Our Officers Are Dying At An Alarming Rate

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During 2010 the instance of police officers dying in the line of duty was up 37% from 2009 and previous years. This is not a stat to be proud of for sure. Our police are out in force daily defending us, helping us in times of need and put their life in the line of fire to protect innocent people from the vile among us who have no regard for human life. And sadly, police departments and sheriffs’ offices across the country are having to ‘downsize’ due to financial cutbacks.


Cop killings from the last week of 2010:

On December 26, 2010 in Woburn, Mass, Officer John Maguire was chasing two robbery suspects when he was shot four times. The suspect who fired the fatal shot, Dominic Cinelli, was also shot and killed. Two other suspects, the other robber and the getaway driver were apprehended later and charged accordingly. Officer Maguire was 60 and planned to retire in a year.

Monday, December 27, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, Trooper Chadwick LeCroy pulled over a car with its headlight out and exited his vehicle. The driver, Gregory Favors sped away and Trooper LeCroy gave a chase. Favors hit a mailbox during the chase and Trooper LeCroy approached the vehicle. As the Trooper reached the driver’s window, Favors fired a gun and shot him in the neck. Favors then left his vehicle with the gun still in his hand and tried to free the mailbox from his car but didn’t succeed. He then took Trooper LeCroy’s police unit and left the scene.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010, Officer Jillian Michelle Smith a 24-year-old policewoman was shot and killed. Officer Smith died protecting a 11-year-old girl from the shooter. The young girl survived but the shooter killed himself after shooting Officer Smith and Kimberly Carter. Officer Smith had gone to the apartment to take a report of domestic violence. The killer wasn’t there when she arrived but came back with the gun a few minutes after she arrived.

The First officer to die in 2011:

On January 1, 2011, I read of yet another officer dying in the line of duty and of a second officer being wounded. Reading those articles is not how I wanted to start my year.

Deputy Sheriff Suzanne Hopper was sent to a campground in Enon, Ohio to investigate a reporting of shots fired. Deputy Hopper noticed a camp trailer with a window shot out and discovered footprints. She was about to take photographs of the scene and footprints when gunfire erupted. Deputy Hopper died at the scene. A policeman, Officer Jeremy Blum, also at the scene, was hit in the shoulder by a shotgun blast. During the gun battle the shooter, Michael Ferryman was killed.

The shooters in the murders (and it was murder) of Officer Jillian Smith and Trooper Chadwick LeCroy had previous run-ins with the law. They had released Trooper LeCroy’s killer, Gregory Favors, from jail a short two weeks prior to the murder. He had 18 previous arrests. He’s in jail now, and charged with murder and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. When located, Mr. Favors was still wearing the same clothing he’d worn when killing Trooper Chadwick. He also had blood on his hands but explained it away by saying it was a fight with his girlfriend. I don’t think he’ll bond out this time. I certainly hope not anyway. I was angry that he’d use intimate partner violence as his excuse for blood on his hands! Officer Smith’s murderer, Barnes Samuel Nettles, had a previous violent episode of assault. He’d allegedly assaulted Kimberly Deshay Carter's sister and her mother in September and was out on bail when he murdered Kimberly and Officer Smith. He’d also allegedly phone harassed Miss Carter in August of 2010. Had Mr. Carter not been allowed to bond out on the assault charge, he’d not been able to return to the scene of another incident of domestic violence and murder two people.

Dominic Cinelli, the murderer of Officer John Maguire, died from a gunshot wound. Officer Maguire was shot four times during the foot chase to apprehend him. Scott Hanwright, Kevin Dingwell and Cinelli had allegedly robbed a Kohl’s Department Store. Dingwell was their getaway driver. Hanwright is charged with first-degree murder and Dingwell with accessory after the fact. Seems to me, Dingwell should not have the luxury of bonding out, but he has a very small bond set on him. Hanwright is being held without a bond. I am not aware at this time if Cinelli or his alleged coconspirators had previous arrest.

The murderer of Deputy Suzanne Hopper, Michael Ferryman, was killed at the scene. According to the news, it was stated he had a history with the sheriff's office. What that history is, I am unaware and do not know why he shot windows out the camper or opened fire on Deputy Hopper and Officer Blum. But I do know it’s frustrating that someone would commit such a senseless and deliberate cold-blooded murder. Since the gun battle and ensuing death and injury of Officer Blum, eight officers are on leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation is investigating the shootings.

It’s sad that any officer dies on the job. Every time a police officer clocks in on duty, each traffic stop, each crime scene they respond to, each call they’re sent on, our officers are putting their life on the line. I’d call all the deceased officers and Officer Blum heroes. But I doubt if they’d consider themselves heroes. They’d likely say they were just doing their job, nothing more.

Officer Jillian Smith was the last officer killed in the line of duty in 2010 and Deputy Suzanne Hopper was the first officer killed in 2011. Sadly, before we celebrate another New Year, we will read of many more officers wounded or killed while on the job.