I can finally fill you in on the horrible incident that I was involved in that put me out of work for exactly two months. Today is the first anniversary of the event and I am happy to say that I am still working and feeling good. I still have a constant pain in my lower back and I also continue to have troubles with my shoulders and base of my neck; other than those issues I am doing well.
On to the incident.
I came into work on January 18, 2011 ready to Police the streets. As I walked into the station I stopped to talk to the officer I was relieving to see if anything happened that I needed to be aware of. The officer advised me they responded to a house for a family dispute. Two brothers got into an argument over something. One brother chased the other brother outside and into his truck. One guy started to beat on the truck as the other one was sitting in the truck. The guy in the truck called the police and when the police arrived the guy fled the scene. So they took a report and had been looking for him. The officer asked me to go by the address and check to see if he had returned and check on his well being.
Around six o'clock in the morning my SGT called me and asked me to go by the address one more time and see if the subject was there. So my partner and I went to the address to see if he had returned.
As we pulled down the drive way (my partner was in his car in front of me) a man matching the description was walking out of the house. I radioed to my partner that I believe that was him. The subject jumped into the truck and took off into his back yard. We had a lot of rain in the couple days leading up to this, so I thought he would get stuck in his backyard. My partner and I ran around the front of the house towards the other side of the back yard in an attempt to cut him off. As we came around the house he came around the house driving the truck. He tried to turn the truck to his left but ran into a bush. He backed the truck up towards my partner and I. I pulled my gun and pointed it at him through the passenger side window. He looked me dead in the eye and gave me the middle finger. He then gassed the truck and he was headed straight for a tree. Unfortunately he was able to stop before hitting the tree. He then backed the truck up trying to hit my partner and I, but fortunately for us we were able to get out of the way.
He took off towards my partners car at a high rate of speed and slammed into the side of the patrol car (partner was not in the vehicle). He then took off towards the main road in A manner that led us to believe he was fleeing the area. My partner ran towards his vehicle and I ran towards my vehicle. I yelled to my partner to get into my vehicle and lets go after this guy. As he came around the front of my car I heard a loud acceleration of another vehicle. I looked back and noticed the truck was coming down the driveway at a high rate of speed. The truck slammed into the rear left side of my patrol car. He pushed my vehicle at an angle approximately 40 feet. This caused my vehicle to slam into my partner (who was on the front side of my car) throwing him into the air and he landed next to his patrol vehicle.
The subject backed his vehicle up and then took off again towards the main street. My partner and I both got up and gave chase on foot, but quickly realized we were both injured. I did the best I could to get the description of the subject and truck out on the air. As the truck fled the scene there was another officer parked on the side of the road ahead watching for this guy.
The subject passed this officer and then turned around and at full speed rammed into the side of the officer's vehicle. The subject then backed up again and started towards the officer again. About this time another officer was pulling up and he slammed his vehicle into the side of the subjects vehicle preventing him from striking the officer again.
The subject continued to drive down the street attempting to get away. He eventually bailed out of the truck and ran into a house, where we was arrested. We later found out this was his Aunt's House.
Out of the whole incident there was four patrol cars damaged and three officers injured. All the patrol cars are back on the road and two out of the three officers are back to work, but still dealing with the aches and pains of this horrible tragedy.
As far as the subject that did all this damage. He was sentenced to 25 years per count of first degree assault. There were three accounts of assault. For those mathematically challenged (like me) that's is a total of 75 years. The judge the suspended all but 13 years for each count, but he will serve all those concurrently. All this means is he will serve 13 years total in jail.
I am very satisfied with this sentence because it means this guy will be in jail until I am eligible for retirement.