DEC 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 12
FEATURES 56 COVER STORY IACP OFFICER OF THE YEAR, OFFICER THADEU HOLLOWAY 68 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE DEPARTMENTS 6 PUBLISHER’S THOUGHTS 8 EDITOR’S THOUGHTS 12 GUEST COMMENTARY - BILL KING 14 NEWS AROUND THE US 46 HEALTH & AWARENESS 52 COP CAR NEWS 84 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 86 REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN HEROES 92 WAR STORIES 98 AFTERMATH 102 OPEN ROAD 108 CLASSIFIEDS 110 HEALING OUR HEROES 112 DARYL’S DELIBERATIONS 114 LIGHT BULB AWARD 116 RUNNING 4 HEROES 118 BLUE MENTAL HEALTH WITH DR. TINA JAECKLE 120 OFF DUTY WITH RUSTY BARRON 124 ADS BACK IN THE DAY 124 PARTING SHOTS 130 BUYERS GUIDE 150 NOW HIRING - L.E.O. POSITIONS OPEN IN TEXAS 202 BACK PAGE
FEATURES
56 COVER STORY
IACP OFFICER OF THE YEAR,
OFFICER THADEU HOLLOWAY
68 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
DEPARTMENTS
6 PUBLISHER’S THOUGHTS
8 EDITOR’S THOUGHTS
12 GUEST COMMENTARY - BILL KING
14 NEWS AROUND THE US
46 HEALTH & AWARENESS
52 COP CAR NEWS
84 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
86 REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN HEROES
92 WAR STORIES
98 AFTERMATH
102 OPEN ROAD
108 CLASSIFIEDS
110 HEALING OUR HEROES
112 DARYL’S DELIBERATIONS
114 LIGHT BULB AWARD
116 RUNNING 4 HEROES
118 BLUE MENTAL HEALTH WITH DR. TINA JAECKLE
120 OFF DUTY WITH RUSTY BARRON
124 ADS BACK IN THE DAY
124 PARTING SHOTS
130 BUYERS GUIDE
150 NOW HIRING - L.E.O. POSITIONS OPEN IN TEXAS
202 BACK PAGE
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ing that room. He never said a<br />
word. He didn’t get a chance<br />
to fire a single shot.<br />
Somehow by the grace of<br />
God, I hit both the suspects in<br />
the dark and they both went<br />
down as well. I was the lone<br />
survivor. That’s a term I would<br />
hear over and over again.<br />
Within seconds, I heard<br />
deputies arriving from all<br />
over. Sirens. I could hear sirens<br />
everywhere. Sirens echoing<br />
throughout the building. The<br />
scene was just so surreal.<br />
Dust. Red and blue lights<br />
bouncing off the walls. Blood<br />
running across the bare concrete<br />
floors. Bodies motionless<br />
on the floor. And this young<br />
deputy at my side. I just sat<br />
there and waited for the EMTs.<br />
“Lieutenant…Lieutenant…<br />
Lieutenant….?”<br />
“What??”<br />
“Sir you need to get up and<br />
let them work on Jones.”<br />
I stood up and watched the<br />
EMTs from the firehouse squad<br />
that was just blocks from<br />
here begin working on him,<br />
but they stopped really before<br />
they started. There was<br />
nothing they could do. He was<br />
gone.<br />
I notified dispatch to send<br />
me detectives, crime scene<br />
and notify the sheriff.<br />
But I WAS the night sheriff,<br />
and I knew what I had to do. It<br />
was my job to notify the next<br />
of kin, spouses or parents of<br />
any deputy killed in the line<br />
of duty. In my 30+ years, I had<br />
only had to do it once. But<br />
this was different. This young<br />
man was dead on my watch.<br />
Standing 10 feet from me. It<br />
was my responsibility to keep<br />
him safe and I failed. I failed<br />
him, his wife, and his baby girl.<br />
The truth is, I shouldn’t have<br />
left the scene. I had just shot<br />
and killed two suspects. I had<br />
a dead deputy on the ground<br />
20 feet from the dead crooks.<br />
The DA shoot team would<br />
be enroute and so would<br />
the sheriff. Maybe the sheriff<br />
should go to Jones’ and make<br />
the notification?<br />
<strong>No</strong>pe. It was my job and my<br />
job alone, I had to do what I<br />
had to do. Without realizing it,<br />
I had pulled off the highway<br />
and pulled up under an old<br />
railroad crossing underpass.<br />
I was trembling and crying<br />
uncontrollably. It was at that<br />
moment that I felt like my life<br />
had ended. A young man was<br />
dead because of me. I was his<br />
supervisor; his backup and he<br />
was dead. I was old and at the<br />
end of my career and he was<br />
just getting started. It should<br />
be me on that floor. God got<br />
this wrong. I should be dead. I<br />
should be dead.<br />
I found myself under that<br />
bridge, with my gun in my<br />
hand. I was praying that God<br />
would forgive me for everything<br />
that happened that night<br />
and what I was about to do.<br />
It was at that instant I heard a<br />
voice say, “Mister are you ok?”<br />
I turned around and standing<br />
there before me was this<br />
young couple holding a baby.<br />
“What? Where did you two<br />
come from? What are you doing<br />
down here?”<br />
“We have no other place<br />
to be. We lost our home in a<br />
fire and we’ve been camping<br />
under this bridge for a while<br />
now. What are you doing here<br />
officer? Are we in trouble? Are<br />
you hurt? You’re bleeding!”<br />
“<strong>No</strong>, you’re not in trouble. I<br />
just needed a minute to think.<br />
I guess I ended up here. And<br />
it’s not my blood.”<br />
“Officer, maybe you should<br />
sit down a minute. Let us get<br />
you something hot to drink,<br />
it’s freezing out here.”<br />
As I sat down with them<br />
under that bridge, I saw this<br />
young couple that had to be<br />
about the same age as Jones<br />
and his wife. Here they were<br />
on Christmas Eve living in<br />
a tent under a bridge comforting<br />
ME. Making ME take a<br />
minute. I listened to their story<br />
and how they ended up there<br />
and when the young man<br />
finished his story, he looked at<br />
me and said, now tell us how<br />
you ended up here …. with us.<br />
For the next few minutes, I<br />
shared what had transpired<br />
that evening. That I was on<br />
my way to tell a young mother<br />
and wife, her husband<br />
wasn’t coming home. And I<br />
guess I stopped to gather my<br />
thoughts and ended up here.<br />
I didn’t tell them I was seconds<br />
away from ending my<br />
own life. I thanked them for<br />
their kindness and asked them<br />
if I could take them to a shelter<br />
and they declined. They<br />
said they were happy to be<br />
together, be safe under that<br />
bridge, and knew God would<br />
keep them safe until they<br />
could find a new home.<br />
I left them there and drove<br />
to Jones’ house. As I pulled<br />
up the sheriff was just pulling<br />
up as well. I walked up to<br />
him, and he hugged me said,<br />
“You know you shouldn’t be<br />
here. You have about a dozen<br />
detectives and DA shoot team<br />
looking for your ass.”<br />
“Yes sir, I know. But this is<br />
my job too, and he died on my<br />
watch. Under my command.”<br />
“Bob. I know. Let’s do this<br />
together.”<br />
The next few days were a<br />
blur. The following week we<br />
buried Deputy Jones. After the<br />
funeral, I drove to that underpass<br />
to make sure my young<br />
new friends were ok, but the<br />
tent was gone and so were<br />
they. I guess God found them<br />
that new home. As I was turning<br />
around under the bridge, I<br />
saw something where the tent<br />
had been. I got out of my car<br />
and picked up a cross that had<br />
been formed from branches<br />
and twigs. It had a red ribbon<br />
tied around it and a small<br />
piece of dirty paper tied to the<br />
top with the words:<br />
On this spot God saved us<br />
from ourselves and gave us a<br />
new beginning.<br />
96 The BLUES The BLUES 97