Posted on 06/24/2002 3:52:41 PM PDT by tarawa
I hope this will enable local Police jurisdictions to review their policies on backup weapons and increase the budget for training on weapon retention techniques. Remember that the statistics show the majority of Police Officers killed in the line of duty with a gun are killed by their own weapon.
Bullets can hit a seat and be stopped. It can hit anything in the car and be stopped or redirected. It can also be slowed down.
Sure, we have naked people running around all the time.
'I Just Wish I Could Have Taken Care Of Him That Day'
June 25, 2002
By Kevin Reece
KING COUNTY - The suspect in the execution-style shooting death of King County Sheriff's Deputy Rich Herzog was well known to police on the Eastside. His criminal record stretches back several years and covers hundreds of pages of court records. And more than once he's been arrested for naked tirades through the streets of Bellevue and other King County neighborhoods.
"And later on that night I found out it was him," said Bellevue Police Corporal Thurman Chinn speaking of suspect Ronald Keith Matthews Sr. "And I was just totally upset. I just wish we could have taken care of him that day."
The day he's talking about happened last September. Chinn and fellow officer Deb McQuade were called to an apartment complex at 126th Place NE in Bellevue. When they got there, Matthews stormed out wearing only a shirt and hat and went right at Officer McQuade.
"His hands were clenched up and he was yelling at me to shoot him and kill him," said McQuade. He was unarmed so officers tried pepper spray. It didn't work. He kept coming and hit the female officer twice in the face. Officers tried a taser gun next. It had no effect on Matthews either.
"Just the way he was acting which to me was crazy really, really crazy," said Chinn. He, along with two other officers jumped on Matthews's back but still couldn't subdue him.
"He was like the incredible hulk," Chinn told KOMO 4 News. "Tensed up, yelling, standing there like nothing was affecting him."
It took as many as nine officers more than ten minutes to wrestle Matthews to the ground. And what angers these officers now is that wrestling match only got Matthews a few months in jail.
"Assaulting an officer is supposed to be a serious offense. This is telling me that it's not," said McQuade.
And then, officers weren't warned that Matthews was back on the streets.
"If I'd have known that he was out I could have contacted King County," said McQuade. "I could have told someone this guy is crazy, he's in a rage, don't ever go one on one with him. It is impossible. No one can take this person alone."
"And that's where the system failed," said Chinn. "It failed us. It failed Deputy Herzog."
The officers also told KOMO 4 News that Deputy Rich Herzog shouldn't be second-guessed, that he had no idea what he was up against. They say they are all trained to use minimal force against an unarmed assailant but that in this case Herzog never had a chance.
"Deputy Herzog used the minimal force, " said Chinn. "It wasn't effective and it killed him in my opinion, dealing with this nut."
Matthews is being held without bail as the prosecutor decides what charges to file.
A memorial service for Officer Herzog will be held this Thursday.
- The officer was shot with his own pistol.1 in 5 cop shootings involve his own firearm.
The race of the murderer was not directly disclosed in accordance with political correctness, even though race clearly was a factor in this criminals behavior, but the writers have no problem using the expression "white woman" ("...the man at times shouted incoherently about white oppression of African Americans. A white, blond-haired woman ran after him, calling him by name...").I knew the race of the perp as soon as I heard the initial newscast. Something like the perp's ID is "normal" with something like this. It's omission also tells you.
- No mention of whether or not the murderer was caught or is still running around with a police pistol.Aprehended shortly after the incident.
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