To Protect And Serve
July 30, 2016 at 4:12 a.m.
By -
Instead of heading home to Syracuse the usual way – north on Ind. 15 to CR 900N, etc. – I decided to go through town and head east on U.S. 30 to check out Lake City Honda.
It’s always nice to stop in there and say hello to George Tubbs and his folks. (It’s really a great place to do business, by the way.) After some conversation and perusing some of the latest motorcycle technology, I headed home.
Instead of going straight north on county roads and winding around Chapman Lake, I decided to take U.S. 30 to Ind. 13 and head up to Syracuse that way.
South of North Webster, near the flowing well, I pulled over for a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department car which flew by headed north with lights and sirens activated.
Near the stop light at Armstrong Road, a second car rushed by me. It wasn’t a sheriff’s car and I couldn’t tell what agency it was.
I remember thinking to myself that something significant must be going on.
At the south edge of North Webster, I pulled over for an ambulance headed south. By now I was pretty sure there must have been a pretty serious accident or something.
As I rolled into North Webster, it became obvious that something was seriously amiss. At the curve just north of King’s Keg liquor store, several reserve officers were routing traffic off of Ind. 13. I parked the motorcycle at the liquor store, took off my gear and walked up to the curve to see a KCSD SUV nearly totaled and a pickup truck hauling a landscape trailer crashed into the Link Accounting Group building.
Officers were just starting to secure the scene with crime tape and I knew at that point that this was no ordinary accident.
I identified myself as an employee of the Times-Union, and I stayed back behind the crime tape. I called our photographer, Gary Nieter, to let him know that something was up in North Webster.
He was already on his way, having been monitoring scanner traffic.
I started taking a few photos with my phone.
After I took a sideview photo of the pickup truck, I pulled up the photo on my phone. Then I zoomed in and spotted what looked like bullet holes in both drivers side doors.
Suddenly, the crime scene tape started to make sense.
I began asking the townsfolk gathered at the scene if anyone knew what had happened. Most of them said they heard a commotion and came to see what had happened.
Several people said they heard gunfire.
A couple young guys told me a pickup truck was chasing a Tahoe and that the guy in the pickup truck was shooting a gun.
I couldn’t find anyone who saw the impact of the officers vehicle with the pickup truck.
Now, I realize the investigation isn’t complete, but what follows is my best guess of what happened that day. This is all total speculation on my part.
We know the pickup driver started chasing the Tahoe south of Syracuse. From looking at the rear-end damage on the Tahoe, it appears the pickup truck rammed it a few times.
At the end of the incident, the Tahoe was parked on Huntington Street, a couple blocks east of Ind. 13.
At the North Webster Church of God, there was evidence a vehicle left the roadway and sideswiped a construction fence and got back on Ind. 13 heading south. Based on the right-side damage to the Tahoe — missing mirror, numerous dents and scrapes — it appears that was the vehicle that hit the fence.
My guess is that by now, the KCSD vehicle was in pursuit and the officer knew shots had been fired.
The Tahoe continued south with the pickup behind it.
I believe when the Tahoe turned east onto Huntington Street and the pickup tried to follow, the officer made his move.
With shots being fired, as the witnesses told me, the officer probably figured he had to take drastic measures to end the threat.
The officer used his vehicle to immobilize the pickup. The officers airbag deployed. The officer was injured in the crash.
Whatever happened next, after the pickup was immobilized, the officer felt threatened enough to fire his weapon at the driver.
The Indiana State Police are investigating the incident and I am confident that pertinent details of this event will be made public in the near future.
But you know, these days in this great land, it’s pretty easy to bag on cops. Seems like lots of folks are second-guessing them. People have become dismissive about the notion that cops put their lives on the line to protect and serve.
Well, it appears to me that’s precisely what this officer did.
I imagine his only thought was to end the threat. From what I was able to gather from witnesses at the scene, there likely were stray bullets whizzing around North Webster – at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday in the middle of town.
His instinct was to protect the public and that’s precisely what he did. And he literally risked his life to do it.
The guy in the Tahoe, in a Facebook post, said the officer saved his life. I agree.
Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, since the ISP is still investigating and all, but I think we owe officer Don McCune a huge debt of gratitude.
Instead of heading home to Syracuse the usual way – north on Ind. 15 to CR 900N, etc. – I decided to go through town and head east on U.S. 30 to check out Lake City Honda.
It’s always nice to stop in there and say hello to George Tubbs and his folks. (It’s really a great place to do business, by the way.) After some conversation and perusing some of the latest motorcycle technology, I headed home.
Instead of going straight north on county roads and winding around Chapman Lake, I decided to take U.S. 30 to Ind. 13 and head up to Syracuse that way.
South of North Webster, near the flowing well, I pulled over for a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department car which flew by headed north with lights and sirens activated.
Near the stop light at Armstrong Road, a second car rushed by me. It wasn’t a sheriff’s car and I couldn’t tell what agency it was.
I remember thinking to myself that something significant must be going on.
At the south edge of North Webster, I pulled over for an ambulance headed south. By now I was pretty sure there must have been a pretty serious accident or something.
As I rolled into North Webster, it became obvious that something was seriously amiss. At the curve just north of King’s Keg liquor store, several reserve officers were routing traffic off of Ind. 13. I parked the motorcycle at the liquor store, took off my gear and walked up to the curve to see a KCSD SUV nearly totaled and a pickup truck hauling a landscape trailer crashed into the Link Accounting Group building.
Officers were just starting to secure the scene with crime tape and I knew at that point that this was no ordinary accident.
I identified myself as an employee of the Times-Union, and I stayed back behind the crime tape. I called our photographer, Gary Nieter, to let him know that something was up in North Webster.
He was already on his way, having been monitoring scanner traffic.
I started taking a few photos with my phone.
After I took a sideview photo of the pickup truck, I pulled up the photo on my phone. Then I zoomed in and spotted what looked like bullet holes in both drivers side doors.
Suddenly, the crime scene tape started to make sense.
I began asking the townsfolk gathered at the scene if anyone knew what had happened. Most of them said they heard a commotion and came to see what had happened.
Several people said they heard gunfire.
A couple young guys told me a pickup truck was chasing a Tahoe and that the guy in the pickup truck was shooting a gun.
I couldn’t find anyone who saw the impact of the officers vehicle with the pickup truck.
Now, I realize the investigation isn’t complete, but what follows is my best guess of what happened that day. This is all total speculation on my part.
We know the pickup driver started chasing the Tahoe south of Syracuse. From looking at the rear-end damage on the Tahoe, it appears the pickup truck rammed it a few times.
At the end of the incident, the Tahoe was parked on Huntington Street, a couple blocks east of Ind. 13.
At the North Webster Church of God, there was evidence a vehicle left the roadway and sideswiped a construction fence and got back on Ind. 13 heading south. Based on the right-side damage to the Tahoe — missing mirror, numerous dents and scrapes — it appears that was the vehicle that hit the fence.
My guess is that by now, the KCSD vehicle was in pursuit and the officer knew shots had been fired.
The Tahoe continued south with the pickup behind it.
I believe when the Tahoe turned east onto Huntington Street and the pickup tried to follow, the officer made his move.
With shots being fired, as the witnesses told me, the officer probably figured he had to take drastic measures to end the threat.
The officer used his vehicle to immobilize the pickup. The officers airbag deployed. The officer was injured in the crash.
Whatever happened next, after the pickup was immobilized, the officer felt threatened enough to fire his weapon at the driver.
The Indiana State Police are investigating the incident and I am confident that pertinent details of this event will be made public in the near future.
But you know, these days in this great land, it’s pretty easy to bag on cops. Seems like lots of folks are second-guessing them. People have become dismissive about the notion that cops put their lives on the line to protect and serve.
Well, it appears to me that’s precisely what this officer did.
I imagine his only thought was to end the threat. From what I was able to gather from witnesses at the scene, there likely were stray bullets whizzing around North Webster – at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday in the middle of town.
His instinct was to protect the public and that’s precisely what he did. And he literally risked his life to do it.
The guy in the Tahoe, in a Facebook post, said the officer saved his life. I agree.
Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, since the ISP is still investigating and all, but I think we owe officer Don McCune a huge debt of gratitude.
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