As shots rang out, some citizens tried to step in

Eastside Journal ^ | 2002-06-24 | Noel Brady

[tarawa]

As shots rang out, some citizens tried to step in 2002-06-24 by Noel S. Brady Journal Reporter

NEWCASTLE -- Dozens of witnesses looked on in horror as a screaming, naked man shot a fallen Newcastle police officer repeatedly in the head and back.

A few got involved.

Tammy Porter was in Newcastle from her home in Richland, visiting friends last weekend. Shortly before Saturday's fatal shooting of officer Richard Herzog in Newcastle, she and Chris Maddocks wrapped up a fun day at Seattle's Fremont Summer Solstice Parade, where it's normal to see naked men on bicycles streaking through crowds.

``I really didn't know what was going on,'' Porter recalled thinking when her friend pulled to the side of Coal Creek Parkway on their way back to his house. ``I just saw this naked man running around. At first I thought it was funny because of where we just came from.''

The naked man shouted obscenities and pounded the hoods of cars and a nearby empty Metro bus, which also had stopped in the traffic.

Porter said the man at times shouted incoherently about white oppression of African Americans. A white, blond-haired woman ran after him, calling him by name, but he ignored her.

``He was definitely under the influence of something,'' Porter said.

Within a few minutes, Deputy Herzog arrived on the scene and confronted the man, which seemed to agitated him more. As the man fought with Herzog, the officer went for his pepper spray, but the man barely flinched after several sprays to his face, Porter said.

The man somehow managed to release Herzog's gun from his holster, and it hit the ground. That's when several bystanders rushed the naked man and tried to overpower him.

``But he just blew them off like water on a duck's tail,'' said Porter.

Knowing the situation had risen to a deadly level, Porter -- a long-time gun owner and wife of a gunsmith -- scrambled to the trunk of her car and pulled out her .40-caliber Browning semiautomatic pistol. She trained it on the naked man, but couldn't get a clear shot.

Seconds later, the naked man started firing, hitting Herzog several times in his back, which was protected by a bullet-proof vest. Herzog lost his footing and fell. The man then fired three times into the back of Herzog's head and then ran toward a nearby apartment building.

Porter rushed to the officer's side. But it was too late. A former volunteer firefighter in the Tri-Cities area, Porter said she could find no signs of life. Herzog had been hit at close range, and blood was pooling around his body. She grabbed the microphone on Herzog's portable radio.

``Officer down!'' she stated clearly, keying the mic. ``Shots fired. Send help.''

``There was no doubt that the officer was deceased,'' she later said. ``I was angry because of what that idiot did. Before he fired, I could see the fear in the officer's face, and I knew what was going to happen.''

Just as Porter bent over Herzog's body, she said, a car carrying a man and a woman pulled up next to her, apparently to shield her and the officer from the fleeing gunman.

His hands firmly gripped around a .38-caliber handgun, the man driving the car jumped out and sprinted after the suspect.

Porter never got the motorist's name.

Police on the scene shortly after the shooting were overcome with grief. Some were amazed by the action taken by regular citizens.

``That is a tremendous statement that people will step forward in a crisis and help us out,'' Bellevue police officer Marcia Harnden said. ``It was a heroic situation.''

Noel Brady can be reached at noel.brady@eastsidejournal.com or 425-453-4252.

[RWG]

the man at times shouted incoherently about white oppression of African Americans

So this is a hate crime although there is no mention of the perpetator's ethnicity. He must have been on PCP like Rodney King.

[philman_36]

I wonder if the guy with the .38 that used his car as a sheild knows that a car won't stop a bullet.
Get behind the front tire, over the hood. Between the engine and the tire it offers a lot of protection.
On some models you can use the rear tire, but it's not as good as the front ones.

[philman_36]

GMTA

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Notice how the Seattle papers have all the same qoutes from Ms. Porter about how she saw the fear in the Officer Herzog's eyes but they never mentioned the actions of the citizen's with their weapons.

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.

[Don Myers]

"I wonder if the guy with the .38 that used his car as a sheild knows that a car won't stop a bullet. Even a 22 rimfire goes through a car door like it's not even there."

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.

[Don Myers]

"No problem by me, as long as the recalibration includes citizens thinking it's normal that they should be armed and intervene to help in situations like this."

Sure, we have naked people running around all the time.

[cascademountaineer]

Can you zap number 18 for me, thanks.

[B4Ranch]

He was probably just hoping that the idot would fire if he couldn't see the woman. Dumb but couragous.

[grimalkin]

Scum update:

'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.

[mamelukesabre]

Sure, they *CAN* be slowed, stopped or redirected. But the odds are that the bullet will be practically unaffected.

Have you ever shot up an old abandoned car in the country? You might as well be shooting at a cardboard box. Although, I must admit I don't know how these modern hollowpoint loads would react to a car door, but judging by the ease that a plain old 22 rimfire goes through doors, windows, and seats, and dashboards, I would guess that a 9mm federal hydrashok would do the same.

[Don Myers]

Hollowpoints are intended to mushroom and stop after they hit a certain amount of resistance.

[Delbert]

KILL HIM

[Rate_Determining_Step]

- 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.