The following was written by the same Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputy who wrote the post about Bob French’s murder.
Why in the hell is my cell phone blowing up with text messages?
Shit, this many texts in this short a time, this can’t be good…
FUCK!!!! Gawd dammit, not again!!!! How in the hell is this possible?
Another coworker murdered while doing his job!
Just 18 days ago was the one year anniversary of Bob’s murder, and now, again, here I sit listening to the radio traffic from the scene of the murder of yet another coworker, while wearing a memorial T-shirt commemorating the loss of two other coworkers.
I sit here feeling helpless, useless, hopeless, occupied by my own depressing thoughts and memories, of the losses of so many other coworkers. Some I knew well, others I knew not at all.
Oh, how I long to be at the scene, to be involved in making this thing right in some small way. Because if I was there, busy, doing something, anything, I would not be sitting here, thinking about, remembering all the other times I have felt this indescribable, inexplicable feeling of loss.
This time, I did not even know the man. Despite that, despite not knowing him, he was my brother. He wore the same uniform as me, the same badge, swore the same oath to protect the same city as me.
I have since learned from coworkers who knew Mark Stasyuk that he was well liked, a hard worker, young, early in his career, new to patrol, and very sadly, just recently married. This is ripping my freaking heart out!
Most people who are not in this line of work would assume that not knowing the man would make this easier. They would be wrong. Honestly, it makes very little difference.
Knowing the officer killed is only a small part of the loss we feel. I cannot help but think about his partner and what she is going through right now. Even though they were both shot, she performed CPR on her mortally wounded partner. His poor family, who still does not even know, will soon receive the most devastating news a young wife could ever imagine receiving.
So here I sit, at home, listening to the radio, with a big drink, unsuccessfully trying to take the edge off, thinking about all of the other coworkers I have buried during my career. Cops I know from other agencies, some from other states even, doing what we all do when something like this happens, offering sincere condolences and offers to help in whatever manner they can. But in reality, there is nothing they can do. They can’t turn back time, they can’t bring the officer back, and as the days pass, most of us will process this loss in our own ways and we will be okay.
My biggest worry is his partner. I know her only slightly. She struck me as a very squared away young cop, the type who is going to second guess the holy hell out of herself. Nothing we can say will stop her from doing that, and none of the hypothetical scenarios she will run through in her head will change what happened.
I read the call they responded to. It is a call our agency goes to a dozen times a day. It was a call I have handled by myself, solo, more than once.
But it wasn’t. Because even though all the calls are similar, they are never exactly the same. In this case, the bad guy had a gun and he chose to do bad guy shit, and he shot both of the cops who were sent to deal with his dumb ass.
Even though I read the call, I did not look at any of the suspect information. I only know that the suspect was male, and that he is in custody.
I will however take a wild ass guess about some things we are likely to learn about the suspect. He will have prior arrests, probably lots of them. Many will be for less serious crimes, like trespassing or public intoxication, but then there will be others, crimes that used to be considered serious crimes, crimes that used to be felonies. I suspect we will find weapons charges, possibly even gun charges, and likely there will be assault charges. Probably even some convictions, even recent convictions.
His laundry list of charges (or those I suspect we will learn about), in any other SANE state would have had him currently residing in a government run, full service board and care home (prison). But here in California, where our insane liberal lawmakers and most of the Democrat party say it is mean to punish convicts for their crimes, so we just release them, because that is the “humanitarian” thing to do…
So, you ask, why do I guess we might hear all that about the suspect? Because that is what we always find out. History tells me those things. Hell, out of the last 15 cops shot and killed in California, that is the background of at least half of their murderers.
Add to that, current legislation that is being pushed by liberal politicians (Kevin McCarty and Shirley Weber) who want to make it even more difficult for cops to protect themselves in deadly force situations, because to them, cops are the bad guys.
The same liberal politicians who are responsible for the legislation that lead to Bob’s murder.
So here I sit, seriously considering walking in tomorrow and pulling the plug.
I’ve had it.
Fuck this state!
The people running this state value their elected positions, and the votes that keep them there, more than they do the citizens they represent or the cops who keep them all safe.
I’ve given this state enough of me. I’ve given it my best, for a long time, and I nearly have given it my life, on more than one occasion.
During my career, ten of my coworkers have given their lives for this county.
Of those ten, six were murdered.
And that is JUST my agency, during my career.
Yes, I realize there are many, many folks out there who support us. We see them after every single incident like this. We see their thin blue line flags and stickers. We know we have a lot of support.
But sadly, those who support us are outnumbered by those who vote for the politicians responsible for the legislation that is killing us.
I don’t know if I can continue doing this.
I’m sure I am not alone.
Rest in peace, Mark.
Thank you for your service.
Hopefully, for society’s sake, someone will have the watch from here.