Not Just Dead Heroes: Martin County Deputies Survive Shootout

It seems that this new year, instead of being the hoped-for slightly safer year for officers after last year's terrible fatality count, is shaping up to be just as deadly if not worse, than 2010.  I have noted the bravery of Mexican police officers in their almost hopeless battle to maintain a semblance of law and order in that nation.  We witnessed the "deadly 24-hours" of this past Sunday-Monday, in which eleven peace officers lost their lives.  And as if to punctuate the fact that peace officers do a dangerous job no matter where they work, the deputies of the Martin County Sheriff's Office (Stanton, Texas) found themselves in a deadly confrontation in which the offender offered no other recourse to the deputies than to respond with gunfire.  The officers were prepared and in this case, and the offender was killed.

These deputies, and the Martin County Sheriff had worked for days to effect an arrest of the offender in light of his announced purpose of "not being taken alive."  In this situation, the officers used tactics and the services of an mental health expert to try to save the man's life.  By contrast, the offender himself had taken every step to ensure a violent confrontation that was intended to cost arresting officers their lives.  His home was booby-trapped and he had guns set at strategic points around the house to fire at various points of approach.  He had communicated his deadly intents to the sheriff.  The sheriff had talked with this man over the phone to try and avoid violence, but, in the end, the offender pressed the issue, fired on the officers, and paid the price.

The police officers involved in this incident, though fortunately not killed by this madman, are nonetheless heroes, worthy of all the honor given those officers who have fallen in the line of duty.  These men are heroes because they pursued their sworn duty in the face of the inevitable violent confrontation, but also because they made every effort to save the life of the very person whose dying wish was apparently to kill as many officers as he could before he himself died.