DEC 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 12

A Cop, Flight Nurse and

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