Posted on 06/24/2002 3:52:41 PM PDT by 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.
Seattle, constantly recalibrating the definition of "normal"
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.
- The officer was shot with his own pistol.
- 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...").
- Armed citizens were on hand to aid the officer, but unfortunately couldn't intervene in time.
- Needless to say, gun prohibitionists will not so much as acknowledge these events ever took place, since Officer Herzog was shot with his own pistol, and the two armed citizens who came to the aid of the officer were not trigger-happy cowboys/cowgirls. And the pepper spray didn't work. And this guy threw off a crowd of people "like water on a duck's tail", meaning just about everything short of a gun wouldn't have stopped this guy.
- No mention of whether or not the murderer was caught or is still running around with a police pistol.
- The murderer is almost certainly schizophrenic. There have been several violent incidents involving the large number of schizophrenics in the Seattle area over the years. About four years ago, for example, one guy held police at bay with a samurai sword in downtown Seattle for eleven hours, resisting repeated pepper spray spritzes, rubber bullets (the ones that missed left permanent dents in the wall behind him) and fire hose blasts. They finally charged him with a ladder and used it to hold him down while they tie-wrapped him from head to toe.
All in all, a sad story. My prayers go out to Officer Herzog's family, friends and fellow officers. And a crisp salute to my fellow citizens who made the brave decision to get involved when the chips were down.
Imal
The rest of them ran like hell...
If they were unarmed...after the opportunity to jump the guy had passed, what were they to do?
You use the front of the car with the engine between you and the perp...if you can. An engine block will stop most any commonly carried handgun round.
Only dangerous to a liberal "emperor".
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'd like to think that I'd do the same thing.
I love it when I go into types-with-a-fist mode.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.