Brian Mulkeen was a Fordham grad and worked at Merrill Lynch till he quit his job and joined the NYPD. Apparently Mulkeen was killed by “friendly fire” while wrestling with an armed suspect.
There’s a nice 1 minute video on twitter. I was mostly just sad and dry eyed till “Country Roads” kicked in. Because he’s not just a cop; he’s a person. RIP, Brian Mulkeen.
Baltimore City Detective Sean Suiter was shot and killed two days ago while doing his job.
I didn’t know Sean, but he also came up in 1999. He had 18 years on. Were I still a Baltimore Police Officer, that could be me. His killer has not been arrested.
After his shooting I glued online to KGA, Baltimore police radio dispatch. The sadness in the voices of the dispatchers and officers was palpable. But the show goes on. The calls kept coming. There is no time-out in policing. And the routine bullshit calls keep coming. Kids were fighting in the downtown Starbucks. A man named Precious Romeo wanted his a woman removed from his house (I’m not making that up). An officer in the Eastern was at the front door of a caller but his bodycam wouldn’t activate. He was told to 10-18 (return to the district) to fill out related paperwork (thanks, federal consent decree). I wonder what the caller thought about that. And there were two other unrelated shooting victims within a few hours. One victim walked himself into Shock Trauma, adding to the chaotic scene there. There weren’t enough crime labs available for all the crime scenes. Another man was shot in the Eastern District. The Central and Western Districts were all but shut down by police activity. Officers and dispatchers were snapping at other (which is rare).
After a few hours of crazy chaos, things returned to the usual choas. Detective Suiter would live another day, but we knew it was futile, with the gunshot wound to his brain.
Rest in peace, Detective Suiter. My heart goes to his wife, his five children, and all who loved him. Rest in peace.
The funeral for Sergeant Tuozzolo just happened. My friend Ari Maas posted this on facebook after his death:
For the second time this week, the law enforcement community suffered a great loss. NYPD Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo was shot in the head while attempting to arrest a very bad man. That bad man had 17 prior arrests and had just committed a home invasion in the Bronx at the home of his estranged wife.
That bad man had a gun, a gun he used to take Paul’s life and attempted to take many others. Luckily a rookie officer, who was still in police academy field training, was able to put an end to that bad man’s rampage. But not before that bad man destroyed Paul’s family, leaving his wife a widow and his two children fatherless.
I didn’t know Paul. We were both veterans of the 26th Precinct, but Paul was promoted just a few months before I was transferred from East Harlem to West Harlem. However, I see on my Facebook feed from my 26 family who worked with and were friends with Paul, that he was a great man, father, husband, and police officer. He had 19 years of service. 19 years of putting on that uniform every day to make New York City a better place. 19 years of working midnights, holidays, weekends and being away from his family. 19 years of selfless service.
And even if I didn’t know Paul, I knew Paul. Paul was just like every one of us who puts on the uniform every day not knowing what to expect, but knowing we do what we do because we make a difference. Because we are sworn to protect those that can’t protect themselves. Because we have given so much and far too many of us, have given our all, in order to make the world even a little better place.
Every time a cop gets killed, I change my profile picture to a badge with a mourning band on it, and I write a post. I do this not so much for myself or the other cops on my friends list, but rather, so that my friends from my other diverse groups can understand that we are human, we feel pain, and all we want is to do our job, make a difference, and go home to our families. And all of us are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to make this world better.
But, I have come to realize that the Michael Marks, a Marine Corps veteran quote, “And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,that we are all that stands between The Monsters And The Weak” isn’t something we have to do. Because for anyone that has ever worn a uniform to work, not knowing what that day of work will bring (our Armed Forces, police, fire and EMS and others), it doesn’t really matter if people understand the evil we protect them from. What matters is that we can look at ourselves in the mirror every day, honor our lost brothers and sisters, and continue on, in their memory, in making this world a better place.
Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, Blessed is the True Judge. May your family, friends, the NYPD and the entire City of New York find comfort during these trying times. We will carry on your watch from here.
Fidelis ad mortem. Faithful unto death.
Rest in peace, Sgt. Tuozzolo. Rest in peace.
NYPD Sergeant Tuozzolo was killed in the Bronx after confronting a domestic break-in suspectwith a long history of criminal trouble:
Rosales’ 50-year-old mother-in-law had called 911 when the man, who had 17 prior arrests in Suffolk County, forced his way into the apartment she shared with his estranged 29-year old wife and their 3-year-old son, minutes before the police chase ensued, O’Neill and sources said.
Sgt Kwo and a rookie, three days out of the academy, returned fire. Kwo was shot and wounded. The cop killer was killed.
Rest in Peace.
On July 22, 168 years ago, Thomas Lynch was the first police officer in America (at least best I can tell) to be fatally injured in the line of duty:
Patrolman Lynch responded to 16 Dover street after receive a report of a large dispute. As he tried to mediate the dispute, he was struck in the head 11 times with an iron pipe. He was seriously injured and died 14 months later from his injuries.
Keep mind the the New York Municipal Police Department was the only municipal American police department for four years. (In the 1850s most cities set up similar organizations.)
I like Obama (as do most Americans). And I know he couldn’t win over all cops with his speech in Dallas at the memorial for Officers Zamarippa, Ahrens, Krol, Smith, and Thompson. I knew, and this turned out to be correct, that even before the speech was done Obama haters would find a line or two in his 4,000 words that “proved” Obama hates cops/whites/Christians/America or whatever. And of course Obama hatred immediately came through my facebook feed from the CAPLOCK-RIGHT. So that crowd will never like Obama. But I listened to his whole speech while walking around San Francisco. The text is here.
I really wanted a speech I could hold over the haters and say, see, despite your ideological blinders, Obama said exactly the things you say he never said. Except Obama didn’t.
Mostly I was disappointed that Obama implied a morale comparison between the death of Anton Sterling and the murder of these five officers at whose memorial he was speaking.
I see people who have protested on behalf of criminal justice reform grieving alongside police officers. I see people who mourn for the five officers we lost, but also weep for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In this audience, I see what’s possible.
I see what’s possible when we recognize that we are one American family, all deserving of equal treatment. All deserving equal respect. All children of God. That’s the America I know.
At this moment, I sincerely doubt the families of the slain officers give a damn about Anton Sterling. If you think those deaths are comparable, as some do, I respectfully disagree. But there’s a time and place for everything. And this was neither the time nor the place. Obama mentioned Sterling and Castile’s names more times than any of the murdered officers. This was a memorial service for police officers, not those killed by police.
That said, there were many good parts in Obama’s speech that deserve highlighting:
Race relations have improved dramatically in my lifetime. Those who deny it are dishonoring the struggles that helped us achieve that progress.
That is quite a dig at protesters and lefties who deny the generally favorable arc of American history. And Obama keeps going:
When anyone, no matter how good their intentions may be, paints all police as biased, or bigoted, we undermine those officers that we depend on for our safety. And as for those who use rhetoric suggesting harm to police, even if they don’t act on it themselves, well, they not only make the jobs of police officers even more dangerous, but they do a disservice to the very cause of justice that they claim to promote.
Preach on, my president.
We also know what Chief Brown has said is true, that so much of the tensions between police departments and minority communities that they serve is because we ask the police to do too much and we ask too little of ourselves.
As a society, we choose to under-invest in decent schools. We allow poverty to fester so that entire neighborhoods offer no prospect for gainful employment. We refuse to fund drug treatment and mental health programs. We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book. [Ed note: Even in Texas, the library does not loan free Glocks.]
And then we tell the police, “You’re a social worker; you’re the parent; you’re the teacher; you’re the drug counselor.” We tell them to keep those neighborhoods in check at all costs and do so without causing any political blowback or inconvenience; don’t make a mistake that might disturb our own peace of mind. And then we feign surprise when periodically the tensions boil over.
That was probably the best part. Obama should have stopped right there.
Maybe the police officer sees his own son in that teenager with a hoodie, who’s kind of goofing off but not dangerous. And the teenager — maybe the teenager will see in the police officer the same words, and values and authority of his parents.
OK. But the kids-will-be-kids part is not the big problem of policing. That speaks to working and middle-class America. But what about the teenager who doesn’t have parents? The kid who has nobody around of good values or authority? That is the problem. How are cops supposed to deal with armed young criminals? That’s what I want the president to address. He didn’t.
I wanted more from this speech. And I wanted the president to better honor the officers at whose memorial he was speaking.
I wrote thislast night for CNN, about the massacre in Dallas:
Words have the power to inspire, inflame, provoke. Or else we wouldn’t say them. When words inspire others to kill, however deranged those others might be, we must see the consequences.
When those on the political right speak against immigrants, Muslims or abortion, those on the left are quick and correct to observe that words inspire crimes of hate and violence. Similarly, when those on the left speak against police officers — not just bad ones, but all police officers — this, too, can have consequences.
No matter one’s beliefs, we all need to call out extremism and hate, especially given American’s absurdly easy access to guns. No matter how many good people have guns, they cannot always stop a bad person with a gun. An armed society is clearly not always a polite society, so we need to tone it down.
Police need to realize that some in their ranks make mistakes, both honestly and maliciously. This needs to be better acknowledged by those in law enforcement. But just as decent society does not hold every black, Muslim, or white Christian responsible for the murderous acts of a deranged few, it is a mistake to blame hundreds of thousands of police officers for the bad deeds of a few.
In my call for common ground and more civility, I received nasty emails or tweets from some A) protesters, B) cops, C) blacks, D) whites, and E) gun nuts. So I must be doing something right.
An emotional story in the Baltimore Sun — related to the “friendly-fire” death of Officer Jacai Colson — about another P.G. County officer who shot and killed his partner and best friend in 1988:
“You’re not alone,” Sommers said he told the officer, who has not been identified publicly. “You can’t beat yourself up over it so bad that you lose all your self-esteem and want to swallow your [gun] barrel.”
Right now it is unclear if the shooting of Colson was inadvertent or a case of mistaken identity. Colson was black, armed, in civilian clothes, and actively engaged with the gunman. According to Prince George’s County Police Chief Stawinski:
[The criminal gunman] fired some shots at officers and the door of the police station to draw a response from officers and lure them out.
Colson arrived while the shooting was underway. He immediately joined the gun battle. Colson ran down Barlowe Road east toward Landover Road. Michael Ford followed, and remaining officers chased them. It is in this confusion we believe the errant round struck Detective Colson.
Meanwhile the gunman’s brothers filmed the whole thing on the cell phones.
On 26 Feb, 2016, on her very first shift and just 1 day after being sworn in, Ashley Guidon of the Prince William County (VA) Police Department was killed. R.I.P.
In honor of Ashley, police are posting their rookie photo.
Ashley and two other officers were shot while responding to a domestic-related call. The killed murdered his wife and shot the officers as they approached his home. The suspect was arrested and uninjured.
Ashley is the 12th officer to be shot and killed this year. It is March 1st. Last year 39 officers where shot in killed.
I lived to tell the tale. Here are my notes from April 16, 2000, my first day of field training:
Not too nervous about starting, strangely enough. But there are not many jobs where your mortality come to mind before starting. I assume I will live, though I didn’t like the palm reading I got last night from J., A’s friend, telling me I wouldn’t live too long and would die in some sort of event.
I was told at one of the first calls we were backing up, “Let me tell you something, junior, you don’t have to carry your stick to every call. You have to, well, prioritize. Big fight on the corner, bring the stick…” I still want to carry it with me all the time so it’s habit. Let’s see if I can resist the peer pressure. [Ed note: I did. I loved my stick stick. Still do, in fact. And I think because of that, I never had to hit anybody with it.]
In Sector Three, they all had their sticks and hats. We [Sector 2 day work] had neither.
My FTO [who was kind of a dick to me] wasn’t there. Went out with [C.S.].
“If you go out looking for arrests, you’ll get complaints.”
“Man, I think they should just build a fucking wall around the Eastern District and let them fight it out.”
Q: Did you think that coming in here or is that me in three years?
A: “I think a little differently than some. You get to murder and nobody sees anything. I think if I were shot, I’d like somebody to say something. If they don’t want to be policed, fuck ’em.”
I do feel a lot safer having gone through the academy as opposed to just doing ride-alongs as a researcher. These streets aren’t Disneyland.
Interesting twist of racial profiling: a lot of it happens in our district, but it’s only of white people. White folks looking for drugs (we assume) being told, “you got no business here. Get out of this neighborhood!”
[C.S.] is a good example of some problems. He’s a bit burnt out, and knows he’s not accomplishing much at all. But he doesn’t think there is a solution.
Two dumb looking white guys, but more in a dumpy intellectual rather than mutant way, were arrested for coke possession, driving without a license. Both Chris and I were asked, “do you want a summons?” No, I said.
After work: ate with T., W., S., and W. [all from my academy class]
S. said his gun was drawn and he really was hoping there was somebody behind the door they were searching: “I had my finger on the trigger, and I was just praying there was somebody there with a gun!” Why does he want to shoot people? I was talking with W. about it on the way home. W. said, “No, he wasn’t joking.”
Soon after I left, S. transferred to a department in New Jersey. Last I heard, and I might be wrong, but I think he stuck a fork or something in an electrical socket and hurt himself.