Posted on 12/18/2018 6:54:54 AM PST by lightman
Conrad Gary
Police Officer Conrad Gary and Police Officer Eduardo Marmolejo were struck and killed by a Metra commuter train while investigating a shots fired call in the area of 103rd Street and Dauphin Avenue at 6:20 pm.
The were investigating the sounds of gunfire that had been detected by a ShotSpotter sensor in the area. As they arrived at the scene they observed a suspect running up an embankment toward the railroad tracks. They were both struck by an outbound train while they pursued him at the 103rd Street Rosemoor stop.
A handgun and shell casings were recovered near the scene by other officers. The suspect they were chasing was apprehended a short time later.
Officer Gary had served with the Chicago Police Department for 18 months and was assigned to the Calumet District. He is survived by his wife and children.
He had served for 1 year and six months.
http://www.odmp.org/officer/23858-police-officer-eduardo-marmolejo
Age 36.
Officer Marmolejo had served with the Chicago Police Department for 2-1/2 years and was assigned to the Calumet District. He is survived by his wife and children.
One of the more dangerous aspects of human nature is to develop tunnel vision during high stress situations. I suspect that by focusing on the pursuit, the officers were unaware of the train.
It is not in human nature to keep your head on a swivel and maintain situational awareness.
Prayers for the families.
Whenever someone in blue falls, we all are saddened.
I knew a train engineer when I was young. He was in his 80’s in the 1980’s.
I asked him once how he dealt with the inevitable death of people from his engine.
He told me that he had lost count but that early in his career he had to make the determination that someone getting killed by his train was in no way his fault.
But for the engineer driving this train, having two officers die in the line of duty has to hurt.
Memory eternal!
I meet a retired railroad engineer who said his locomotive had struck and killed eight. He knew he had no guilt, but the worst one was 4 guys in car stuck on the tracks and he can always remember their faces looking up at him in horror.
Prayers for their souls and for their families, and all who will be impacted by this tragedy.
RIP, Officers.
As a side note, I wonder with technology, in the future will the police be able to use something like Shot Spotter to know when, and where, a shot is fired anywhere in the country.
Mrs lightman’s grandfather drove a PRR Decapod in the middle division and his father-in-law also was a PRR engineer.
Both deceased long before I entered the family...but I have to wonder what they may have faced.
RIP.
Shot Spotter is an old technology from the late 1990’s prone to “false positives” from backfires, fireworks, etc.
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