Page:Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002.djvu/57

  NEW YORK 

On February 11 at 9:25 a.m., a trooper with the New York State Police was killed while investigating a complaint from a woman in Crown Point reporting she had been threatened with a knife by her former boyfriend. While the 28-year-old trooper with just over 1 year of law enforcement experience was obtaining a deposition from the woman in her residence, the ex-boyfriend returned and exited his vehicle armed with a .30-30-caliber lever-action rifle. Apparently, he fired three shots into the residence, one of which struck the victim trooper in the lower back, penetrating his body armor and mortally wounding him. The 36-year-old suspect then entered the residence in pursuit of the complainant and fired one more round at the trooper, striking the collar of his jacket. The man located the woman and shot her twice at close range before killing himself with a single gunshot to the chest.

A 36-year-old deputy with the Broome County Sheriff's Office was killed with his own weapon in an unprovoked attack at 3:30 a.m. on July 4 in Kirkwood, New York. Prior to the incident, three males, aged 22, 22, and 23, had apparently stolen a pickup truck from a dealership in Pennsylvania and had driven it to a small park in Kirkwood, where they had left a second vehicle. The three then returned to Pennsylvania in the pickup truck where they drove it through the front door of a fireworks store that apparently sold firearms as well. They took approximately 12 firearms before returning to the park in New York. The three were transferring the stolen weapons from the pickup truck to the second vehicle when the veteran officer, with 13 years of law enforcement experience, arrived. Apparently, as the officer exited his vehicle, the 23-year-old suspect and one of the 22-year-old men hid in weeds behind the truck. The other 22-year-old man dove under the truck and began firing at the deputy with a .40-caliber weapon, striking the officer in the knee, the abdomen, and the body armor he was wearing. The alleged shooter then entered the truck and ran over the victim officer, who struggled to obtain his weapon, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. The other 22-year-old suspect then ran out of the weeds and tried to shoot the officer with a 9 mm weapon, but the magazine ejected. Apparently, the suspect then took the officer's weapon and fatally shot him in the head several times. A passerby found the victim officer on the ground near his patrol vehicle 1 -2 hours after the incident. All three men were arrested on July 6. The 22-year-old men, both of whom had previous arrest records, were charged with First-Degree Murder. The 23-year-old suspect was charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon.

 OHIO 

A deputy sheriff with the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office was shot and killed during a traffic stop on January 8 in Zanesville. The 39-year-old deputy sheriff, with more than 8 years of law enforcement experience, radioed a registration request on a license plate at 6 p.m. and also indicated that same car was parked at a residence where someone was flagging him down. A short time later, a male caller placed a 911 cell phone call to report that a deputy was down. Arriving at the scene, the investigators found the veteran deputy, who was wearing body armor, fatally shot in the left side of the head. They recovered a .45-caliber shell casing as well as the victim deputy's pocket notebook, opened to a page that had a Social Security number written on it. Investigators soon learned that the number was assigned to the boyfriend of the suspect vehicle's owner. Moreover, he had been seen driving the car earlier in the day, and he had picked up his girlfriend at her place of employment shortly after the shooting. Officers spotted the vehicle later that evening however, and the driver pulled away when deputies tried to stop the car. The occupants later abandoned the car and fled on foot to a wooded area where they were apprehended. The suspect had a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun in his possession and admitted to deputies that he had shot an officer. The 27-year-old male, who was on probation at the time of the shooting, was arrested and charged with Aggravated Murder.

A Dayton police officer with nearly 2 years of law enforcement experience was critically wounded after responding to a domestic disturbance call at 3:30 p.m. on May 15, 2000. The 40-year-old officer and her partner were in their patrol vehicle en route to the residence where a man was reported to have shot at his girlfriend and her 4-year-old son. The suspect was leaving the residence as officers arrived, and a short car chase ensued. He stopped his vehicle, exited with a .30-caliber semi-automatic rifle and aimed it at the victim officer's partner. Both officers exited the patrol vehicle and took cover, the partner behind the vehicle and the officer behind the vehicle's right front fender as four other officers arrived at the scene. The first officers at the scene ordered the man to put down his weapon, but he replied that if they didn't drop their weapons he would shoot them. A little more than a minute later, the suspect reportedly approached the officer who had taken cover behind the right front fender of the police car and told her to drop her gun or he would "blow her head off." The officer, who was wearing body armor, placed her gun on the ground and raised her hands. The suspect then shot the victim officer in the neck from less than 5 feet away. Her partner returned fire and shot the man six times. The 21 -year-old offender, who was on conditional release pending criminal prosecution, was known to law enforcement as a drug dealer. He was treated for his wounds, then charged with three counts of Felony Assault, two counts of Aggravated Robbery, one count each of Child Endangerment, Failure to Comply, Carrying Concealed Weapon, Having Weapons Under Disability, and Unlawful Possession of Dangerous Weapons. The victim officer was left quadriplegic as a result of the shooting and died of her injuries on August 25, 2002, at the age of 43.

A 31-year-old patrol officer with the Massillon Police Department was shot and killed August 9 just after 8:30 p.m. The 7-year veteran was assisting state troopers in the pursuit of an armed suspect who had fled a traffic stop. During the initial stop by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the driver refused to Rh