On April 21, police in Chanhassen, Minnesota responded to an emergency medical report about the multi-talented musician Prince. The police report has been released. Here’s the narrative section – a model of good police writing:

On 4/21/2016 at about 0943 hours, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a medical call at Paisley Park Audubon Dr., Chanhassen, MN. Sheriff’s deputies and emergency personnel from Chanhassen Fire and Ridgeview Ambulance arrived at about 0948 hours and found an unresponsive adult male in the elevator. They tried to provide lifesaving CPR, but were unable to revive the victim. He was pronounced deceased at 1007 hours. He has been identified as Prince Rogers Nelson (57) of Chanhassen.

A strict grammarian would note one problem with the report:

They tried to provide lifesaving CPR, but were unable to revive the victim.  OMIT THE COMMA

Use a comma with and/but only when you’re joining two sentences. The comma would be correct if the sentence read like this:

They tried to provide lifesaving CPR, but they were unable to revive the victim.  CORRECT

Overall, though, this report is concise, complete, objective, and free of jargon. Well done!

(You can download Commas Made Simple free at this link: )