Fatality is Department’s First in Line of Duty
by Susan Levine, Washington Post
A 24-year-old officer, driving on a hilly, rain-slickened road in far north Montgomery County Saturday night, became the first member of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police to die in the line of duty in its nearly half-century history.
Kristin M. Pataki was responding to a colleague’s call for backup at Little Bennett Regional Park’s golf course about 10 p.m. when her squad car slid sideways off Clarksburg Road. The vehicle broadsided a tree, crushing the driver’s side and killing Pataki instantly, authorities said.
The accident was the third of four fatal crashes in less than 36 hours in the county. By yesterday morning, they had left five people dead -- and a police force grief-stricken.
“Everybody’s pretty much in a state of shock,” Park Police Sgt. Bill Collins said.
Never had the Park Police had to mourn within its ranks. Never had its officers’ badges been covered with black tape for one of their own.
“I don’t think anybody’s slept,” Sgt. Antonio DeVaul, Pataki’s immediate supervisor, said of his small squad, which works the 4 p.m.-to-2 a.m. shift. “We’re a tightknit shift. It’s horrible.”
Throughout the day and well into evening, when her police academy class held a vigil at the crash scene, Pataki’s death reverberated.
In a voice heavy with fatigue and emotion, DeVaul described Pataki as dedicated professionally and outgoing personally, with “the most potential of any officer I supervise.” She could play tough cop with a criminal, yet with a scared child be gentle and soothing. “She could flip that switch off and on,” he explained. “She had good people skills, good police skills.”
The only woman in the squad, she just wanted to be accepted as “one of the guys,” he said. “It’s so ironic. She always wanted to back other officers, to be part of the team.”
Originally from New Jersey, where her father owns a liquor store, Pataki followed her fiance to the Washington area when he got a job here in federal law enforcement. She joined the department in 2000 and graduated from the police academy last fall -- on Sept. 13, to be exact. The horror that had occurred just two days earlier strengthened her resolve in her new career, recalled her fiance, who asked that he not be named.
“She loved being out there and trying to make a difference,” he said.
The stretch of county where she crashed is still rural, the roads winding. Pataki did not have her siren or flashing lights on as she responded to the call, and officials said they could not estimate how fast she might have been traveling. She was wearing her seat belt.
The pavement was wet as she crested a hill in the 24800 block of Clarksburg Road (Route 121), deep within the park, heading north toward its golf course. Because of patchy ground fog, visibility was poor, DeVaul said.
The few residents in the area immediately heard the impact, and moments later, a motorist came upon Pataki’s car. Word spread quickly, and soon a dozen off-duty park officers, as well as county officials, gathered at the scene. Grief counselors also arrived.
As that happened, the situation in the golf course’s parking lot concluded. There had been four people in a vehicle, officials said, and when they were less than forthcoming about what they were doing there after hours, the officer began running a routine check and asked for backup. He made no arrests.
According to DeVaul, “They were stealing golf balls.”
Funeral arrangements for Pataki, who lived in Germantown, were pending last night.