“I have my lights and sirens and they are not stopping! They know to stop! Unless they have something to hide.”
And let’s face it he was right, in part. Or unless there is something more urgent in their lives than him with his lights and sirens. To us that assumption makes complete sense, but to a police officer that is not a conclusion they are apt to jump to. Something more urgent than a police officer in pursuit? Yeah, a dying mother I think constitutes being more important.
“I see him; he will just have to wait until we get to the hospital.” Defied power, authority and control. Three elements that make police officers successful all rebuked in a display defiance due to a sense of greater urgency. Once on the scene police officer sought to gain power, authority and control.
What makes this incident stand out is this time the defiance was not a lie. Police officers get lied to all day everyday and this time the police officer was faced with the truth. People hide drugs in diapers being babies and make up the most outlandish stories to get out of the least of infractions. Could this have been handled any differently? Absolutely. He could have escorted the family inside, verified the story and called it fair and square. He would have drawn accolades for his understanding and cooperative nature. He instead took it personally. I don’t think this police officer is a racist, I simply think he felt the need to reestablish his power and authority – at a very bad time.
Things like this make us forget what police officers actually do on a daily basis. They make us forget the risks that they take t preserve the rights of citizen they have never met, don’t know and in some cases will never know; even after putting their lives on the line to do so.
Trooper Mike Haynes succumbed to injuries sustained five days earlier when a car being operated by an intoxicated driver struck his patrol car head-on on US 93 near Kalispell.
The drunk driver was driving the wrong way on the highway when the collision occurred at approximately 2:40 am. The intoxicated driver was also killed in the collision.
Trooper Haynes had served with the Montana Highway Patrol for 2 1/2 years. He is survived by his wife, two young children, and parents.
Officer John Hege and Sergeant Mark Dunakin were shot and killed during a traffic stop at 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard. During the stop, the driver opened fire, killing Sergeant Dunakin and mortally wounding Officer Hege. Citizens who witnessed the incident called 911 and started CPR on both officers.
The suspect fled on foot, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of officers from the Oakland Police Department, California Highway Patrol, and Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.
At approximately 3:30 pm, the Oakland Police Department received an anonymous tip that the suspect was barricaded inside an apartment building on 74th Avenue.
Officers first attempted to negotiate with the suspect, but when that failed a SWAT team was sent into the location to apprehend him. As the SWAT officers approached, the suspect opened fired with a rifle, killing Sergeant Ervin Romans and Sergeant Daniel Sakai, and wounding a third officer. Officers returned fire, killing the 26-year-old male suspect.
It was later determined that the suspect had an extensive violent criminal history and was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon. At the time of the incident he had a no-bail parole warrant.
Sergeant Daniel Sakai and Sergeant Ervin Romans, SWAT team members, were killed when they attempted to apprehend a suspect that had earlier in the day shot and killed Sergeant Mark Dunakin and mortally wounded Officer John Hege during a traffic stop.
At approximately 1:15 pm, Sergeant Dunakin and Officer Hege, patrolling on motorcycle, pulled over a car on a traffic stop at 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard. During the stop, the driver opened fire, killing the officers. Citizens who witnessed the incident called 911 and started CPR on both officers.
The suspect fled on foot, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of officers from the Oakland Police Department, California Highway Patrol, and Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.
At approximately 3:30 pm, the Oakland Police Department received an anonymous tip that the suspect was barricaded inside an apartment building on 74th Avenue.
Officers first attempted to negotiate with the suspect, but when that failed a SWAT team was sent into the location to apprehend him. As the SWAT officers approached, the suspect opened fired with a rifle, killing Sergeants Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai and wounding a third officer. Officers returned fire, killing the 26-year-old male suspect.
It was later determined that the suspect had an extensive violent criminal history and was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon. At the time of the incident he had a no-bail parole warrant.
Sergeant Sakai had served with the Oakland Police Department for nine years.
Sergeant Ervin Romans and Sergeant Daniel Sakai, SWAT team members, were killed when they attempted to apprehend a suspect that had earlier in the day shot and killed Sergeant Mark Dunakin and mortally wounded Officer John Hege during a traffic stop.
At approximately 1:15 pm, Sergeant Dunakin and Officer Hege, patrolling on motorcycle, pulled over a car on a traffic stop at 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard. During the stop, the driver opened fire, killing the officers. Citizens who witnessed the incident called 911 and started CPR on both officers.
The suspect fled on foot, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of officers from the Oakland Police Department, California Highway Patrol, and Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.
At approximately 3:30 pm, the Oakland Police Department received an anonymous tip that the suspect was barricaded inside an apartment building on 74th Avenue.
Officers first attempted to negotiate with the suspect, but when that failed a SWAT team was sent into the location to apprehend him. As the SWAT officers approached, the suspect opened fired with a rifle, killing Sergeants Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai and wounding a third officer. Officers returned fire, killing the 26-year-old male suspect.
It was later determined that the suspect had an extensive violent criminal history and was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon. At the time of the incident he had a no-bail parole warrant.
Sergeant Romans had served with the Oakland Police Department for 13 years and had previously served with the United States Marine Corps.
Sergeant Mark Dunakin and Officer John Hege were shot and killed during a traffic stop at 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard. During the stop, the driver opened fire, killing Sergeant Dunakin and mortally wounding Officer Hege. Citizens who witnessed the incident called 911 and started CPR on both officers.
The suspect fled on foot, leading to an intense manhunt by dozens of officers from the Oakland Police Department, California Highway Patrol, and Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.
At approximately 3:30 pm, the Oakland Police Department received an anonymous tip that the suspect was barricaded inside an apartment building on 74th Avenue.
Officers first attempted to negotiate with the suspect, but when that failed a SWAT team was sent into the location to apprehend him. As the SWAT officers approached, the suspect opened fired with a rifle, killing Sergeant Ervin Romans and Sergeant Daniel Sakai, and wounding a third officer. Officers returned fire, killing the 26-year-old male suspect.
It was later determined that the suspect had an extensive violent criminal history and was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon. At the time of the incident he had a no-bail parole warrant.
Sergeant Dunakin had served with the Oakland Police Department for 17 years and is survived by his wife and three children.
Corrections Officer Mark Parker succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on January 10, 1984, in the Orange County Courthouse.A suspect had gone to the courthouse with the intention of shooting a police officer who had given him a traffic ticket. The suspect entered a courtroom and exchanged gunfire with Deputy Harry Dalton, mortally wounding him. He then shot and killed Deputy Arnold Wilkerson in the courtroom and shot at the judge, but missed.
After exiting the courtroom he exchanged shots with another deputy in hallway. Officer Parker, who was unarmed, was caught in the crossfire while attempting to shield citizens in the hallway. He was left paralyzed from the chest down and required round-the-clock care for the remainder of his life.
The suspect was convicted of murder and executed in June of 2000. Officer Parker attended the execution.
Officer Parker had served with the Orange County Department of Corrections for only one year, and was 19 years old at the time of the shooting. He was later made an honorary deputy.
It has been a long week for police officers. Many of these names, faces and incidents are not familiar to most. A fallen police officer tends to be local news with emphasis not on the police officer and the things they were doing to protect and serve, but on all of the things wrong with the person that turned fine and courageous men and women into mere statistics aired locally. There is a problem when this face is more popular!
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An offer’s whose mistaken actions outweigh and is more popular than those that have paid the ultimate price acting on the front lines of protecting civil liberties.
Currently there are more than 800,000 men and women in blue. We see “Protect and Serve” but perhaps do not really understand what lies underneath. The moment that your inalienable rights are so much as suggested as being infringed; these men and women are there. When your safety “could” be jeopardized; these men and women are there. A lapse in focus on a busy day; these men and women are there trying to get your keys out of your car for you. Helping you change a flat tire on a busy highway while they direct you stand off to side safe putting their lives on the line to help you just get home from work. And in thanks we glorify the less than perfect.
They put their personal feelings aside to uphold the constitution for all. For a while they were all heroes following the terrorist attacks on September 11th and honored around the nation for their heroic actions.
But as time pushes on, our memories fail and our perverse desire for the undesirable forces our memories to ebb the good to find reason, justification and rationalization usher in the bad. This is not fair representation of what these men and women do for us. We repeatedly snub our noses at them while they unyielding go forth with a sense of duty that most Americans have no way of understanding.
What if; one day they got fed up and said F#&k You back! What if; one day they decided that enough is enough and our pretentious attitudes towards them would no longer be tolerated? What if; one day the just walked off the job and told us to fend for ourselves? Given the way we treat them, we have every right to do so! They won’t of course because their loyalty to us far exceeds our loyalty to them!
If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?
Dolores Huerta
Perhaps our inability to forgive them in these current times is a greater reflection of ourselves!
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