DEC 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 12

A Cop, Flight Nurse and Two Endings
I just read your feature story
“the Christmas that almost
wasn’t” and it brought me back
almost 23 years when I had
nearly the same experience.
I too had lost a partner who
was standing less than five feet
from me when a sniper’s bullet
ripped through his vest and
killed him instantly. It was the
single worst moment of my life.
The emotions from that day still
haunt me but thankfully I’ve been
able to move past it and have a
somewhat normal life.
It wasn’t Christmas Eve but
rather New Year’s Eve 1999. Yes,
the new millennium was upon
us, and we expected it to be a
busy night. I had been on the
force at the time for nearly 20
years and worked the night
shift by choice. My kids were all
grown, and I was at the end of
a third failed marriage. Working
nights for me was my way of
coping with the emptiness I had
in my life at the time.
On this night and for the previous
30 days, I had a rookie riding
with me after his FTO was injured
in an off-duty car accident.
And truthfully, I didn’t mind. After
20 years of riding by myself I
kind of enjoyed the company and
I also liked the idea of imparting
my knowledge into this young
officer’s mind.
But the FTO program of 1999
isn’t like what you probably have
today. It wasn’t that regimented,
it was more like, ‘ride with
me kid and I’ll show you how it’s
done’ kind of thing. But this kid, I
say kid he was 24, was actually
doing a great job. He had spent
almost 4 months on the evening
shift with his FTO and was about
to be cut loose. So, thirty days
with me and he was ready to go
solo. I’ll dispense with his last
name in case his family might
read this magazine and just use
his first name Randy.
On the night of the shooting,
Randy and I were answering
one disturbance after another.
As you can imagine on this New
Years, everyone was drunk and
getting rowdy. One by one we
were clearing calls. I guess after
the 10th one or so, we became
complacent and weren’t paying
as much attention as we should
have been.
We were dispatched to a call
on our city’s far east side that
was on the extreme east side of
our assigned district. But all the
district cars on that side were
tied up and we took the call to
help them out. Same call as all
the rest. Neighbor called in to
report loud noises, fireworks and
unknown persons possibly firing
guns into the air. More people
are killed on New Years from
falling bullets than any other day
of the year.
We arrived at the complainant’s
house and didn’t see
activity outside nor did we hear
any fireworks or guns being
discharged. As we walked to the
front door, a man in his fifties
opened the door and began
telling us about the neighbors
across the street and how they
had been outside earlier and
were firing guns into the air and
raising all kinds of hell.
It was at that moment that a
single gunshot rang out and Randy
fell forward onto the man’s
porch. I grabbed him by his vest
and drug him behind a car that
was parked in the driveway less
than twenty feet away. I yelled at
the man to go back inside and go
to the back of the house.
“Unit 10E50 shots fired, officer
down, officer down, I need backup
and EMS NOW…. NO send me
Care Flight he’s not breathing”
“All units assist the officer, officer
down, I repeat officer down
at 103 East Third, all units Code 3
Officer Down.”
“Unit 10E50 Care Flight has
been dispatched”
In the seconds, maybe minutes
following that first shot,
the suspect fired several more
rounds towards us hitting the car
we were behind as well as the
sides of the complainant’s house.
It was surreal in that you could
hear the rounds hitting near us
and seconds later you heard the
rifle shot. I fired several shots
towards the suspect, but he was
over 50 yards away and it was
pointless to keep firing. I focused
my attention on trying to stop
Randy’s bleeding and trying CPR.
But the rounds kept ricocheting
off the concrete and unless
I moved into a better position, I
was going to take a round myself.
I heard the sirens in the distance
and knew help would be
here soon. But we had to survive
NOW.
I fired two more rounds towards
the house and dragged
Randy farther up the driveway
to another vehicle parked beside
the house. Seconds later units
started arriving and the suspect
fired several rounds at their cars.
Then he ran in the house and that
was the last I saw of him and the
end of the shooting. He barricaded
himself in the house and after
a 4-hour standoff with SWAT,
shot himself in the head.
Care Flight arrived and they
worked on Randy all the way
to hospital, but I knew he was
gone. I had rode in the helicopter
with him and was there when
his wife arrived. She and I had
met a few days prior at a Christmas
luncheon, and she ran up to
me in the ER. I didn’t realize it,
but I was covered in blood, and
said I’m so sorry but they did everything
they could. I’m sooooo
sorry. She fell to the floor, and I
sat on the floor holding her. My
life, her life, would never be the
same.
98 The BLUES The BLUES 99