By MARTIGA LOHN
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. - An undercover police officer once hailed as a hero for rescuing a child from a burning home was drunk when he was shot to death on the job after a confrontation outside a bar, officials said Friday.
The blood-alcohol level of Sgt. Gerald Vick was 0.20 at the time of his death - above the state’s legal driving limit of 0.10.
Vick was part of the department’s vice squad, and Police Chief John Harrington said consuming alcohol is “a necessary part” of the job for officers working vice. But he said department policy prohibits drinking to intoxication.
Vick, 41, was shot and killed May 6 in a confrontation with two men outside a bar. Harry Jerome Evans, 32, was charged with first-degree murder and a second man, Antonio Alexander Kelly, 27, was in custody as a material witness.
According to a criminal complaint, Vick and his partner, Sgt. Joe Strong, were working undercover near Erick’s Bar when they had an argument with two men. Kelly told investigators he was urinating on a wall behind the bar when the officers told him to stop.
The men separated, but got into another confrontation a few minutes later. Vick was shot after a brief foot chase in a dark alley. He did not fire his weapon. Strong fired and missed several times.
Strong was not drunk, Harrington said. Strong had a blood-alcohol level of 0.013, far below the legal driving limit of 0.10.
Harrington said the department was reviewing the case and its policies, and it was too early to know if anyone would be changed.
Vick, an officer since 1989, had received two medals of valor, including one for rescuing a young child from a burning home. He was the first St. Paul officer to be killed in the line of duty since 1994.
“He worked incredibly hard at keeping the streets safe,” Harrington said.
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said she knew of Vick’s blood-alcohol content when she was preparing charges against the suspects in the case. It made no difference in her decision to pursue a first-degree murder charge, she said.
“All of us are flawed human beings,” Gaertner said. “All of us make mistakes. That doesn’t give anyone a right to gun down any one of us.”