Medford, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon State police trooper who was shot in the line of duty has some help in his healing.
Just four weeks after he was shot, Trooper Nick Neville and his wife, Connie, have adopted a daughter. Natalia was born April 16.
The adoption was planned through an agency months before Neville encountered and killed an armed, wanted man at Valley of the Rogue State Park near Interstate 5 on March 26. But Natalia’s birth couldn’t have come at a better time, her new parents said.
“As far as timing, (the adoption) adds balance to a terrifying situation,” Connie Neville said.
The Medford couple also have two sons, 5-year-old Lance and 7-year-old Brandon.
A grand jury last week found Neville was justified in killing 48-year-old Jeremiah Paul Scanlon, who was wanted in two Nevada bank robberies. Neville testified that he didn’t remember shooting Scanlon, but it was very clear that the wanted man was intent on killing him, Neville said.
“There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to shoot,” Neville said. “He acted very comfortable in that situation pulling a gun on somebody.”
Neville said he believes Scanlon was just looking for a place to park his pickup truck and sleep on that rainy Friday night when he headed down the park’s boat ramp access road. Instead he met Neville, who had been walking the park and taking notes in his patrol car.
Neville pulled his car around to face the pickup truck. He and Scanlon both got out of their vehicles. Scanlon told Neville that he was looking for rest rooms, but his windshield wipers didn’t work, and he got lost.
Neville asked Scanlon for identification, and the man handed over a Nevada driver’s license. When Neville asked to see the truck’s registration, Scanlon walked toward the driver’s side of the truck while Neville walked toward the passenger’s side. Hearing the scuffle of feet, Neville turned to see Scanlon pointing a snub-nosed revolver at him.
“He had the drop on me; that was obvious,” Neville said.
After a moment of fear, his survival instinct kicked in, Neville said. Scanlon told Neville to keep his hands up, drop his flashlight, turn away and get down on his knees. Neville refused. The trooper tried to get close enough to Scanlon to disarm him, but the man inched away. When Neville stepped back, Scanlon strode forward.
“I felt that any second, he could pull the trigger,” Neville said.
Neville decided that the only way he could survive the encounter was to become a moving target. So he collapsed to his knees and drew his Glock pistol. The two men fired at about the same time.
The shot that pierced Neville’s neck knocked him to the ground. As he scrambled to his feet, Scanlon ran up the hill.
Neville took cover behind the pickup truck and radioed for help.
As he was rushed to Rogue Valley Medical Center, Neville heard that Scanlon had been found dead and assumed some other officer had shot him in a stand-off. When he heard that he had killed Scanlon, Neville said he felt no remorse, only pleased that he had successfully defended himself.
“Up until that point, my thought was that he had beat me to the draw,” Neville said.
Scanlon’s bullet shattered Neville’s collar bone and smashed through two ribs before coming to rest against his shoulder blade. Its path spared organs and arteries.
The trooper has yet to return to work, a day which will be difficult for his wife. But since talk among the couple’s large extended family has shifted from Neville’s ordeal to the new baby, everything seems as it should be.
“With the baby here, I’m in no big hurry,” Neville said. “It gives you something to plan for and think about.”