It started as a traffic stop and ended in a hail of gunfire. Now two police officers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, are dead, four suspects are facing charges and a community is mourning.
Officers Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 24, were making a traffic stop Saturday evening when they were shot, Mayor Johnny DuPree said. They were taken to a hospital, but did not survive.
Authorities accuse the suspects of fleeing the crime scene, allegedly stealing a police cruiser and using it as a getaway car.
Joanie Calloway, 22, was charged with two counts of capital murder, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said Sunday.
Marvin Banks, 29, also faces two counts of capital murder, along with counts of grand theft auto and felon in possession of a firearm. Police charged his brother, Curtis Banks, with two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder, the agency said. And a fourth suspect, Cornelius Clark, was charged with obstruction of justice Sunday, the mayor's office said.
As deputies escorted him into a police station Sunday, Curtis Banks wailed and repeated "I didn't do it."
Dean's and Tate's bodies have been taken to the state medical examiner's office for autopsies, while the suspects were taken "to undisclosed jails outside Forrest County to await their initial appearances" in the Forrest County Justice Court on Monday, state police said.
A vigil is planned for the officers Monday afternoon, DuPree said.
"We're a community. We're family," he said. "And we're going to grieve together through this."
The shooting marked the first time in 30 years that an officer was killed in the line of duty in Hattiesburg, the mayor told CNN.
"The men and women who go out every day to make sure that we are safe were turned on," DuPree said.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said he and his wife, Deborah, were mourning the officers' deaths.
"This should remind us to thank all law enforcement for their unwavering service to protect and serve. May God keep them all in the hollow of his hand," he said in a statement. Slain officer had 'fire in his soul' for police work
Deen, who DuPree said was married with two children, was a K-9 officer who earned his department's officer of the year honors in 2012, according to The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.
Tate graduated last June from the police academy. His excitement at joining the force was clear as he trumpeted the news on Facebook.
"I am now a Police Officer. I would like to thank God, the Police Academy, the Police Department, my family, friends, and love ones," he wrote.
He'd worked at auto parts stores for years and was thrilled to have found his calling as an officer, his father, Ronald Tate, told CNN.
"He had this enthusiasm, this fire in his soul," his father recalled.
That doesn't mean he didn't realize he was putting his life in danger by putting on a police uniform.
"He really knew the risk. But I think my son just thought people are generally good, and that's just the way he was," Ronald Tate said. "He thought people are generally good people, so let's treat them all with dignity."
In addition for his excitement for his police work, Liquori Tate often shared photos on Facebook of himself posing with family members and bantered with his father over his posts.
The two talked on the phone every week and texted every day, Ronald Tate said.
In a Facebook exchange with his son in March, Ronald Tate wrote, "Hey sonnyboi! Call ya dad sometimes! I need a good laugh!" It was a wish his son didn't take long to grant. About an hour later, Liquori Tate replied, "Calling you now lol."
On Facebook, where his timeline had been filled with condolences, Ronald Tate wrote that he'd been in a "dizzy haze" since 10:11 p.m. Saturday.
"My heart has been ripped out of my chest, and torn into a million pieces," he said. "Gotta get down to MS where my daughter is. She's absolutely devastated. He was clearly her protector, and friend."
April, 2015 See video here. When two Muskegon police officers approached a group of kids playing in the street, one of the kids’ parents pulled out her camera phone and captured a heartwarming moment that is now getting a lot of attention.
Jessica Lindsay saw the police outside her home and went to investigate. She then captured video of the two cops playing football with a group of kids outside her home.
“It was just amazing. It was awesome, especially with all the things that’s going on in other states with the police officers,” Lindsay told 24 Hour News 8. “It’s just awesome that there are still some good officers out here that would take the time out of their day to come out and play with the kids in the community. We need that more often.”
For another treat, the officers let the children see how their police cruiser worked.
It’s great to see cops going above and beyond the call of duty in unexpected ways — like the cop who risked his life to save a woman on the highway or the law enforcement officers who rewarded people for obeying the law.
After Lindsay posted the video on Facebook, it quickly went viral. As of Thursday morning, the video had more than 11,000 shares on Facebook and been viewed over 714,000 times.
The video speaks for itself on how engaged the kids were, and you can tell the officers’ actions were really positive and from the heart.
(NBC) A rookie Ohio cop is being praised for "great restraint and maturity" after he held off using deadly force against a double murder suspect who charged at him, his police chief said.
In a confrontation Thursday with a man accused of killing his fiancee and his best friend, New Richmond Police Officer Jesse Kidder is heard on his body-camera video yelling, "No man, I'm not going to do it!" and ordering the suspect to get down on the ground.
The suspect rushes toward him shouting, "Shoot me, shoot me!"
"Back up!" screams Kidder, holding his gun out. The man finally crumples to the ground just feet away from the officer in the video taken in the Cincinnati suburb of Elsmere, Kentucky.
Investigators say Michael Wilcox, 27, killed his fiancee in their Brown County, Ohio, home, then killed his best friend in Elsmere, reported NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati, which first obtained the body-camera video. A Brown County investigator spotted Wilcox Thursday night at about 8 p.m. and attempted to stop him, but Wilcox claimed he had a gun and drove away, officials said.
He was then followed by New Richmond police on a car chase through multiple counties on the Ohio-Kentucky border before Kidder caught Wilcox and arrested him.
The nonviolent confrontation caught on video has been highlighted as a positive example of police officer encounters nationwide. Their actions have been blemished by shootings of unarmed men, including a deadly officer shooting earlier this month in South Carolina.
Officers' use of force has been the subject of protests since last August, when white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Wilson was not wearing a body camera, which raised questions about what exactly led him to shoot andwhether all police officers should be outfitted with the tiny video recorders.
In the Kentucky case, the suspect was believed to be armed and is heard threatening the officer on the video.
"For him to make the judgment call that he did shows great restraint and maturity," New Richmond Police Chief Randy Harvey told WLWT about Kidder, who's been on the force for a year. "This video footage, it eliminated all doubt that this officer would have been justified if in fact it came to a shooting."
Kidder, who did two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine and is a Purple Heart recipient, told WLWT that a relative had given him a body camera to use at work after the Ferguson shooting.
During the confrontation Thursday, 911 dispatchers told Kidder that Wilcox could have a gun under his seat and may be threatening suicide-by-cop, according to WLWT. Kidder said since he knew backup was coming shortly, he held off shooting Wilcox.
"I was trying to open a dialogue with him. 'I don't want to shoot you, get on the ground,' but he wasn't having it. He kept repeating, 'Shoot me.' At one point, he said 'Shoot me or I'll shoot you,'" Kidder told WLWT. The situation escalated: Wilcox put his hand in his pocket and again charged at Kidder — who is seen on the video tripping and falling backwards.
"He got towards my face right as I lost balance," Kidder told WLWT. "I'm thinking at this point that if he goes into attack me, that I'll have to use deadly force to defend myself."
But he waited. "Law enforcement officers all across the nation have to deal with split-second decisions that mean life or death. I wanted to be absolutely sure before I used deadly force," he said. Backup arrived just in time, and Wilcox surrendered.
Dwayne Wenninger, sheriff in Brown County, said in a statement that Wilcox confessed to and has been charged with murder for the death of his fiancee, Courtney Fowler, and is also under suspicion for the friend's death. Fowler died of gunshot wounds, the statement said.
(CNN)The overturned convertible was smoldering, when police pulled up to it on a New Jersey roadway. The driver was pinned inside -- and unconscious.
Not knowing when the car might burst into full flame, they scrambled to save her, while a police dash cam rolled.
Kinnelon Police Officers Mark Ehrenburg and Ricky Ferriola cut the seat belt from her, then dragged the woman's limp body away from the crash to start emergency medical care. Not a minute later, flames licked out of the car.
Two more minutes -- an explosion.
All three were lucky to escape the flames.
'Can you hear me?'
The officers ran over to the flipped over car, and shouted over the honking horn at the driver, "Can you hear me?" No response, not even a gesture, the video showed.
It took them two minutes to cut off the seat belt, as smoke kept rising. Once they had her in safety, the officers hooked the driver up to a defibrillator and started CPR.
The woman, identified by the Kinnelon Police Department as Dawn Milosky, 45, of Beachwood, New Jersey, was airlifted to Morristown Medical Center and survived.
She's been charged with driving while intoxicated, having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle, reckless driving and with failure to stay in her lane, according to WPIX.
'A lot of times, we don't think about our own safety'
Kinnelon Police Sgt. Chris Carbone told WPIX that they released the video to show that the driver may have died, if others had not informed the police.
As for his colleagues' bravery, he said, "A lot of times, we don't think of our own safety doing this job."
Police officer helps woman who lost over 200 pounds cross 10K finish line
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A picture from 10K race in Louisville, Kentucky has gone viral this weekend.
The photo captured Asia Ford crossing the finish line with the help of a police officer.
She wasn’t the winner – just a runner who was struggling to breathe around mile four, and the police officer jumped in to give her a little extra support.
Her son also walked by her side to the finish line.
Ford has lost almost 220 pounds over the last two years.
She says she’s on a mission to get healthy.
The Louisville mayor saw the picture on Facebook and shared it with the message: “What a compassionate city looks like.”
Reference: WGN Web Desk. (2015, March 23). Police officer helps woman who lost over 200 pounds cross 10k finish line. Retrieved April 21, 2015 from http://wgntv.com/2015/03/23/police-officer-helps-woman-who-lost-over-200-pounds-cross-10k-finish-line/
Picture of 6-year-old Jacob Graham-Stewart and Officer Timothy Craft.
A former Hyde Park police assistant has stepped in to a little boy's life, to help ease the pain of a father who died too soon.
To 6-year-old Jacob Graham-Stewart, Officer Timothy Craft, who now works for the New York Police Department, is a hero. And not just because of his badge and uniform.
Jacob's a student and resident in the Hunts Point section of the south Bronx, within the boundaries of the 41st Precinct, where Craft works for a special operations school unit.
Jacob "looks up to law enforcement a lot, as I did when I was a kid," Craft said. "We formed a good relationship, he'd want to come say hello."
When Jacob's father Howard Stewart died in August after a short battle with cancer, the boy's family notified the school.
Jacob never got to say goodbye to his father, who died in a hospital after a period of unconsciousness, said Ingrid Graham-Stewart, Jacob's mother.
The school passed word on to Craft. Jacob had asked for him specifically.
"It's kind of hard to tell a 6-year-old... to comfort them about a death," Craft said. "But I told him that (his father) was still with him in a sense, and if he ever needed anything, I was there."
And there, he has been.
"Jacob told me he wants to be a police officer... he wants to be just like Officer Craft," Graham-Stewart said. "I'm so happy my son has him as a mentor and friend. He's my son's hero... he makes his day." Craft has accompanied Jacob to a father-son day at school, surprised him in class with a birthday cake and decorations in September, and made sure he got to meet Santa at the precinct before Christmas, Graham-Stewart said.
"We set up a toy drive in the precinct, and spent two days wrapping gifts" for Jacob and other children in the local community, Craft said. "We wanted to make it special. I got him two big bags of gifts."
Before the holidays, Craft brought Jacob's mom a card and money.
"I wanted them have a great Christmas," Craft said.
Craft has been a godsend to her son, Graham-Stewart said. When Jacob has a tough day, Craft visits him in class.
"He's an amazing guy," Graham-Stewart said. "He's my super-cop. I pray he stays safe."
The officer is shy at times when it comes to telling his own mother, Hyde Park police assistant Kathleen Craft, about the good deeds he does in New York City.
"I know there are other kids he's taken to Old Navy... he's gotten letters from principals and the schools he works in... parents call him when they're having trouble with their kids," Kathleen Craft said.
The mom had mourned and worried after the December shooting ambush deaths of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, and it was "maddening that so many people don't see the good," she said.
"He loves his job, which is awesome," Kathleen Craft said. "Not too many people can say that."
Jacob still sees his hero frequently, Graham-Stewart said.
"Officer Craft has been there (since before Jacob's father died) and he's right there now," the mom added.
Reference: Schutzman, N. (2015, January 16). NYPD cop, Hyde Park local, helps boy through dad's death. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2015/01/16/nypd-officer-helps-child/21888591/