ssd – Deputy Matt & Others Who Serve

Yet Another Murdered Coworker – I Think I’m Done

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.

Deputy Killed After Putting Himself Between AK Toting Felon and Fellow Officers

In my position here with this blog and with my Facebook page, I sometimes become privy to official information before it is released via official routes. That is exactly what has happened in the case of the murder of Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputy Bob French. The original, official versions of the incident in which Bob was killed left a lot to be desired. There were inconsistencies and blatantly erroneous information in the official versions, leaving those with intimate knowledge of the case extremely frustrated. To many folks who knew the full story, it felt as if the department was hiding the truth.

Come to find out, there were a couple of completely erroneous rumors floating around the department regarding the incident and management was trying to get all their ducks in a row, evidence wise, so that they could dispel all of those rumors at the same time that they released the full story about how heroically Bob acted that day, and heroic he was.

What follows is a Readers Digest version of what transpired that day. Not having access to the actual evidence, what follows is what I have been told by a number of sources who have had direct access to the evidence, and directly from those who were at the scene. There may be some minor discrepancies, but the overall picture should be accurate.

Detectives were going to contact the hotel room related to an earlier stolen vehicle. The room was supposed to be unoccupied, with only some physical evidence inside to be recovered. Deputy Bob French was one of the deputies on that call. Bob was in his car and was positioned two businesses to the east. He was the only cop in a car at the time, and was in position in case one of the stolen vehicle suspects who might possibly be at the hotel, made it to a car and fled.

As detectives attempted to enter the supposedly empty hotel room, the suspect inside, a man who would have been in prison were it not for AB-109, opened fire with a handgun through the hotel room door and walls, striking two CHP officers, injuring one seriously and the other not quite as bad. The injured CHP officers and one other Sacramento Deputy fled to the stairwell and began to head to the parking lot to be evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment. All of this was broadcast via the radio, and additional resources began heading to the scene, including Bob.

At that time, the suspect in the room, who was now armed with a folding stock AK (which is not a “high powered” rifle as has been reported to the media), started to flee out the back of the room onto the balcony. One solo Sacramento County deputy was on the back side of the hotel at that time, and due to the ongoing investigation, his name is being withheld. That deputy, who was armed only with his handgun, engaged the suspect in a firefight that lasted more than 60 seconds. The deputy was miraculously not hit, but everything around him was shredded by the incoming rounds fired by the suspect. The suspect, realizing the deputy was not going to disengage, managed to get to the ground and fled east, the same direction the other deputy went as he evacuated the two wounded CHP officers.

Let me just say this right here, that unnamed deputy who was by himself on the rear of the hotel, that man is a big damn hero!

While that firefight was occurring, Bob had driven his car from the location down the street to the front of the hotel. As he parked, the deputy and two wounded CHP officers exited the building and ran toward Bob. As they reached Bob’s car, one of the wounded officers started to get into the rear seat of his car. Bob told them to head to the evacuating deputy’s car which was a few feet away so that Bob could watch their backs.

As they ran from Bob’s car to the other car a few feet away, the suspect emerged from the same location from whence the injured cops had just come. As he exited, he saw the cops and immediately engaged them with his AK. Bob stepped forward and returned the favor with his AR, causing the suspect to slow and redirect his fire, at Bob. Bob continued engaging the suspect in a firefight for a short while, as Bob used the rear corner of his patrol vehicle as cover. During this time, the deputy who evacuated the wounded CHP officers sped off to the hospital with the more serious of the wounded cops.

Other units arrived and also engaged the suspect. One of these responding units was positioned behind Bob and perfectly captured the ensuing firefight on the in-car camera system.

During the gun battle, one of the suspect’s rounds hit the window of Bob’s car and ricocheted, sending a large fragment of the bullet into Bob’s shoulder, between the top edges of the vest panels. That bullet fragment somehow missed all of the bones and went directly to Bob’s heart, entering his left ventricle. I have been told that even if a trauma surgeon was on scene and started working on Bob at this point, Bob would not have made it.

That fact did not stop Bob though. He shook it off, likely not realizing how badly he was injured, and reengaged the suspect who was just getting into a car at this time. As the suspect fled through the parking lot, he continued firing his weapon at the cops, and the cops present, including Bob, did the same in return. (The suspect later died from the wounds he received during this gun battle.)

Once the suspect left the parking lot, Bob walked back up to the front of his car. It is at this point that it appears, at least from the video, that Bob realizes he is seriously injured. Bob, being the calm, seasoned cop that he was, dropped the magazine out of his rifle, cleared the chamber and returned the rifle to the gun lock in his car. He sat down, then fell to the pavement.

At this time, one of the deputies on scene ran to him. In typical, calm Bob fashion, with his chew still in his cheek, Bob provided a suspect and suspect vehicle description. As he laid on the ground waiting for medical help to arrive, again in typical Bob fashion, he told one of the cops there with him “hurry up and move me, the Goddam asphalt is hot.”

I’m told Bob was talking up to the end, and only spit his chew out once he was in the ambulance. Bob, being the tough bastard he was, lived for 10 minutes after receiving a non-survivable wound.

Between Bob and the unnamed deputy on the back side of the hotel, those two men almost assuredly saved the lives of the two CHP wounded officers and the deputy who was evacuating them. Bob died a huge hero. Bob’s story deserves to be told. His heroism must be known.

Bob, thank you for your service and your sacrifice. We have the watch from here. Rest in peace brother.

* This recounting of the events is in no way meant to downplay the actions of any of the involved officers. From what I have been told, there were a number of heroic actions performed that day, by a number of different people, up to and including the firefighters who tirelessly tried to save Bob. I’ve been told that the professionalism displayed at this incident, especially considering the circumstances, was awe inspiring.

F–king Tired Of Burying Coworkers

Today, a man I have known for 22 years, a man with whom I attended the academy, a man who was a father, a grandfather, a slightly goofy, cowboy boot wearing, chew spitting, lifted truck driving, well intentioned country bumpkin was murdered while doing his job, because he was doing his job. He was shot in the back by a worthless piece of shit who had just shot two other cops, because they too were doing their jobs.

Bob and I were not close. He and I had different interests, worked different shifts, and had a different way of doing things. We did not always see eye to eye, but we always got along at work. Even if we did not agree on something, we were always polite to one another. I’m going to miss him, more than I ever thought I would.

This is the eighth (8^th) coworker from my department I have had to bury during my career. I’ve come very close to burying several others, but by the grace of God, they are still with us, although some of them were forced to leave the job due to the extent of their injuries. Countless others have left the job due to debilitating injuries, both physical and emotional.

This job is a destroyer. It directly takes the lives of an average of 150 people every year, and those are just the people who die on the job. That does not account for those who leave the job because they are broken, either physically or mentally. That also does not include the 300 cops who take their own lives every single year. A very close friend of mine was almost part of that last statistic, but thankfully he is not only still here with us, but he sought help and even though he has left the job, he does what he can to teach others about what can happen to us that leads us down that path.

Beyond the deaths and physical injuries, this job destroys marriages, family lives and social lives. If you let it, it will take everything from you.

What thanks do we get for following this noble calling? There are organizations dedicated specifically to hating us. There are lawyers whose careers are spent suing us. We are called racists, no matter what race we are. We are called pigs, because we dare enforce laws enacted by the very people elected by those calling us pigs. We are called murderers by the families of felons, who given the chance, would have killed us instead. We are portrayed as evil humans by the media and politicians. Every single split-second action of ours is second guessed, under a microscope, for months and years.

We endure this all for a salary that, even in the best of situations, puts one in the middle class, but in most places, leaves one looking for a second job just to make ends meet.

Today, I find myself really pondering why I am still doing this. I know I am not alone.

In a few days, I will put on my dress uniform, join thousands of other officers at a church, and bury yet another coworker.

This society as a whole takes us cops for granted. While a news story about a murdered cop gets headlines, to most who see that headline, the thought of the cop’s loss vaporizes as they turn the page or click the next link. While my coworkers and I will never forget his name, most of the society he protected daily has already forgotten it.

This shit is beyond old.

I’m sick and fucking tired of burying coworkers.

We have the watch from here, bro. Thank you for your service. May you rest in peace.

This was originally posted as a submission by an anonymous source, but I actually wrote this. I had to attribute it to someone else at the time because as an actively employed deputy, I was prohibited from identifying my department due to policy. Now that I am retired I no longer need to hide my identity.
-Matt