Editor’s Note: In PoliceOne “First Person” essays, our Members and Columnists candidly share their own unique view of the world. This is a platform from which individual officers can share their own personal insights on issues confronting cops today, as well as opinions, observations, and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. This week’s essay comes from PoliceOne Member Gerald Machurick, a Sergeant with the Miami Gardens (Fla.) Police Department’s Training Unit. Do you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members? Send us an e-mail with your story.
By Gerald Machurick
Miami Gardens (Fla.) Police DepartmentIn the movie series, “The Pink Panther,” a character named Kato is Police Inspector Clouseau’s house boy, and an expert in martial arts. It is a running joke that he is instructed to unexpectedly attack Clouseau, to keep Clouseau’s combat skills and vigilance sharp. Unfortunately, Kato takes these instructions far too seriously, repeatedly ambushing Clouseau in his own house, with hilarious results. In our line of work, “Kato” sometimes appears as “Murphy’s Law,” based on the principle that if something can possibly go wrong, it certainly will go wrong.
Murphy showed up for this event, but he failed. Today, this was not the case with one of our own brother’s in blue. Here is the scenario and events that resulted in the will to survive over-riding the determination of the culprit.
An officer in a marked police car, in full uniform, and working the road stops in a well lit parking lot, starts to use his car mounted computer. The time is about 0535 hours. The officer has his driver’s side window down, so he can hear any outside noises. The police car is in park, with the engine running.
The offender (Kato, in this event) came with a plan. He approached the police car from the driver’s side, just behind the “B” pillar. This is the steel brace that separates the driver and rear passenger area, where the two doors meet. This placed him on the blind side of the officer, as the officer was operating his computer. When later interviewed, the moron would say that he wanted to rob someone and needed a gun. He knew the cop would have one, so he thought he would just reach in the car, grab the officer’s gun and take off. With this mastermind plan, our subject puts his idea into motion.
Here is where Murphy’s Law came into the scene. This degenerate reached across the open window, hoping to grab the officer’s weapon. Startled by the actions of the subject, our warrior reacts. He counters the actions by trying to push the subject away from him and force him out the window. The subject reacts by diving in further.
Consider this: Most drivers sit at least 10 inches from the steering wheel. The average torso is between 10 and 12" thick front to back. Now place another body between the officer and the steering wheel and then get into a struggle to remain alive. The officer tries to radio for assistance and the subject slaps the shoulder microphone from his hand, then places his hand across the officer’s cheek which prevents any understandable transmissions.
The officer manages to get out a partial location as he calls for help. The subject continues on his original task: Take the officer’s weapon from his holster. Both are now trading pushes and punches within a three to five inch space.
The subject has now managed to fit himself inside the car, now straddling the officer. The officer knows if he does not end this quickly, he may suffer serious consequences at the hand of this culprit. When interviewed later, the officer says he recalls his training and remembers being told: “Never give up, never give in, and always fight” The officer reaches to his control panel to activate his emergency lights to mark his location. The subject grabs his arm and prevents him from completing his action. The officer hears help coming, sirens approaching...
Not yet. Murphy isn’t finished. The units coming to assist thought he said he was two miles west of where he actually was and race by. The radio transmission from just a minute earlier was garbled. The officer now knows he must use deadly force to end this fight for his life. He removes his weapon and attempts to shoot the subject. The subject counters this move and points the gun away from him. Still thinking, the officer decides to pull the trigger and discharge his firearm out the passenger window and maintain pressure on the trigger. This way, if the subject gains control of the weapon, the trigger must be released before it will fire again.
In the words of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, “It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts. It is the size of the fight in the dog.”
The officer manages to get the car into drive and heads out into the roadway. Aiming for a tree, he accelerates, hoping to hit it head-on. The officer believes the airbag will go off and hopefully end this fight. The patrol car hits the tree and the airbag deploys. Murphy decides to take a break and allows an off-duty corrections officer to come to the officer’s aid. The officer still has the subject straddling him and the firearm in his hand. Recognizing the uniform, he hands the gun to the off-duty officer for safe keeping. The impact and airbag going off takes the wind out of the subject. The officer manages to force the subject out the driver’s door window, with the subject now nearly upside down. The officer gets the subject handcuffed. Now civilians have called 911 to report the police car crash and officers arrive within seconds. We won once again.
Evil (Kato) showed up this day and this warrior had prepared himself. Those in law enforcement likely know retired Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman. I have attended a few of his presentations. To paraphrase him: “There are the wolves and there are sheepdogs. The wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. There are evil men in this world who are capable of evil deeds. Officers are sheepdogs. We live to protect the flock and confront the wolves.”
