“One of the finest officers we’ve ever had.”
By CHRIS TOGNERI
Modesto Bee
Officer Down: Robert Winget
RIPON, Calif. — Police officer Robert Winget, a 37-year veteran of law enforcement in Los Angeles, Stanislaus County and Ripon, died Tuesday when he apparently crashed an all-terrain vehicle while patrolling the banks of the Stanislaus River, police officials said.
Winget went out on patrol at 11:25 a.m. in a heavily wooded area popular with runners, walkers and bicyclists in south Ripon, officials said.
At 11:40 a.m., dispatchers received an “undecipherable” transmission from Winget, Ripon police Sgt. Ed Ormonde said.
When efforts to contact him on his radio were unsuccessful, a search party of Ripon police officers, Ripon Consolidated Fire Department staff, city employees and concerned citizens formed a search party, Police Chief Richard Bull said.
At 1:14 p.m., a firefighter found Winget, 57, unconscious near his ATV, officials said.
Crews began CPR and took him in a four-wheel drive rescue vehicle to a waiting ambulance, which brought him to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, Bull said.
Winget was pronounced dead at 2:27 p.m.
Within minutes, the flag at the Ripon Police Department was lowered to half-staff.
Members of the small department of 25 sworn officers struggled to cope with the death.
“It’s a loss,” Ormonde said, fighting back tears. “Whether it be a family member or someone you work with, it’s a loss. … We’re doing the best we can under the circumstances.”
“I’ve been in law enforcement 31 years,” Chief Bull said. “This is my worst nightmare.”
It is not clear how Winget died, officials said.
Bull said his body was not found in the water and he did not believe Winget drowned. Investigators do not suspect foul play, he said.
The California Highway Patrol and San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department are conducting an independent investigation of the crash, Bull said, declining to discuss specifics of the scene where Winget died.
“We are awaiting that investigation’s outcome,” he said.
Bull said he had not heard Winget’s last radio call to dispatch. “It was enough to cause concern to start looking for him immediately,” he said.
Ripon police patrol the Stanislaus River, which forms the border between Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, in the spring and summer months when outdoor enthusiasts take to the hiking and biking trails, officials said.
Winget was trained to operate an ATV, Bull said.
“It appears to have been a tragic accident,” he said.
Winget, a former Marine, began his law enforcement career with the Los Angeles Police Department in the early 1970s, officials said.
After 20 years there, he retired and took a job with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department. During a 13-year career as a deputy, Winget served on patrol, as a bailiff and as a Drug Awareness Resistance Education officer, sheriff’s spokesman Royjindar Singh said.
“There’s a lot of shock here (at the sheriff’s department),” Singh said Tuesday afternoon. “Everybody is sad. We’re just trying to see what we can do to help.”
Left Sheriff’s Department in 2004
Winget retired from the Sheriff’s Department in 2004 before taking a job with Ripon police. He was trained as a K-9 handler and as an ATV river patrol officer, Bull said.
“Bob was an outstanding police officer,” Bull said. “Everybody would say Bob was a cop’s cop. He was one of the finest police officers I’ve ever known.”
Winget leaves behind a wife, a 35-year-old son and three daughters, ages 16, 19 and 23, Bull said. The family did not wish to speak publicly Tuesday night.
His former colleagues praised Winget for his dedication to law enforcement and his devotion to his family.
“He was a super nice guy,” said Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy Glenn Cadwell, who worked with Winget for 10years. “If you got stopped or an officer had to come to your house to take a report, you’d hope it was Bob Winget. He was very empathetic. … LA picked him up. We picked him up. Ripon picked him up. What does that tell you?”
As a DARE officer, Winget was able to connect with children, Cadwell said.
“He had a fondness for kids,” he said. “His legacy is that he helped many, many people.”
In 1992, Winget was part of a team of Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies who went to Los Angeles to help local police battle the ongoing riots.
Winget later recalled seeing veteran L.A. police officers walking around “shell-shocked” after witnessing more killings in one night than many had seen during their entire careers.
“He has gone through a lot and he has experienced a lot,” Bull said Tuesday. “He’s going to be known as probably one of the finest officers we’ve ever had.”
Copyright 2007 Modesto Bee