Winston-Salem Journal
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Winston-Salem Police Chief Scott Cunningham said today that Officer Daniel Clark, one of two officers wounded Wednesday morning as they pursued a suspect along Salem Creek, may be released from the hospital today.
The other, Sgt. Mickey Hutchens, is in critical condition. Hutchens was shot in the face.
“We don’t know the extent of his injuries yet,” Cunningham said, partly because he’s so heavily sedated. “He is not out of the woods yet at this point.”
But, Cunningham said, ‘he is in my mind doing well, considering where he’s at.”
The suspect, Monte Denard Evans, had gone to the Bojangles’ restaurant on Peters Creek Parkway Wednesday morning to talk to his former wife, Sally Evans. The two had a troubled relationship, and Sally Evans had told her co-workers that she was afraid of her former husband.
When Monte Evans saw Hutchens and Clark, he ran from the restaurant, and the officers gave chase. Evans was shot to death.
Capt. David Clayton, who leads the criminal-investigations division, said that crime-scene investigators have finished their work, and have turned over evidence to the State Bureau of Investigation. The SBI is talking with witnesses today, Clayton said, and will interview Clark sometime next week.
Speaking on behalf of Clark, Cunningham said that Clark regrets the shooting, and that he “genuinely feels pain” for Evans’ mother.
About 100 people attended a noontime prayer vigil in Corpening Plaza for Clark and Hutchens.
At the vigil, Rev. Laura Spangler of Lloyd Presbyterian Church asked people to pray for a peace that begins in the home.
“Haven’t we been made aware of the terrible consequences of domestic violence?” she said.
Copyright 2009 Winston-Salem Journal