01x05 - Death In The Family

[bunniefuu]

Subjects inside the vehicle are to

be considered armed and dangerous.

- Hang on. Hang on.

- Officer down.

This pursuit was the craziest

I've been on in my career.

One false move, it's game over.

Take him out. Take him out!

Things that you're recommended

not to do had to be done.

I began getting into a hunt mode.

We had our prey.

Shots fired! Shots fired!

I just basically have a front row

seat to a catastrophe.

My name is Chief Ryan Burkholder,

I work in a small town,

and everybody refers to me as Chief Ryan.

It was in the early morning hours.

The officer that was working at the

time came to my door

and notified my family and I that

there's a problem out on interstate

and it involved Officer Francis.

It was really unclear exactly

what was going on.

There was a rumor,

something about a sh**ting,

then there was another rumor that it

had something to do with a pursuit.

But all I focused on was the fact

that Dom needed us.

I grabbed everything and I just

remember sprinting out the door.

Be advised, Hancock County SO just called

to say they had received a 911 call

of an officer laying in the

southbound lane by his cruiser.

Allen County is sending

a unit to check on him.

They haven't heard from him.

I could see the lights. I knew

from the way it looked it was bad.

And when I pulled up, I could see

the expression on people's face.

Officer down, Bluffton officer down.

Commence CPR.

When I arrived on the scene,

Officer Francis

was already pronounced dead.

Coroner is advising.

I found out that Officer Francis

was called out

to assist the State Highway Patrol

for a pursuit with a stolen vehicle.

He positioned himself

to deploy stop sticks,

and Officer Francis was struck.

There's no playbook for this.

You pray that it never happens.

It's the biggest fear

that you could have as a chief,

to lose one of your officers.

Our focus was "let's make sure

we get him apprehended."

We just passed a spike.

Six is taking in the median.

Three suspects fled

from the vehicle on foot

around 3:00 a.m. on County Road 29.

One of the suspects was located

and was arrested.

At approximately 2.30 a.m.,

on Interstate-75 near exit 142,

Officer Dominic Francis

of the Bluffton Police Department

was attempting to deploy stop sticks

when he was struck by the suspect vehicle.

His heart was big.

Not only was he a police officer,

he was a school teacher,

he was a bus driver,

he was a coach to the youth

in this community.

He had a heart of gold,

and he will be sorely missed.

Knowing that you just lost

one of your friends,

your officer,

that moment's a life-changer.

It'll be a life-changer in every

officer in my department.

A Toyota Prius was reported stolen

from a residence,

so police began to search for that

vehicle as well as the suspects.

O&P is behind the vehicle,

northbound from the 206.

The news coming into work that morning

had stated that the Bluffton officer

was k*lled in the line of duty.

So when the radio call came in,

we had that knowledge.

Subjects inside the vehicle are to

be considered armed and dangerous.

Armed and dangerous.

It kind of takes your breath away.

We're all brothers.

We're all in this together.

877, he's going to be the next one

approaching you in the left lane.

I'm in the middle lane.

Try to grab this plate when he gets

past. That way we can verify.

- It's got to be him in the middle

- No, there, left lane.

No front plate.

Looked like one occupant.

Black male.

Didn't look like he had a shirt on.

54, 71, 76, I'll be standing by.

They are not in pursuit or anything yet.

They're trying to get other units

involved in the area.

Attention all units, 99 traffic,

99 traffic channel two.

We wanted to make sure

that we got that person into custody

and got justice

for Officer Dominic Francis.

That's good.

We got three troopers, myself,

one more following close behind.

Looks like we might be getting

on 271 north.

Disregard 271. He's going to

continue 71 northbound.

130, I'll be 41 with him.

The 220 over six.

154, do you want me to call it?

Once you get a little bit closer,

we'll go ahead and let you call it.

Right now at 21.8.

- Yeah, about 110.

- That's their sign.

They're wanting to get cars up

on the interstate to deploy spikes,

and they're gonna hold off

on trying to initiate a stop

until we had enough vehicles

to end it quickly.

He can't run anywhere.

If we're gonna pit him,

we can pit him into the wall.

As we were getting into position,

the suspect had already been spooked.

217 over six is lit up.

He's taking off.

503, be advised. Go ahead.

Exit 226 northbound, 755 down to 75.

31, watch your speed.

He's swerving in and out of traffic.

Clear, is another unit available

to have stops sticks

at the exit ramp at 303?

When I got on to 71 northbound

entrance ramp from 303,

I was getting ready to deploy

my stop sticks.

Left lane, 116 miles per hour, 224.

We've got too much traffic

to try to box it in here.

Being asked to deploy the stop sticks

in the same nature

that Officer Dominic Francis was

There's a lot of emotions

that come into that.

Some of it is fear. That you don't

wanna get struck as well.

We're heading northbound

by the rest area right now.

Northbound.

Traffic's heavy. I don't know if I

can get across in time.

They're set up, but I got to cross.

With all the traffic

and the speeds they were going,

there's no way

I'm gonna safely deploy them.

32 was unable, unable to deploy.

That's a negative

I could see the suspect vehicle

was going in and out of traffic.

It was very reckless.

There was at least 15 units in pursuit.

Everybody was gonna pursue this vehicle.

In striking

and k*lling Officer Dominic Francis.

If you get a clear sight, clear road,

and even at 70 range,

that's when you got to pit.

I could see the suspect

and the highway patrol,

so I had a feeling that

they're gonna initiate a PIT maneuver

and get this thing stopped,

but with the amount of traffic,

you had to wait for the right moment.

Copy.

He's got traffic around him.

What do you think, boss?

No blocks, pit when you can.

Lot of traffic though.

The suspect speeds

were now at 110 miles per hour.

When you're chasing somebody

at those speeds,

one false move, it's game over.

He's there in the left lane.

Hang on, hang on.

We got a PIT maneuver at the 227.

Trooper car was crashed.

Trooper car was crashed.

- You all right?

- Yeah, I'm good.

The suspect kept going

just like nothing happened.

The more units you have on a pursuit

does give a greater possibility

that there are going to be crashes

that occur along that pursuit route.

The idea, though, is to have units

that are ahead as well

to kind of block off traffic

for a safety buffer,

for the normal motorists

that may be out on the roadway

and driving down the street,

not knowing that there is a whole

slew of police officers

that are coming out to chase somebody.

Seeing the trooper's car off

to the side of the road,

one of my concerns was that he was okay.

We're done. 877 is out.

1012 is out with the trooper.

He's okay. He's off the road.

1517, 1307 are out. Let's just get

this whole roadway closed.

I was thinking, this guy seems to

know what he's doing,

and he's gonna do everything he can

to get away.

Take him out. Take him out!

Northbound. I made contact with him,

but I missed him.

Don't pit, don't pit, not around traffic.

You got a shot. Take it.

Too fast, too fast, too fast.

When he bypassed the spikes,

it was very frustrating.

Approaching 82, approaching 82 right now.

Approaching 82, northbound.

Let them know what lane,

we got sticks set up.

The Strongsville Police had

closed the road with stop sticks

just ahead of us.

I think there's going to be some

spikes on this far left lane.

Just be aware.

I had a feeling that, okay,

this thing is done right now,

We have enough troopers

with the Strongsville Police,

he's gonna have nowhere to go.

Be careful.

The berm, he's on the berm.

Left lane, we're cutting back

across to the right.

He's been carried away by the turnpike.

We're going to be able to pit him.

What lane?

He's on the right berm, right berm,

approaching the turnpike.

Coming back over now.

Left-hand lane, left-hand lane.

Left-hand lane right here,

right in front of me.

Take him out!

When he made the U-turn,

he went southbound,

he went across four lanes of

interstate to hit the exit ramp

and did not even look.

Boundary road is shut down.

Back southbound, back southbound,

back southbound.

He was not gonna get caught.

He was taking that as a win,

and at that point I thought,

"Oh, here we go."

We were not gonna give up on this pursuit

until we either ran out of gas

or the wheels fell off.

It was something

that we needed to get done,

so we can bring justice

to Officer Dominic Francis.

Exiting off of 82, exiting off 82,

southbound 82.

I think he was just in desperation

trying to get away,

so that he didn't have to answer

for he was a part of

when he was in the vehicle

that k*lled Officer Francis.

Pulling off of 82 right now, 82.

There's some traffic here.

Going westbound 82, westbound 82.

147, units out to 82.

This area is highly congested

to go through at these speeds.

The risk of something horrible

happening is very high.

What I fear the most is if somebody

got hurt, it would be devastating.

I was already on route 57,

so when the call came out

saying that they're close.

They had covered a great amount of

distance in a short period of time,

I knew that they were gonna be

in our city pretty quick.

Your adrenaline's just going

when you're in pursuit of a person

who could have been responsible

for the death of Officer Francis.

He's not gonna get away.

I believe it's myself and OSP Grant.

Speeds are picking back up

to about 80, 90.

When you're at those speeds

in that amount of traffic,

it was the most on edge that I was.

If he would have crashed

or struck somebody,

there would have been a fatal accident.

We're on 82 going west approaching 42.

82 going west, 73 miles an hour,

heavy traffic.

I just cringed.

Every intersection we're approaching.

Up on 42, we'll be going now.

Which way are we going here guys?

- It's going 82 here, sir.

- Keep west of 42.

On 82, permission to continue

pursuit. Heavy traffic on 82.

You need to continue the pursuit

until aviation gets there.

Any opportunity to pit,

you need to take it.

Up 82 passing Plum Creek right now.

Speed's slowing down

up in the center here.

Lot of traffic,

he's going to be slowing down.

Separate individual, separate

individual. Right into the ditch.

Jesus Christ.

A black car was off the side of the

road. It was a mom and a kid.

Apparently, he had struck them

and pushed them into the ditch.

He was doing that on purpose,

just trying to get us to say,

it's too much liability.

It would have been more liability

to let him go.

On 20, w e're on 20 right now

going east. 20 east.

20 east, coming into the area now,

heading to construction zone.

Once we're past the traffic barrels,

we seize the moment.

Come on, ♪♪♪wreck this dude, man.

Wreck him.

Are we on 20?

Northbound 57 from Chestnut.

We're on 20.

The suspect's driving style

was very aggressive and dangerous.

He was able to turn in to the PIT maneuver

and able just to drive out of it.

That's like something

that I've never seen before.

On 83.

We were in awe.

We were also just thinking

"How is this gonna end?"

We would have to do

more than just a PIT maneuver

to get him to stop.

PIT maneuver. He was able

to get out of it, still northbound.

One occupant in the vehicle, black male.

Eighty-three.

It seems he had been chased

by the police before

because he knew just what to do.

Check now 100, northbound

in the southbound lane.

57 north and southside.

1721 is out.

That road goes head on with people

coming on a blind curve

which further increased the danger.

We're going 100. One hundred.

We're just praying that they're not

gonna cause a head-on collision.

Your respiration is up,

your heart beat is up,

what you're waiting for

is for him to make a mistake.

Got him stopped, 57, 57.

07 was involved in a crash.

07 involved in a crash.

He did a U-turn right there

in the southbound lanes

and opened himself up,

and I took advantage of that.

Got him stopped, 57, 57.

07 was evolved in a crash.

Hands up now!

130 Medina, felony stop in progress.

- You guys got a shield?

- Yeah, I got a shield in the back.

Pop the trunk, I've got a shield.

We still don't know what are

the intentions of the suspect.

We don't know if he's armed.

31, at gunpoint right now.

We're getting him out, at gunpoint.

Reach over!

Over to the passenger door!

Open up the passenger door!

- Thirty-nine.

- Slide over.

Keep your hands up.

Put your a*s in the passenger seat.

Move slow! Open the door!

Keep your hands up! Move slow!

Hey, Cruz, tell them to watch

their crossfire on the other side.

He's exiting the vehicle.

Leave the door open!

Exiting the vehicle.

- Don't move.

- Hands up!

Come on!

231, we're at gunpoint right now.

We're getting him out.

Put your hands on top of your head!

Lie down on your stomach! Do it now!

I got the car.

I got the car, I got the car.

There was still one outstanding

suspect that we knew of.

He could very well been

in the back of that vehicle.

You have the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can

This is clear. I don't know what

the back looks like.

Yeah, back's clear. Car's clear!

Hands behind your back.

Hands behind your back.

When he was finally put in cuffs,

you get a sigh of relief

and it's like a chance

where you can breathe again

and catch your breath.

All city units, they have one in

custody at 816, one in custody.

103 you're clear.

Chases like this definitely add stress,

and depending on the amount of incidents

an officer's been involved

in close proximity,

it can really have an effect on them.

We're going to need a crash report,

but you'd be proud of old Unit 2 here.

When they made the flip back

to go north on 57,

I just crossed over and T-boned him,

sent him over the embankment.

It's quite remarkable.

The damage is very minimal.

We got some diggers out here.

This pursuit was the craziest pursuit

I've been on in my career.

We have never had a pursuit of this scale.

I was relieved that we got justice

for Officer Dominic Francis.

That's how you pit him.

Long chase huh?

Hey, Lieutenant, that's how you pit him.

The maneuver I did was right there

at the edge of the envelope.

Things that you're recommended

not to do, had to be done.

Bad guys in custody.

Excellent job, Sarge.

When we found out

nobody else was in there,

I was kind of worried that there was

still somebody else loose.

You want an EMS?

If somebody's injured,

EMS is on their way now.

The emotion I felt when I found out

that we had three suspects captured,

a sense of relief

knowing that I could breathe,

it was still so overwhelming.

But it was a relief

that nobody else was injured.

How does it affect the mental health?

I don't know, it's sad that another

officer lost his life for no reason.

I apologize.

Officials from the Ohio State

Highway Patrol say

20-year-old Emin Johnson of Euclid,

21-year-old Zachary Love of Columbus

are being held in the Hancock County Jail.

Johnson was charged

with involuntary manslaughter,

and Love is facing the charge of

failure to comply with an officer

and receiving stolen property.

The third person, 19-year-old Dante Tate,

was arrested in Elyria

on Thursday afternoon.

"Officer, protector, firefighter,

teacher, husband, father."

These are just some of the countless

words that people say

to describe who fallen

Officer Dominic Francis was.

Those impacted by his actions as

well as his sworn brothers -

came together to pay respects

as he's laid to rest.

His last act was heroic,

but that is not what made him a hero.

The impact of losing Dom

There's still not a day that don't go

by that I don't think about him.

I truly miss the time that I had with him.

The moments. Our discussions.

And I'm never gonna get that back.

Neither will the rest of my staff.

We have a lot of memories,

and he left one huge legacy

that's never gonna be forgotten.

- Control.

- This is 24.

My understanding that an order

has already arrived with you.

- Is that affirmative?

- Hold on, I'll say the call sign.

369, can you send another copy?

He's gonna take that one.

You know, it was just a normal Thursday.

At that point in the morning,

I did not know what was gonna happen.

Because it could have been,

it could have been over that day.

The computer in my car alerted.

I looked at the call

and saw it said confirmed hold up.

The information we were given

was the suspects were leaving

in a black Honda Accord.

They were basically coming

right towards me.

Cap, I'm at Farrow and Clemson.

I'll try to catch up.

I've just made a left.

I think I see it.

When I heard the emergency tone,

my ears peeked up.

A bank robbery

is one of the most serious calls.

Not only would it carry penalties

within the state, but federally.

I wanted to be the one

to get behind the suspect.

I was within a minute and a half

to two minutes of making contact.

Clemson approaching Farrow.

As I got closer, it was a black

Honda Accord with a 45-day tag.

It's a bank robbery suspect,

they just robbed a bank.

They all are armed.

Okay, this is gonna be "chase them

till the wheels fall off."

Central 631, I'm behind

a dark in color Honda Accord.

It's a temporary tag ABF auto sales.

He's turning into Longwood.

Negative, he's turning left

onto Heathergreen.

Yeah, correction, right onto Heathergreen.

I began getting into a hunt mode.

We had our prey,

all we had to do is get them to stop.

That's one of the reasons I got into

law enforcement as well was--

I mean, got into it to drive fast.

Stop, we're making a right

in Corison Loop.

Corison Loop is lined with houses,

both sides,

every street off of Heathergreen

Drive ends up in a cul-de-sac.

So, obviously, I know that

and it's either gonna be them

running on foot or a shootout.

I had my seatbelt off,

my left hand was on the door handle,

my weapon was out of my holster.

We were both locked in on the vehicle.

I'm not only going after subjects,

I'm keeping an eye on my deputy.

And I'm gonna do

whatever I could to keep him safe.

Passing Caymus Court.

Making a left at the dead end.

I caught my mirror

and that's the first time

during this whole incident

that I knew somebody else with

the Sheriff's Department was with me.

I've known MacAdams

since before he was a deputy sheriff.

He's always been a very steadfast officer.

He's got the fighting spirit.

Correction, making a left.

Correct, making a left.

Something pulled me.

Don't know what it was.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

I saw windshield fragments go everywhere.

I had no idea how many times

my car was actually hit.

Shots fired! Shots fired!

I was able to hold the driver's door

open with my foot

and fully get down in my driver's seat.

I did feel the rounds hitting my car,

I could hear them still impacting

MacAdams' vehicle as well.

I don't necessarily remember feeling

any, being scared, being frightened.

It was more, "What do I need to do to

make sure I make it out of this?"

Shots fired! Shots fired!

Time slowed down.

My goal was, at that point,

to try and draw the fire

and keep it from MacAdams.

I was able to draw my weapon,

and I leveled up on one of

the passengers getting out

And I fired through my windshield.

I struck him twice in the leg.

I'm yelling to MacAdams

to make sure he's all right.

Cover my side! Cover my side!

Tactical gear. r*fle, r*fle.

We have three subjects at large.

MacAdams and I were only two deputies.

We had residents that had been home

starting to exit,

so containing the scene at that point

became the chief priority.

Once my mind caught up

to what had just happened,

it just felt like

I was gonna throw up everywhere.

Definitely was weak.

And I ended up trying to catch my

breath and calm down.

I remember asking if I could call my mom.

I just needed to talk to her.

As MacAdams and I

are returning back to our cars,

there's a bystander coming down the road

beeping the horn and saying,

"They fled, they fled,

they were in another vehicle."

Hey, partner, we just got flagged

down on the scene.

They're alleging they got into

another dark in color Honda Accord.

I knew everybody was coming.

Once you put out "shots fired"

over the radio,

everybody in the county's coming.

I remember talking with Captain Duke

and saying

how I wanted to go after them again

and that I should have been

the one chasing them the second time

because they just shot at us.

And just the definite mentality

of you just did that to me,

now I'm really going to get you.

You're not going to outrun me.

And Captain Duke said, no, besides

the fact that it's a crime scene,

he was like, "Ryan, they flattened

all four of your tires."

I was like, I can ride on rims.

I'll chase them down on rims.

After a few minutes,

I heard Deputy Kopenhaver

was directly behind the vehicle.

Bank robberies don't happen everyday

in Richland County or Columbia area.

They had been involved in a gunfight.

I can't think of anything more dangerous

than somebody's gonna sh**t it out

with the police.

We weren't gonna give up

till they were apprehended.

I'm up opposite the church.

Their speed was anywhere from

probably 85 to 100 miles an hour.

Those roads are not designed

for that kind of speed.

There's very little shoulder.

I figured the longer we let this go,

the more chances for a bad outcome.

All right, just passed the church

northbound Wilson.

Region 3, be advised

the vehicle is now passing.

Now into oncoming traffic.

He's run oncoming traffic off the

road, still northbound on Wilson.

A mom in her minivan, I believe

she had her children in the minivan,

was coming southbound.

This takes us to a different level.

All right Max, scratch it.

If I get a clean shot,

he's going in the ditch.

At that moment, I thought for sure

when he came around that semi truck

and I saw a van coming out,

I said, this is where it ends

and it's gonna end in a traffic

collision, and it's going to be bad.

If something happened to me,

I knew the ramifications

when I signed my name on the line

to be a sheriff's deputy.

That mom and her kids didn't.

This is gonna be one

of those scenarios like,

you know, we're just gonna bang him

in the ditch.

We're going to terminate this pursuit

as quickly as possible

because he was not concerned

about anybody else's safety.

I was even questioning

if he was concerned about his own.

The adrenaline factor

and the risk factor in this scenario

was probably the highest that I've

seen in my 25-year career.

I'm gonna send him to you on his mobile.

He forced me into the back end of him.

At that point it was like,

"Okay, all bets are off."

All right, I hit him once.

Stand by for a second shot.

They're moving fast.

They're moving fast.

Maxwell, get out.

Get out the way, Maxwell.

And I kind of shot him off

the side of the road,

and he hit a street sign and came back on.

By this point, his hood had popped up.

I was basically had a front row seat

to a catastrophe.

Still moving.

His hood is blocking his vision.

Still northbound on Wilson.

The fact that they showed total

disregard for anybody else's safety,

that was maybe one of three times

in my 25-year career,

where I actually got angry at a suspect.

Kop, when you hit him, stay down.

They were expecting

a second g*n battle to ensue.

He was driving completely blind.

His hood's up, he can't see.

My thought was, "We're gonna bring

this to a conclusion.

One form or another,

right here and now."

Pit him, Kop, now!

Clip him!

Two of the suspects flee out

the back passenger door,

into the trailer park.

The driver's still in the car.

Myself and Brad Maxwell,

took him out of the car at gunpoint

and placed him in handcuffs safely.

We had the other two in custody

in probably about 45 seconds.

When I searched the car

after we had all three in custody,

we found close to $10,000

in U.S. currency

that was stolen from the bank.

There was a MAC-11 and two handguns.

My car had been hit multiple times,

but the reality of everything,

of how quick it could have gone

a different way,

I guess the reality of that set in

when I looked at Captain Duke's car

and there was a b*llet hole

in like just about dead center

of his driver's seat headrest.

It definitely put things into perspective.

At the time, my son was only 9 months old

and realizing how close I'd come

to that line,

and it's assumed in our duty

that that's a possibility,

but whenever you're faced with it

really, it's a different sense,

especially that you know you came

that close, but you made it.

Later in the evening, after we got

released from headquarters,

my mom came over to the house.

I don't remember us saying anything.

She was just focused on being a mom

and worrying about me.

My name is Dawn MacAdams,

Ryan MacAdams is my son.

I saw a call come in from Ryan,

and I just let it go to voicemail.

Hey, Mom, before you see it

on the news, I'm okay.

Captain said I could call and tell

you that at least for now. Bye.

The following days,

I didn't really sleep that much.

It would play over in my head

over and over.

He coded on the way to the hospital.

They were

I realized that he really

was not coping well.

I could see it

in the way he was becoming detached.

I absolutely think

Ryan's life changed that day.

One of my first nights back,

I started stopping cars again.

And there was one that I was stopping

them for speeding.

I remember I turned the lights on

and, immediately, they stopped.

So, without thinking

I had my g*n out of my holster

pointed at the car,

and was getting out of my car with my

g*n pointed at the driver's door.

And then I sat there.

I was like, "What am I doing?"

Best way to describe it

would be post-traumatic stress.

So, at that point I figured

I should probably look into that.

I'm extremely proud of the way

MacAdams handled himself.

He showed that admitting this

didn't hinder your ability

to be a law enforcement officer.

People need to feel more comfortable

about their mental health.

It's okay to not be okay.

And it's okay to ask for help.

Words can't describe

how proud I am of him.

I'm definitely in a better place.