Page:Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002.djvu/58

 give the trooper his license and fled the scene entering Massillon city limits. The suspect stopped a second time, pointed a 7.62×25 mm semiautomatic pistol at the pursuing trooper, and then fled to a nearby construction site. The trooper retreated to his cruiser and notified his dispatcher that the suspect was armed. However, the victim officer, who arrived at the construction site to assist the troopers, did not receive the dispatch that the suspect was armed due to a delay in transmitting information because of different radio frequencies. The suspect allegedly shot at the patrol officer once, hitting his driver side mirror. As the officer exited his vehicle, the suspect shot a second time striking the officer fatally in the left lower back below his protective vest. The trooper who had been in pursuit of the suspect and three other Massillon police officers arrived at the scene. The suspect drove his vehicle at the officers firing his handgun at them. Officers returned fire as the suspect circled past them. When the 61-year-old male stopped and exited his vehicle, officers shot and killed him at the scene.

 OREGON 

On September 14, at 8 a.m., a 38-year-old deputy with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office was shot and killed while investigating a disturbance call that included a report of public indecency at a motel located in a rural area of the county. The officer interviewed the suspect, obtained his identification, and returned to the patrol vehicle to provide the information to the dispatch office. The deputy, who had nearly 9 years of law enforcement experience, indicated to the dispatcher that the man seemed irritated and had lied about not having a vehicle and identification. The dispatch office sent a back-up officer to the scene. Soon after the corporal arrived, the dispatch office received a call from another motel resident who reported hearing the suspect loading a firearm. The assisting officer joined the deputy at the suspect's vehicle parked near the motel room. At first, the suspect seemed cooperative, but after the deputy completed the citation, he asked the suspect for permission to search the vehicle's trunk for firearms. The trunk lid was already open, and the man reached up toward the lid in what appeared to be a movement to close it. Instead, he suddenly reached inside the trunk and pulled out a .44-caliber lever-action rifle that had been concealed under a blanket. Both officers immediately drew their firearms and began to fire. The deputy, who was wearing body armor at the time of the attack, fired four shots before he was fatally struck in the face by a round fired by the suspect. The corporal fired seven rounds, striking the suspect with at least one of the shots. Both the deputy and the suspect died at the scene. The suspect, a 36-year-old male, was on probation and had a history of resisting arrest, drug possession, and other battery charges. He also was a known user of narcotics and was under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the incident.

 PENNSYLVANIA 

About 9:30 p.m. on January 30, a patrol officer with the Upper Darby Township Police Department was shot and killed while investigating a suspicious vehicle. The 43-year-old officer, with nearly 9 years of law enforcement experience, radioed police dispatchers that he would be out of his vehicle checking two subjects. Within minutes a back-up officer arrived to find the victim officer fatally shot once in the side of his head. A witness to the shooting reported that when the victim officer started to transmit on police radio via his shoulder microphone, a man pulled a .32-caliber semiautomatic handgun from his pocket, fired a shot, and fled the area by vehicle. Information regarding the individual was broadcast to all surrounding jurisdictions, and in the early hours of January 31, the suspect's vehicle was observed by the Pennsylvania State Police. A pursuit ensued and ended when the suspect's vehicle crashed. The 52-year-old male, who had an extensive arrest record, was a known drug dealer, and was on probation at the time of the incident, was arrested and charged with Murder, Aggravated Assault, Firearms, and related offenses.

At 3:30 p.m. on November 10, a 34-year-old trooper with the Pennsylvania State Police died as the result of a gunshot wound inflicted around 2:30 a.m. on November 9 by an armed DUI suspect in Ebensburg during a traffic pursuit and stop. In an initial traffic stop effected by a municipal officer, the suspected DUI violator was unsteady and belligerent, prompting the officer to call for backup. When the responding officer arrived, the suspect brandished a weapon, then fled the scene. A chase ensued during which the suspect apparently stopped his vehicle twice for periods of 10-20 minutes, but he did not respond to officers' attempts to negotiate his surrender. Officers from two other municipal departments assisted in the pursuit, and a fourth municipal department deployed tire-deflation devices that flattened three of the tires on the suspect's vehicle. However, the suspect drove off again, and the veteran trooper, who had nearly 11 years' law enforcement experience, and his partner joined the chase. They followed two of the municipal police vehicles on a route parallel to the pursuit route in an apparent attempt to head off the suspect. As the two municipal vehicles and the state police vehicle turned right onto a connecting street, the suspect reportedly turned left onto the same street, heading directly at oncoming police cars. Though the first municipal car avoided impact with the suspect, the second collided with him. The suspect swerved across the street and struck a utility pole near the state police car that was stopped with no room to continue forward. He then allegedly exited his vehicle with a gun in each hand and fired at the state police vehicle from a distance of approximately 7 yards. Wearing body armor and using his car for cover, the trooper, his partner, and municipal officers all returned fire. The suspect allegedly fired at least eight rounds; one bullet from a .41 magnum handgun struck the victim trooper in the forehead over his left eye. Officers hit the suspect in the torso and extremities with approximately 12 rounds before he collapsed. Both the victim trooper and the suspect were treated by emergency medical technicians at the scene and flown to a nearby hospital where they both underwent surgery. However, the victim trooper died of massive brain injuries the following day. The 45-year- 52