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2 Palm Beach Deputys killed by...
fishkiller41
Member Posts: 50,608
the K-9 Unit. They jumped out into the road, to retrieve "stop-sticks" and the K-9 car ran them over.Sad..[V]
Comments
Our stop sticks have heavy nylon cords attached so they can be retrieved from the side of the road.
http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=2&id=39073
PAHOKEE, Fla. --
Two Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies who had tried to stop a stolen vehicle on a rural road in the Everglades were killed when they were struck by a police car early Wednesday. Another deputy was injured, authorities said.
Scores of officers combed the region looking for two suspects in the car theft, and later said they had one man in custody.
The deputies had put spikes on a road that punctured the stolen car's tires. But when they ran to take the spikes off the road they were struck by a canine patrol vehicle at about 1:45 a.m., Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
"They probably did not estimate the K-9 was coming at the speed that it was," Bradshaw said at a news conference, noting that it was dark at the time.
It was not immediately clear what happened to the stolen car after its tires were punctured, but investigators tracked skid marks to a car that went into a canal in Pahokee, a town on the shore of Lake Okeechobee about 45 miles west of West Palm Beach.
Two men suspected of stealing the car were initially believed to have fled into sugarcane fields between Pahokee and Belle Glade, and at least 75 officers and several canine units spent five hours combing the fields.
However, that focused search was ended and detectives pursued other leads, with deputies driving back roads in the area.
Police later said they had one person in custody but weren't sure yet if he was one of the two suspects. Bradshaw said authorities also wanted to talk to a 19-year-old male but he did not call him a suspect or explain investigators' interest in him.
The chase began after a Belle Glade resident called police to report that a neighbor's car was being stolen. Deputies who responded saw the car and followed it.
The sheriff identified the dead officers as 13-year veteran Donta Manuel, 33, and Jonathan Wallace, 23, who had been with the sheriff's office for 1 1/2 years.
The injured deputy was being treated for head injuries.
The dead deputies are the fourth and fifth south Florida law enforcement officers killed this year.
Broward Deputy Paul Rein, 76, was killed Nov. 7 while transporting a suspect to court. Michael Mazza, 40, is jailed after being charged in the slaying.
Broward Sgt. Chris Reyka, 51, was shot while as he was looking for stolen vehicles Aug. 10. His killer is still being sought.
In September, Miami-Dade County police officer Jose Somohano was shot by a man who ambushed him and three other officers with an assault weapon. A suspect was killed by officers hours later in Broward.
?????
Our stop sticks have heavy nylon cords attached so they can be retrieved from the side of the road.
I read where they stated the cords weren't attached. [?]
I'm wondering if the media is just referring to them as stop sticks but they were in fact a different design.
K-9s shouldn't be allowed to drive.
***''You are talking about a road that is absolutely pitch black,'' said Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. ``You are talking about deputies wearing dark green uniforms.''
***Three marked cars -- a road patrol, a sergeant and the K-9 unit --were given the OK to pursue in a chase that did not exceed 55 miles per hour.
***The rural area, where two-lane and dirt roads wind through cane fields, would have been pitch dark, with no street lights or house lights for miles.
***The Camry ran over the sticks, but kept going for another mile or two. Then the passengers fled into a cane field.
***Meanwhile, the line that would be used to retrieve the devices was never attached.
***The deputies dashed into the darkened road to remove them as the K-9 unit approached. They were hit by the cruiser.
The retrieval cord is an important safety feature of the sticks. If it were not attached, then the officers were using unsafe equipment. It is not unlike making an officer drive a car with no brakes, bad tires, and an exhaust leak. The agency could be terribly liable in this case.
I know that Dave, and the Sheriff made sure that everyone knew that these were NOT ROOKIE Deps. 1 guy has 13 or so years in, with the PBSO, and the other man was a Pohokee policeman before they merged with PBSO.
I was sickened, when i heard that the retrieval lanyards were not used .
I thought that the sticks,were to be immediately retrieved.No matter what..