As I said before I’m not a writer. I mean I can’t even make 3 separate journal entries in the same year. So this blog is an attempt to do a better job at recording my thoughts. I read a Facebook post from my wife’s forever friend. The title of the article she shared read something like, Lockdown at hospital lifted after knife threat. This caption reminded me of a case I investigated.
A year or so ago I was called to Wayne County Utah for an investigation. Local Law Enforcement had made an arrest of a California man that had shot at a couple other motorist while traveling on a Utah Highway. The report from the victims was that there was a truck that was driving erratically in front of them. They were nervous to be behind this individual so when the opportunity presented itself they passed and drove on.
The victim thought they had avoided a potentially dangerous situation. What they did not know was that they had avoided nothing. A short time after passing this pickup, the victim could see it in his rear view mirror. In fact he described it as gaining on them at a high rate of speed. This pickup did not only gain on them but would match them speed for speed as they sped up to try and stay ahead or away from their pursuer.
As this seemed to go on for a few miles the victim became increasingly worried as no matter how fast they sped up they just could not seem to shake this other vehicle. In fact at one point the vehicle rams there vehicle and then shoots at them. Later reports led me to other motorist along the route that had their vehicles shot from some of the stray bullets.
The victim continues to speed away but their efforts seemed in vane until they were able to pull into a local business off the highway and run inside. In fact male driver was so fast you can see in the surveillance video that he left his wife behind. I wish I could have been a fly on that wall when that was brought up later….lol. The suspect, however, realizing they had ran in the business then fled off in the direction they had come from and was later stopped and arrest by the local Sheriff’s Department.
The suspect was transported to an area hospital for medical treatment. I arrived later has I first responded to the Sheriff Office and gathered statements and evidence. I arrived at the hospital to find a very submissive suspect. He was kneeling down and very subdued. The ER that night had been very busy and had not been able to see him before I arrived. There were several other officers present in the ER as well.
Sorry for the long intro but I’ll now get to my point. This individual had sat for hours being quiet, submissive, and somber. The medical staff after working tirelessly was able to get him into an ER room for evaluation. There came the need to draw blood. In order to better facilitate the blood draw the officer un-cuffed the suspect. At this point the officer believed the suspect to be fully compliant as it had been hours and the suspect had not uttered so much as a peep.
As soon as the suspect was un-cuffed the nurse came to draw blood. As the nurse attempted to insert the needle to draw a sample the suspect went into a frenzy. He quickly grabbed the needled from the nurse and attacked him and the officer. The officer acted very quick and extricated the nurse from the small exam room. The suspect continued to attack and the officer was forced to retreat from the room into the hallway. As with many incidents I’ve been involved in this one seemed to last quit awhile. I remember every officer forming a protective perimeter for the hospital staff. As an investigator at the time I was usually in a polo shirt and slacks. I would normally just be armed with my handgun, and extra magazine, and handcuffs. I had to make my way past a few people to get in the mix. I was wondering how on earth we were going to protect the hospital staff and arrest this suspect again without getting stabbed.
One officer deployed his baton to no avail. This seemed to go back and forth forever, I eventually came to the conclusion that this suspect was only going to give up after serious bodily injury to the officers and innocent hospital staff and patients. At this point I drew my handgun and was beginning to take the slack out of the trigger as I raised it to the suspect. Just then I heard a sound that brought instant relief to me. The funny thing is normally this sound brought feelings of pain and misery but not tonight. It was the sound of an X26 Taser.
Finally one of the officers had deployed his Taser and tased the suspect. We all jumped on him and were able to get him into custody. I still remember the immediate feeling of relief rush over me at the sound of the Taser.
In finalizing the investigation for charges on the suspect I had occasion to retrieve and review the security cam footage from the hospitals ER. This camera showed pretty much everything as the officer retreated out of the exam room with the suspect attacking. It showed everything that occurred in the hall from that time until he was again safely taken into custody. That moment that seemed to last forever was actually over in a few brief seconds. I am grateful for the Nurses and Doctors that actually treat everyone that comes in and in many instances put themselves in harm’s way without knowing it just to help some troubled soul.
You just never know what’s going to happen next.
A Cop's Thoughts 