We had a discussion recently about LEO ride-alongs, and this story helps bring it home that law enforcement officers may face a life-threatening situation at any moment:
July 18, 2007, 1:23PM
Suspect killed after running down San Jacinto deputy
By KEVIN MORAN and CINDY HORSWELL
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Residents of a San Jacinto County neighborhood watched in horror early today as a sheriff's deputy and a man he stopped for driving without headlights struggled on a dark road and began shooting at each other.
Deputy Sean Barnes suffered a bullet wound in the hand and a broken leg after Dustin Klander, 24, got back in his SUV, backed over Barnes and dragged the deputy more than 50 feet down the road as he fled, Sheriff Lacy Rogers said.
Before Klander fled, Lee Ann Abernathy, 22, a former San Jacinto County jailer who was riding with Barnes, fired the deputy's shotgun at Klander, Rogers said.
"She probably saved his life," Rogers said of Abernathy.
Klander was later found dead in his SUV just a few blocks away on Woodman Street, where he lived, Rogers said. Klander ran off the side of the street a few doors from his home, Rogers said.
It was unclear whose shots caused Klander's death, Rogers said.
The shootout took place outside the home of Kimberly Bell, whose sons, 11 and 12, were asleep on a livingroom couch.
Bell said her barking dogs awoke her and she looked out her door to see Barnes trying to handcuff Klander. Klander balked and the two struggled.
"The officer pulled his hands to cuff him and the struggle started," Bell said. "It went downhill from there."
Bell and neighbor Gilbert Wilmot, 49, said Klander was bigger than Barnes and he managed to knock the deputy to the ground twice in just a few seconds as the shooting broke out.
Bell said he called 911 but was unable to give good directions to the dispatcher because he has lived in the neighborhood only a short time.
Texas Rangers took over the investigation today, Rogers said.
The sheriff said he did not know why Klander resisted arrest but investigators later found a small amount of marijuana in his vehicle.
Rogers said Abernathy now is a corrections officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and she was on an authorized "ride-along" with Barnes during his night shift, which ran from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Rogers said the department has a program that allows civilians, particularly people who are considering applying for a department job, to ride with deputies.
Abernathy used the patrol car radio to report that Barnes and Klander were struggling when shooting broke out, Rogers said.
Abernathy, who was trained to use weapons when she went to work for the sheriff's department, pulled the shotgun out of the patrol car and began firing, Rogers said.
"She's very distraught," Rogers said of Abernathy, who lives in Coldspring, the county seat.
Barnes was listed in good condition at Houston's Memorial Herman Hospital this morning but Rogers said Barnes could lose a finger as a result of the shot to his hand. Barnes was taken to the hospital by a Coast Guard helicopter.
Neighbors said Klander had lived on Woodman for about two or three months. A woman at his home this morning refused comment.
According to Harris County court records, Klander was convicted in 2001 of assault causing bodily injury and possession of less than two ounces of marijuana. He was placed on probation for a year and fined $200 on the marijuana charge. He was sentenced to two years in jail on the assault charge but given deferred adjudication, which would have allowed the conviction to be removed from his record if he had completed probation successfully.
In May 2003, Klander was sentenced to nine months in jail after violating the probation, records show.
Details of the assault and the probation violation were not immediately available today.
Neighbor Matthew Escobar, 33, a heavy equipment operator, said Klander never caused trouble in the area.
"He pulled me out of a ditch one time," Escobar said. "He was real neighborly. He was never a problem."
Abernathy worked for the sheriff's department from November 2005 to March 2007, according to San Jacinto County personnel records.
Suspect killed after running down San Jacinto deputy
Moderator: carlson1
Suspect killed after running down San Jacinto deputy
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