my husband was, I was going like a bat out of hell because my bike is 1 dogpowered and she moves! Anyhow we passed this guy sleeping under a bush, it is not unusual for the Aboriginal people to just plop down most anywhere so I didn’t think too much of it. But as we rode I kept thinking he didn’t even stir when we went barreling past, he was really still and I thought I knew him. I stopped and said to Ian we should go back to check. We did and he was stiff as a board as it was the man I thought it was. I went to call the cops who of course were not in and I was transferred to Darwin cop shop (250k away) so then I called the clinic and the nurse said we should stay with him until she arrived. She was there in a matter of minutes and then we left and she stayed with him until the coppers came. They decided there was no foul play involved, he was 48 and weighed less than 100 pounds, had kidney disease. It was a good thing we found him because the wild dogs and kites would have gotten to him. Next day all of his family came to thank us and wanted to know every detail about how he was lying. It was not a nice experience. In my dealings with him, he had always been very polite and he was a very talented painter.

This kind of happened to me once. I was walking the dogs and one of them was sniffing around by little stream. When I got there I saw body. I could make out a basic shape but it appeared to have been there a while. I was scared but I remined calm and called the police who arrived at the scene very quickly.

Here’s the embrrassing bit. The body turned out to be a dead sheep! However, even the policeman said he wouldn’t have known what it was. I still felt like a bit of a fool though!!!

My overactive imagination would tell me that it was a murder victim and that the serial killer was watching me from his hiding place and that I was going to be hacked to bits within seconds…. so I would probably run as fast as I could and perhaps call the cops after I felt like I was out of danger. I would then hope that it was not a sheep like @Leanne1986‘s dead body as that would result in extreme shame and embarrassment.

One morning, when I left home, I encountered a vagrant asleep right across the pavement. I was about to step off the pavement to pass him, when it occurred to me he might be unconscious or dead. I could not tell because I was unwilling to approach too closely. So I called the police. The officer told me to nudge him. (!) As luck would have it, the man yawned and woke up, and removed himself to the side of the pavement. He asked for money and I gave it.

Speaking generally, one reports finding a dead body to the authorities.

Would scream a lot.. then call the police

I’m honestly surprised at how few people would check to see if the person was alive or not. I understand the fear of contaminating evidence but what if the person was alive? Does anyone know of anyone in the justice system who can tell us what most people do?

”I understand the fear of contaminating evidence but what if the person was alive?”

Then maybe you’d be laughed at for freaking out prematurely. Not a big deal. If you even thought the person might be dead, they’re probably in a situation where cops/paramedics aren’t a terrible idea anyway.

By the way, has anyone else seen this news story?: Dead Man Mistaken For Halloween Decor

I think we have been pretty well conditioned to react by calling the police first thing. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Well, maybe I would approach first and speak—“Are you okay?”—if it seemed like the person might have collapsed or if there were a doubt in my mind. But if the person was unequivocally dead, I would not touch anything and would call 911 at once.

@Jeruba: Well, I think a call to 911 would be a first no matter what but very few people who answered said they would do even as much as you said.

@KatawaGrey I think the reason why I wouldn’t interfer with a body if I found one (a human one and not a sheep obviously) would be because there wouldn’t be much I could do if the body was alive. As @Jeruba if it looked like there was a chance it could be alive I may ask if they were ok but if I didn’t get a reply I would assume they were either unconcious or dead. I have no medical training or even basic first aid training so if the body was alive but unconcious I wouldn’t know what to do and so wouldn’t want to cause further damage. The police are far more qualified in these situations than I am.

@KatawaGrey Here’s the deal, I’d call 911 1st because I know how long it takes first responders to actually respond. There is good reason to dial 911 first, then as you’re on the phone with dispatch to go over and check. There is a reason people are taught to dial first ask questions later…response time.

Suppose you got close enough to realize (smell) that the person was drunk and passed out? Still 911?

@Jeruba Yes my family owns a bar…if someone passes out we call 911 I am not a medical expert and do not know why or for what reason the person is lying on the ground. What if said drunk was suffering from alcohol poisoning, had a seizure, or suffered a heart attck?

Many times someone who has gone into a diabetic coma has been assumed to be drunk and has as a result died, when a call to 911 would have easily gotten them the required treatment. Sometimes these are even drunken diabetics.

So if they seem to be passed out drunk, I would still call 911. In any case, it is hardly safe for someone to be lying passed out somewhere for whatever reason.

I remember once calling the police to report a drunk sleeping in the street. They came because, as I told them, he was lying in the roadway and could be run over.