Posted on 06/23/2002 2:43:08 PM PDT by ValerieUSA
A King County deputy was shot and killed Saturday in a confrontation with a naked man on a busy arterial in the suburban Newcastle area. A suspect was arrested about an hour later.
"The deputy's gun was used to shoot the deputy several times,'' Sheriff Dave Reichert said.
The officer responded to a report of a naked man disturbing traffic in the 7300 block of Coal Creek Parkway, said spokesman Greg Dymerski of the King County Sheriff's Department.
At one point during the struggle, Dymerski said the officer used pepper spray in an attempt to stop the suspect.
The deputy was shot shortly after 5 p.m. and died at the scene, Dymerski said.
He said officers arrested an adult male suspect at a nearby apartment building about an hour later. He was being held for investigation of murder.The deputy's name was not immediately released.
KOMO-TV said the officer was an eight-year veteran who had a wife and 18-year-old daughter.
Police shut down parts of Coal Creek Parkway, which runs through this suburban city south of Bellevue, for the investigation Saturday night.
NEWCASTLE — A veteran King County sheriff’s deputy was killed yesterday when a nude and highly agitated man who’d been running in traffic and pounding on cars took the officer’s gun and shot him repeatedly outside an apartment complex here.
The deputy, wearing a bulletproof vest, had gone to the apartment building at 7311 Coal Creek Parkway S.E. in Newcastle, southeast of Bellevue, shortly after 5 p.m. in response to a report that a man was dodging cars in the street.
...Witnesses and police said the deputy approached the man and sprayed him with pepper spray in an attempt to subdue him. The two scuffled and the man grabbed the officer’s gun.
The deputy quickly realized he was in danger and began retreating, moving away from bystanders as if to draw any gunfire away from the crowd, according to a witness, William Dickerson. The man then repeatedly shot the deputy, who became the first law-enforcement officer to die in the line of duty in Washington this year.
This report should be brought to the attantion of the folk in Austin who condemn the officer for shooting the naked maniac with a knife. All of those shocked witnesses need to realize that their own lives were in danger - not by the police in control of their guns, but by the lunatic with a knife that they think should have been counseled, or sprayed with mace, instead of shot.
Dickerson, of Newcastle, said he was driving along Cold Creek Parkway Southeast with his wife when he saw a naked man and a police officer standing in front of a bus. He pulled over and could hear the officer trying to calm the man. He said a woman, “obviously distraught,” was standing nearby, also trying to calm the man.
The officer and suspect started to fight. As the officer started to retreat away from the crowd, the man jumped him. Dickerson said he saw the officer’s gun fall from his holster, the magazine clip falling from the gun when it hit the pavement.
The suspect “grabbed the firearm and magazine, put them together, turned around and immediately started firing,” Dickerson said. The man kept firing as the officer ran and, when the deputy fell, stood over him and emptied the clip.
The officer did what Liberals demand -- use non-deadly force in a life-threatening situation. For his trouble, he was murdered.
His family should send the bill for his funeral to Sarah Brady.
About a year ago I had to battle with a naked male who was roaming the neighborhood. He was on drugs. At first he was confused but soon became combative when I called for a rescue squad. He ended up biting a female EMT.
I used my judo to control the guy. Every time I read a story like this I thank God that I continue my martial arts training.
from my experience, pepper spray is a joke.
For example, do they usually work against an intoxicated person or a mentally ill person in a rage?
Are the higher voltage ones more effective?
I remember seeing the Rodney King video when he was hit with a taser, which I believe was 50,000 mV. I thought that it momentarily staggered him and he nearly went down.
Clearly this man had no concealed weapon, but mannaged to kill the officer.
Please arm our pilots!
I read the article posted by Seattle Tiger, sound to me that this guy was at least doped up, said he got hit by a car, went down and then started chasing the car. The article says he was a muscular guy.
I work day shift now, there are alot of "old timers" on the shift. Occassionally one gets beat up so bad he retires. I was with one not long ago and we battled a guy young enough to be my kid. The older cop I was with tore a rotator cuff and injured his hip. He had surgery on the rotator cuff and is now waiting to have hip surgery. He retired not long afterward. He was lucky I was with him, this kid was drugged up and might have killed him.
But so is hadaka jime. (judo strangle)
Reading the article, this guy seemed to be a veteran officer, which usually means you've been in a number of fights. I'm sure he first tried to calm the guy down but after that it went downhill. The article says the naked guy was muscular so I believe he's probably doped up. This is a bad combination for a policeman, deranged, drugged and strong.
I was wondering if he had any backup. I've been in a number of battles with people much bigger than me, and drugged up too. Like I say, I just thank God I keep practing my martial arts. Sometimes you don't have time to get to pepper spray, your gun or anything else. It gets pretty hairy when someone tries to take your gun.
Shoulda heard the mouth on that kid.
It ain't getting any easier out here.
Black leaders, media draw critics after deputy killed
'Shootings involving officers often spark raw emotions about race, but in the latest incident, in which a drug addict is accused of killing a police officer, the issue of race has emerged with a twist.
In the past, black community leaders have criticized police departments after shootings involving officers. But after Saturday's shooting, in which a black man killed a white King County Sheriff's deputy, the Seattle-area black community is feeling the heat.
...Yesterday, after a day of anger on local talk radio programs, a group of prominent black leaders called a news conference to respond. They said people were "politicizing" the death of Deputy Richard Herzog by making race an issue, and by associating it with a controversial shooting last April. That incident involved a white off-duty sheriff's deputy killing a black man.
"This is not a black, red, brown or white issue," said James Kelly, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. "This is a mental health issue."
They condemned the shooting and expressed condolences to the family of the slain deputy and to the Sheriff's Office. They also urged people to focus their attention on improving treatment for people who are mentally ill or addicted to drugs.
"We are appalled by this tragedy. Our prayers, our thoughts and our sympathies are extended to the Herzog family, his children, to his wife and the King County Sheriff's Office," said the Rev. John Hunter, pastor of First AME Church.
Herzog was responding to complaints about an agitated, naked man blocking traffic on Coal Creek Parkway Southeast in Newcastle. Herzog, alone on patrol in Newcastle, used pepper spray on the man, Ronald Matthews Sr., 44, a felon with a history of violence and troubles with crack cocaine and depression.
But Matthews, fresh from prison after serving time for assaulting a Bellevue officer, charged at the deputy. In the struggle, he took Herzog's gun and shot him several times, including rounds fired at point-blank range while horrified witnesses looked on. Herzog was shot in the leg and died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said yesterday.
Sheriff Dave Reichert, visibly shaken, appeared on TV news programs, angrily denouncing the killing as an "execution."
Among those who e-mailed the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to express their own indignation was Michael Wood, 35, of Kent. Wood, a white sales representative, last night said he was "appalled" that black leaders called the main issue in the Herzog case one of mental health and not race.
Black leaders have gone out of their way to "immediately raise race as an issue" when a white officer uses deadly force against a black suspect, he said. Whites, now sensitized to the issue, naturally are suspicious if black racism is a factor when the reverse happens, he added.
"I believe deputy Herzog would be alive today had he been a black man," said Wood, adding that his own brother was murdered by black suspects in Tacoma in 1998.
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