Suspect dead, Turlock (CA) officer hurt in shooting

The Modesto Bee ^ | December 16, 2005, 11:38:55 AM PST | Chris Togneri

[keat]

TURLOCK -- Police shot and killed a man who allegedly opened fire on an officer this morning. The officer is hospitalized in stable condition. The police officer, whose name was not released, was following a Toyota Camry near Geer Road and Hawkeye Avenue about 12:30 a.m., police spokeswoman Rosemary Howser said. A computer check showed the license plate belonged to a Chervrolet.

The officer called for backup to pull the car over, but did not turn his lights or siren, Howser said.

The car pulled into an apartment complex parking lot in the 1000 block of Geer; two men took off on foot. The officer ran after the driver into an L-shaped alley between Geer and Palm Street. The location is about three blocks from the police department.

The driver turned and fired several rounds at the officer, hitting him in the upper right arm, the upper right leg and the chest, Howser said.

[keat]

Eight Month Rookie - Prayer Ping.

Something about this story seems strange to me. Possible friendly fire?

[teenyelliott]

The second officer returned fire, killing the driver.

Good.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Both the officer who was shot and the suspect who died were wearing bullet-proof vests, Howser said.


May not be a good thing to buy bullet-proof vest on Ebay.

[Tactical]

Reads OK to me. Not unusual to withhold ID of folks killed until notification is done with next of kin.

Crooks do have Kevlar. I think these guys saw the police car following them, realized they were going to jail and bailed on the officer. Cool that the backup unit arrived when it did and nailed the dude.

[RLM]

With two suspects in a car displaying incorrect plates I suspect the officer didn’t turn on the red lights to stop the vehicle until backup arrived. When the suspects pulled in a parking lot, and got out of the vehicle, the officer was immediately confronted with a difficult situation for which he wasn’t prepared.
Assuming things went down more or less as described by Howser, I have no problem with the outcome for the bad guy. While there are some cops I don’t care for, I don’t think any of them should put their own lives at risk when a suspect pulls a weapon, real or fake, or takes some other aggressive act.
Just think how much money the taxpayers have been saved by not having to incarcerate the now dead suspect for 20 or 25 years.
I also hope the officer recovers quickly.

[Thud]

Nah, the TPD officer you're thinking of is retired now - he was a high school classmate of my wife's. And he was only a klutz involving vehicles - totalled a half dozen motorcycles & patrol cars, not all of which were really his fault, like the one totalled by fire. He chased a suspect into a field, the guy got out of his car and ran, the officer jumped from his car and chased the dude, caught him and returned to discover both cars in flames from a grass fire started by the catalytic converter on his patrol car.

I was at Emanuel Hospital once for a blood test with one of the several TPD chiefs named Johnson in the past 30 years(Turlock is like the town in Blazing Saddles - tons of Swedes named Johnson), and we spent a happy 45 minutes swapping stories about that officer. I told him about Officer **** and The Great Pumpkin. He told me about Officer **** and The Firecracker. Etc.

[keat]

I have no problem with the outcome for the bad guy.

Hell, believe me, neither do I!

[stboz]

Dare anyone ask the ethnicity of the perp?