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Officer Down.
leeblackman
Member Posts: 5,303 ✭✭
Friday Beaumont, TX PD lost one of its finest. I'm going to post the story below this paragraph, but I ask that you please pray for his wife and children. God Bless.
BEAUMONT - Conrad S. Gernale died doing the job he always wanted.
The 12-year Beaumont Police Department veteran, struck and killed by a vehicle while pursuing an assault suspect Friday, dreamed of becoming a policeman years before he did, said officer Carman Apple of the BPD.
"Conrad just had a very strong commitment to serve the community that he lived in," said Apple, who did Gernale's background check when he applied and also taught him at the Lamar Police Academy. "He believed in the work of police officers, and it was always his goal to be a police officer."
While answering a domestic disturbance call shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, Gernale found a naked man running from a home in the 2200 block of Beatrice Street in north Beaumont. Gernale chased the man on foot.
The man got into a late model Suburban and ran down Gernale before crashing into a Beaumont EMS ambulance injuring a nursing student and two paramedics inside, police said. Gernale died at the scene.
Two other Beaumont police officers arrested the man. On Saturday, Clayton Edward Davis Jr., 23, was charged with capital murder, sexual assault and aggravated assault. He was in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on Saturday in lieu of bonds totaling $515,000.
Conrad S. Gernale
Gernale, 34, a husband and father of three children younger than 5, became the second local peace officer killed by a vehicle during a domestic disturbance in the past 14 months. In August 2001, Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Michael C. Pauling died after being dragged by one vehicle and run over by another when he stopped on Texas 73 to investigate a disturbance.
Gernale was the first Beaumont police officer killed on duty since the shooting March 22, 1988, of officer Paul Douglas Hulsey Jr.
Beaumont Police Chief Tom Scofield called domestic calls the most potentially volatile and deadly type of incident that his officers face, and they are trained to handle them. "You never know what you're going to run into when you get there - the mental state, what's happened before," Scofield said.
On Friday, the disturbance started at Davis' girlfriend's house on Cordova Street, police investigators said. A 26-year-old woman ran from her home around the corner to her father's house on Beatrice Street, authorities said. She told police that Davis beat her and her 58-year-old father with a baseball bat.
During a press conference Saturday, Beaumont Police Officer Carman Apple listens as Chief Tom Scofield talks about Gernale.
The father was admitted to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital with head and shoulder injuries, while the woman was treated and released. Police did not release their names. The paramedics and a Lamar University nursing student in the ambulance also were treated and released for bruises and other minor injuries, police said.
John Crumpton, 35, had a broken right hand and deep hip bruise. Brad Green, 31, had cuts to his face and scalp from an earlier altercation at the call. Crumpton and the student, whose name was not released, were treating Green in the back of the ambulance when the Suburban struck.
Andy Foote, manager of Beaumont EMS, said he was more concerned now about the mental than the physical well-being of his paramedics, who work closely with police. All city paramedics on duty Friday night ended up on the call to transport others involved, he said.
"Just the loss of officer Gernale affected them quite visibly. I could tell they were shaken," Foote said.
Police officers and paramedics took part in critical incident stress management debriefings, a coping tool for those involved in traumas, on Saturday.
Scofield, his voice cracking with emotion, called Gernale, "probably one of the most well-liked, kindest and one of our best."
Asked how his officers were doing, Scofield said, "It's a family member, so not doing well." Gernale worked the 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift, known as "overlap" because it covers the final four hours of the evening shift and the first four hours of the midnight shift. Sgt. Paul Perritt, wearing a black band around his badge, said that while he works days, many officers on overlap choose it because it takes in the four busiest hours of each shift.
"It's the best of both worlds. It's nonstop action on that shift usually," Perritt said. Officer Crystal Holmes said Gernale did not spend much time socializing with other officers, but everyone liked the kind, soft-spoken man.
"He was more so a family man and a daddy and very dedicated, devoted to his Christianity," Holmes said.
A native of Manila, Philippines, and a graduate of West Brook High School, Gernale was a member of St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church. He and his wife, Anna, have a daughter, Celina, and two sons, Xavier and Andre. His twin brother, Caesar Gernale, younger brother, Craig Gernale, and parents, Marino and Lilly Gernale, also live in Beaumont. His sisters, Charmaine and Christina Gernale, live in Austin.
On Saturday, the 100 Club of Hardin and Jefferson Counties, a group to assist law enforcement officers, gave a $50,000 check to the Gernale family. The group also will provide college scholarships to the Gernale children and birthday presents each year, said Rod Carroll, treasurer.
Donations to a fund for his three children may be mailed to Memorial for Officer Gernale's Children, c/o Beaumont Police Officers Association, PO Box 3121, Beaumont, TX 77704, or dropped off at Community Bank.
Visitation will be at Broussard's Mortuary on North Major Drive today. Christian vigil is 7 p.m. Monday. A funeral service with full police honors will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church with burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
BEAUMONT - Conrad S. Gernale died doing the job he always wanted.
The 12-year Beaumont Police Department veteran, struck and killed by a vehicle while pursuing an assault suspect Friday, dreamed of becoming a policeman years before he did, said officer Carman Apple of the BPD.
"Conrad just had a very strong commitment to serve the community that he lived in," said Apple, who did Gernale's background check when he applied and also taught him at the Lamar Police Academy. "He believed in the work of police officers, and it was always his goal to be a police officer."
While answering a domestic disturbance call shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, Gernale found a naked man running from a home in the 2200 block of Beatrice Street in north Beaumont. Gernale chased the man on foot.
The man got into a late model Suburban and ran down Gernale before crashing into a Beaumont EMS ambulance injuring a nursing student and two paramedics inside, police said. Gernale died at the scene.
Two other Beaumont police officers arrested the man. On Saturday, Clayton Edward Davis Jr., 23, was charged with capital murder, sexual assault and aggravated assault. He was in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on Saturday in lieu of bonds totaling $515,000.
Conrad S. Gernale
Gernale, 34, a husband and father of three children younger than 5, became the second local peace officer killed by a vehicle during a domestic disturbance in the past 14 months. In August 2001, Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Michael C. Pauling died after being dragged by one vehicle and run over by another when he stopped on Texas 73 to investigate a disturbance.
Gernale was the first Beaumont police officer killed on duty since the shooting March 22, 1988, of officer Paul Douglas Hulsey Jr.
Beaumont Police Chief Tom Scofield called domestic calls the most potentially volatile and deadly type of incident that his officers face, and they are trained to handle them. "You never know what you're going to run into when you get there - the mental state, what's happened before," Scofield said.
On Friday, the disturbance started at Davis' girlfriend's house on Cordova Street, police investigators said. A 26-year-old woman ran from her home around the corner to her father's house on Beatrice Street, authorities said. She told police that Davis beat her and her 58-year-old father with a baseball bat.
During a press conference Saturday, Beaumont Police Officer Carman Apple listens as Chief Tom Scofield talks about Gernale.
The father was admitted to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital with head and shoulder injuries, while the woman was treated and released. Police did not release their names. The paramedics and a Lamar University nursing student in the ambulance also were treated and released for bruises and other minor injuries, police said.
John Crumpton, 35, had a broken right hand and deep hip bruise. Brad Green, 31, had cuts to his face and scalp from an earlier altercation at the call. Crumpton and the student, whose name was not released, were treating Green in the back of the ambulance when the Suburban struck.
Andy Foote, manager of Beaumont EMS, said he was more concerned now about the mental than the physical well-being of his paramedics, who work closely with police. All city paramedics on duty Friday night ended up on the call to transport others involved, he said.
"Just the loss of officer Gernale affected them quite visibly. I could tell they were shaken," Foote said.
Police officers and paramedics took part in critical incident stress management debriefings, a coping tool for those involved in traumas, on Saturday.
Scofield, his voice cracking with emotion, called Gernale, "probably one of the most well-liked, kindest and one of our best."
Asked how his officers were doing, Scofield said, "It's a family member, so not doing well." Gernale worked the 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift, known as "overlap" because it covers the final four hours of the evening shift and the first four hours of the midnight shift. Sgt. Paul Perritt, wearing a black band around his badge, said that while he works days, many officers on overlap choose it because it takes in the four busiest hours of each shift.
"It's the best of both worlds. It's nonstop action on that shift usually," Perritt said. Officer Crystal Holmes said Gernale did not spend much time socializing with other officers, but everyone liked the kind, soft-spoken man.
"He was more so a family man and a daddy and very dedicated, devoted to his Christianity," Holmes said.
A native of Manila, Philippines, and a graduate of West Brook High School, Gernale was a member of St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church. He and his wife, Anna, have a daughter, Celina, and two sons, Xavier and Andre. His twin brother, Caesar Gernale, younger brother, Craig Gernale, and parents, Marino and Lilly Gernale, also live in Beaumont. His sisters, Charmaine and Christina Gernale, live in Austin.
On Saturday, the 100 Club of Hardin and Jefferson Counties, a group to assist law enforcement officers, gave a $50,000 check to the Gernale family. The group also will provide college scholarships to the Gernale children and birthday presents each year, said Rod Carroll, treasurer.
Donations to a fund for his three children may be mailed to Memorial for Officer Gernale's Children, c/o Beaumont Police Officers Association, PO Box 3121, Beaumont, TX 77704, or dropped off at Community Bank.
Visitation will be at Broussard's Mortuary on North Major Drive today. Christian vigil is 7 p.m. Monday. A funeral service with full police honors will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church with burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
If I'm wrong please correct me, I won't be offended.
The sound of a 12 gauge pump clears a house fatser than Rosie O eats a Big Mac !
Comments
It is a shame that someone has to die in this manner.
Lets all pray that the Texas jury will be thinking right on this so that the perp gets his just rewards.
Mrs njretcop and I will be praying for them.
Charlie
"It's the stuff dreams are made of Angel"NRA Certified Firearms InstructorMember: GOA, RKBA, NJSPBA, NJ area rep for the 2ndAMPD. njretcop@copmail.com