I am a prosecutor. So, no surprise that a lot of my work involves dealing with cops. It should also be no surprise that I respect and trust them. Over the past 26 months, I have dealt with dozens of different cops. Most are great. Regular guys (and gals) that are just doing their job. Some are, well, less than great (as with any profession). There are also the exceptional.
This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I received a text message from one of my trial partners. An officer was shot and killed. Shockingly, I recognize the name. It was an officer that I had worked with before. I remember having cases with him when I was still assigned to juvenile. He was a good guy. I had recently run across his name again in misdemeanor. I remember seeing him on the witness lists of a few cases of mine. It is not often that officers are killed in the line of duty. This is only the second instance of a fatal shooting of an officer (two as it turns out on this occasion) since I have been a prosecutor. And I knew this one.
What makes it even worse. What brought tears to my eyes more than once today was the voicemail I had received from that very officer yesterday. I was in court most of the day on Monday selecting juries for the two cases that I had going this week. When I got back to my office yesterday afternoon, I checked my messages to make sure I dealt with all the pressing matters prior to leaving for the day. I had a message from a defense attorney that wanted to discuss his clients DWLS charge, another from a witness that needed more information about an evidence request I had made, and another that I have already forgotten about. One of the messages in the group was from that officer. I had subpoenaed him for a trial that was to take place in July. He was calling to ask me to get a continuance because he was going to be out for the entire month of July. You seem if wife was due to have their first baby and he was planning on staying home with her and the baby for the entire first month.
Today is Tuesday, June 29th. Thursday is July 1st. He would have started his month long paternity leave in two days.
As I pause to dry my tears and blow my nose I feel that I should explain something. This officer was not a dear friend of mine. He happened to be a very pleasant person that I had the pleasure of working with. When I heard his message yesterday, I was happy for him. He seemed excited on my voicemail. I didn’t want to believe it when I saw his name all over the news today.
I have heard rumors that his wife went into labor today. It’s not surprising that she would being that she was full term and this was clearly a stressful event. I think what is causing me the most grief is imagining what she must be going through. Giving birth to her first child should be the happiest moment of her life. And instead, she is now faced with having to go through it alone. While I don’t want to imagine her pain, I can’t help but think about her. I don’t know her. I have never met her. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her all day. As I was getting my son ready for bed tonight, I thought about her. How she would look at her beautiful new baby and at once feel the joy of that new little life coupled with the crushing grief of the loss of her husbands life.
There was another officer that was shot and killed as well. I did not know this officer. I did not know until after the shooting that he had four small children of his own. I am in no way minimizing the loss of his life, but because I had no prior connection with him (as I had never tried a case with him) I feel sympathy, but not empathy. I feel sorry for his family’s loss, and the grief his wife must be going through. But that particular loss does not bring the flood of emotion and tears to my eyes that the other officer’s does.
At approximately 2:30am, the officers were engaged in a routine traffic stop. The vehicle that was stopped did not have a tag. When the officers ran the names of the occupants, they discovered that the passenger had an outstanding warrant out of another county for worthless checks. When they approached to arrest him for the warrant, he shot them both in the head. One died on scene, and one died about six hours later at the hospital. The police have located the driver of the vehicle. They are still searching for the shooter.
If found, charged and tried, the shooter will likely be facing the death penalty. That is, of course, if he makes it to arraignment. I don’t think that anyone is under any delusions that if the slain officers’ agency finds him, that he will not be brought in with at least one bullet hole in his body. I am a very liberal person. I believe that everyone has rights. That being said, I would not be opposed to this guy losing a couple limbs. Slowly. There is nothing that our legal system could do to him that is punishment enough. However, I could probably come up with a few very interesting and gratifying ideas.
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