Trooper Down!
Page 27
Since the organization’s inception in 1929, more than sixty officers have died on the job, seventeen the result of gunshot wounds, two in an airplane crash, two in a helicopter crash, one in cadet training while boxing, and the rest in motor-vehicle-related accidents, the single greatest cause of on-duty deaths.
“When you think about the number of miles we drive each year,” says Sgt. Sean L. Bridges, a thirteen-year veteran, “our odds of getting involved in a traffic accident are naturally higher.”
Inside the training academy in Garner and at the NCHP headquarters in Raleigh, photos line the walls in memory of those troopers and DMV officers who died in the line of duty. Among those lost just since Trooper Down! was first published:
Cadet William E. Bayless III in a boxing incident during cadet training in 1988. He suffered a heart attack.
Trooper Michael L. Martin, in a car crash in 1988.
Motor Carrier Officer Jackie Daniel, struck by a commercial vehicle while helping a stranded motorist in 1994.
Motor Carrier Officer Franklin D. Perritte, in a traffic accident related to a pursuit in 1995.
Trooper Damion C. Roberts, in a car crash in 1996.
Sergeant Lloyd E. Lowry, killed in 1997, along with a Cumberland County deputy, on I-95N following a traffic stop in which two brothers, suspected of driving a stolen car, opened fire with an assault rifle and one of the officer’s own guns.
Trooper William J. Starling, in a car crash in 1998.
Trooper David H. Dees, in a car crash in 1999.
Trooper William B. Davis, in a traffic accident that occurred while responding to assist another trooper in order to execute a felony vehicle stop in 1999. The suspect was accused of driving a stolen vehicle.
Trooper John H. Duncan, Jr. in a car crash in 2001 while pursuing a suspect stopped for speeding.
Trooper Calvin E. Taylor, in a car crash in 2001 following a traffic stop.
Trooper Anthony G. Cogdill, struck by a tractor trailer that swerved onto the shoulder after the officer made a routine traffic stop in 2003.
Trooper Josh W. Oliver, in 2004 as a result of a traffic collision.
Trooper David S. Blanton, Jr. after being shot during a routine traffic stop in 2008.
Trooper Andrew J. Stocks, in a traffic collision in 2008.
Trooper Kyle P. Barber, as the result of an accident that occurred in the line of duty in 2007. He died in 2009.
Among the most recent officers killed in a fatal assault, David Shawn Blanton, Jr. was a twenty-four-year-old Native American husband and father whose infant boy was born premature and would die only a short time after Blanton was murdered.
He was patrolling on Tuesday night, June 17, 2008, a little after ten when he stopped a GMC pickup truck towing a trailer on Interstate 40. The officer suspected a registration violation when he walked up to the driver, Edwardo Wong II, a convicted felon from Florida passing through North Carolina. It took only four minutes for Blanton and Wong to get into an altercation and for Wong to fire three shots. A passer-by called 911, reporting that the officer was down and that the driver was fleeing the scene. Wong had searched Blanton’s body and tossed the trooper’s keys over a guardrail before he sped away.
Haywood County deputies chased the vehicle along the interstate, pulling Wong over and forcing him to exit his truck. Inside were illegal drugs and Blanton’s weapon, stolen off the dead trooper. Convicted of first degree murder, Wong’s jury deadlocked on the death sentence. As a result, he is now serving a life sentence without parole.
Sgt. Sean Bridges, who is married to a police officer, said he and his wife drove to Cherokee in western North Carolina for Blanton’s memorial service.
“People lined the streets for more than twenty-two miles,” he recalls. “They were shoulder to shoulder, business owners leaving their shops, vacationing tourists there to see the mountains, even a couple who had just gotten married and were coming out of the church. Small children saluted as the procession moved by. I turned to my wife, who was crying and said, ‘Do you believe this?’ It was all for someone they had never met. At that moment, I felt like people actually cared about us not just as troopers but as people just like them. It revitalized my commitment to my career.”
Most troopers say the same thing troopers said twenty-four years ago: We’re not the bad guys. And we’re not robots in a gray uniform. We’re regular people with family problems, marital problems, aging parents, kids, and crazy work hours. Regular people in an irregular profession.
“Despite what people may think,” says Sgt. Robert E. Bowen, with the NCHP nearly twenty years, “we’re still primarily a public service. We may write you a ticket, but we also come to your assistance and provide comfort in a bad situation. This job is, after all, about people of all races and genders. A good half of the job is having the ability to just be able to talk to anyone.”
Lt. Don L. Cole, the officer in charge of specialized training, has spent twenty-two years in the NCHP. His family history is full of accounts from a trooper’s prospective. Both his father and his brother joined the patrol, and through the years Cole was often mistaken for one or the other. Now he has a thirteen-year-old son who is convinced he too, wants to be a trooper.
“My son has grown up with it, just as I did,” says Cole. “And he knows I still love it. I still drive a marked car by choice and still wear my hat because I worked so hard for both; still love the smell of sweat when I walk through the training center; still get enthused about the job, though I know bad things still happen.”
Sgt. Lloyd E. Lowry, killed in 1997 during an assault, was his friend and his mentor. On the day that Cole learned of his death, his first thought was, “If this could happen to him, it could happen to any of us.”
“I’ve read the Trooper Down! book several times through the years,” Cole says. “I could read it again tonight and these same stories would still apply. Certain things have changed within the North Carolina Highway Patrol, but we continue to have the same worries, the same temptations, the same challenges, and unfortunately, the same losses both here and across the nation.”
*
Author’s Note: I wish to thank the North Carolina Highway Patrol officers quoted here for their time and generosity in providing the necessary information for the book’s updated epilogue, along with Major Troy Butler, Director of Training for the Highway Patrol and Capt. Julian K. Stone, Assistant Director of Training and School Director, who expedited the interviews.
Special thanks to Richard Allen Page and Mark Johnson, Deputy Communications Director for the Office of the Governor. Their assistance in reaching Governor Purdue’s office and other legislative contacts was invaluable.
MARIE BARTLETT
January 2012
1. Trooper Joel K. Reece on routine patrol. Ewart Ball, Asheville Citizen-Times
2. Louis Rector (third from left) receiving a Distinguished Service Award after being wounded in the line of duty.
3. A woman heads to work as police patrol the streets during the man hunt for fugitive Ronald Freeman. Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
4. James Clegg (right) is escorted to a patrol car for return to Tennessee. Dan Ward, Asheville Citizen-Times
5-6. Cadets run as a group before dawn (above) and assist fellow cadets with pull-ups (next page) as a part of training designed to build physical fitness and esprit de corps. M. Kent Holcomb
7. Cadets undergo a rigorous course of study during training. M. Kent Holcomb
8. Cadet is chewed out by his superior officer for an infraction of patrol discipline. M. Kent Holcomb
9. State troopers Dennis L. Hall (left) and Louis E. Williams exchange war stories on a truck stop coffee break. Bob Scott
10. Trooper directs traffic. An authoritative manner tends to avert problems and establish control. Bob Scott
11. Surveying the scene of an accident. Many troopers maintain that working the wrecks is the most harrowing aspect of the job. Bob Scott
12. I
nvestigating an accident and calling in the report. Bob Scott
13. Trooper making his approach to a motorist stopped for speeding. Bob Scott
14. Trooper stopping a motorist to administer a sobriety test. To ensure against accusations of improper conduct, troopers do not usually place female motorists in the cruiser for questioning. Bob Scott
15. Veteran troopers often say that no “strange encounter” can surprise them anymore. Here, a woman protested the confiscation of a marijuana stash by removing her clothes. Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
16. Women troopers comprise a small but growing percentage of the highway patrol. Elizabeth “Dee” Parton, inducted into the highway patrol in 1981. Steve Dixon, Asheville Citizen-Times
17. Trooper Giles Harmon. North Carolina Highway Patrol
18. Harmon investigating an accident in February 1985. Malcolm Gamble, Asheville Citizen-Times
19. Funeral procession for Harmon moves out, April 1985. Gary Fields, Asheville Citizen-Times
20. Bonnie and Frank Harmon and widow, Melinda, right, leave church after memorial services. Gary Fields, Asheville Citizen-Times
21. Two troopers lead Charles G. Barker to a cruiser that will take him to medical attention. Barker told police he had been kidnapped, robbed, and shot in the leg by his companion, Billy McQueen. Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
22-23. A state patrol helicopter pinpoints Billy McQueen (above) before lawmen use ropes to drag him out of the Pigeon River Gorge (next page). Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
24. Billy Denton McQueen, Jr., of Lexington, Kentucky, is led away in handcuffs from Haywood County Superior Court where he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Trooper Giles Harmon. Ewart Ball, Asheville Citizen-Times
25. Timothy Allen, charged with first degree murder in the death of Trooper Ray Worley. He later received the death penalty for his crime. Pat Eager, Daily Herald, Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina
26. Trooper Raymond Worley. North Carolina Highway Patrol
27. Trooper Bobby Coggins. North Carolina Highway Patrol
28. Fall Festival 1985 at the Spring Creek Fire Department. Trooper Coggins eats ice cream with “clown” and Sgt. Zeb Phillips. Only two weeks later, Phillips would direct the manhunt for Coggins’s slayers from this fire station.
29. In a final salute, highway patrolmen carry the casket of fellow officer Bobby Coggins from the First Baptist Church in Bryson City. Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
30. Linda Justice (center) and Coggins’s mother, Frances (left), at the gravesite as Coggins is buried. Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
31-32. Jimmy Dean Rios (above) and William Bray (next page), convicted of first degree murder in the death of Bobby Coggins. News Record, Madison County, North Carolina
33. Public Safety and Department of Correction officials huddle over maps in a strategy session during the manhunt for Rios and Bray. Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
34. During the Rios-Bray manhunt, officers check vehicles at roadblocks and warn occupants to stay inside their cars and avoid picking up strangers. Bob Scott, Asheville Citizen-Times
35. Highway Patrolman Anthony Chambers surveys the area along U.S. Highway 64-74 for fugitive Michael Shornook. Susan E. Rhodes, Times-News, Hendersonville, North Carolina
36. Henderson County Sheriff Albert Jackson, right, and Charles Dunn, Deputy Director of the State Bureau of Investigation, stand inside the barn stall from which Shornook launched his final ambush. Shornook wounded four law enforcement officers before fleeing this barn and being shot dead by other officers. Tammy Barnwell, Times-News, Hendersonville, North Carolina
Published by
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in association with
Taylor Publishing Company
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© 1988 by Marie E. Bartlett. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-61620-238-5