Three Central Oregon Cops Killed ?

[wolfhound227]

The Night before last, a report came over the news about three Central Oregon cops being killed by a semi-truck as they stood along the road near a traffic stop.

Usually Swat 1 is on top of this stuff. Does anybody have more info?

[Swat1]

You are parially correct; An OSP Senior Trooper and an Albany, OR Police Officer were killed and an OSP Sergeant is in grave critical condition after being struck by a pickup truck along I-5 near Salem.

Based on what I know right now Sgt. Burright's condition is extremely grave and he will probably not survive. Here is the article below. I hope to attend the funeral services for Trooper Mignano on Saturday, services for officer Hoerauf have not been announced. If anyone wishes to send anything to OSP or Albany Police I will be glad to facilitate that with a direct address or you can send it through me. Contact me by email.

Swat1*


OFFICERS MOURN LOSS

09/06/01

BRYAN DENSON,
CHERYL MARTINIS and MAXINE BERNSTEIN

With his broken-down van hunkered along the shoulder of Interstate 5 Tuesday night, Mike Howell stood outside the passenger door, trying to settle down the four children inside.

Nearby, two Oregon State Police troopers and an off-duty Albany officer were standing in the grassy roadside, discussing how best to get Howell, his wife and the children to a motel or friend's house.

Suddenly, something hit Howell, knocking the wind from him and nearly taking him off his feet.

A pickup had veered off the interstate, clipped one of the troopers' patrol vehicles and smashed into the three officers, before crashing into a dirt embankment off the roadway.

"I didn't know what hit me," Howell, 51, said Wednesday.

In shock, he turned, looked down and saw the officers on the ground.

"I was thunderstruck," Howell said. "I couldn't believe this was happening. These people, they'd come here to help us."

The pickup killed two of the officers -- Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Maria Mignano, 39, and off-duty Albany police officer Jason Alan Hoerauf, 29, who was there on a ride-along with the third officer, Sgt. John Burright, 41. Burright remained in critical condition Wednesday at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center in Portland. He was in a coma with head and chest injuries and broken bones, including multiple fractures in both legs.

Mignano, who was known for her avid pursuit of drunken drivers, became the first woman trooper to die in the line of duty and the third OSP officer to be struck by a driver while standing outside a patrol vehicle near a highway. She is the 27th trooper to die either on duty or while performing lifesaving efforts.

The driver of the pickup, 19-year-old Jacob Todoriko of Salem, had minor injuries and was released from a Salem hospital Tuesday night. He has not been charged pending an investigation, police said.

On Wednesday, police were still trying to understand what happened. And they wouldn't say much about what they knew. They would only say that alcohol was not a factor. But they wouldn't speculate about other scenarios, including whether the pickup malfunctioned or the driver fell asleep.

Todoriko and his family declined to talk about the accident Wednesday. The young man had attended a church camp before the crash, then stopped in at Oregon State University, where he is a second-year freshman, according to Gregg A. Sneller, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Salem and a spokesman for Todoriko's family. When the crash happened, he was on his way home Tuesday from OSU to return a car he had used back to his parent's house, Sneller said.

According to state vehicle records, Todoriko's driver's license was suspended 10 months ago when he failed to report a July 2000 accident he was involved in. The license was still suspended as of Wednesday, state officials said.

Marion County District Attorney Dale Penn said it may be several weeks before all the investigative reports are completed and he decides what charges, if any, Todoriko would face.

"The hearts and spirits of the men and women of Oregon State Police were broken last night," OSP Superintendent Ronald C. Ruecker said.

"The State of Oregon lost two outstanding individuals," Albany Assistant Chief Don O'Malley said.

The tragic accident began with a simple roadside problem.

Mike and Celeste Howell, who live in Tacoma, were returning from a trip to the Oregon coast when their 1984 Ford Clubwagon broke down by the side of the road near the Ankeny Hill overpass, about eight miles south of Salem. They'd gone to the coast with their son, Jaremy, his girlfriend, and her four small children -- ages 7, 5, 3 and three months. But Jaremy's girlfriend hurt her back, and she and Jaremy returned home. The Howells agreed to bring the children back with them.

Burright and Hoerauf responded to the call shortly before 7 p.m. The officers were making plans to get the Howells a tow truck when Mignano also responded, parking her patrol car behind Burright's marked Ford Expedition patrol vehicle, making a row of three vehicles along the roadside, said OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings.

The officers parked well away from traffic lanes and were standing on the passenger side of the Expedition and the patrol car so that the vehicles were between them and the two northbound lanes of traffic, Hastings said.

Minutes after Mignano arrived, the 1995 Nissan pickup driven by Todoriko veered onto the shoulder, clipped the right rear bumper of Mignano's car and continued along the right of the parked vehicles, mowing down the officers, authorities said.

Shards of glass, perhaps from a mirror, showered the Howells' legs. Mike Howell's left leg required a stitch at nearby Salem Hospital, and Celeste Howell's legs had minor cuts, Mike Howell said. The children were unharmed inside the van. Motorists quickly stopped to lend a hand, Howell said.

Investigators worked at the scene until 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, when the northbound lanes reopened to traffic. Autopsies completed Wednesday at the Oregon Medical Examiner's Office showed that both officers died instantly of blunt-impact injuries, Dr. Nikolas Hartshorne said.

Memorial services for Mignano are planned for Saturday at 1 p.m. at the National Guard Armory at the state fairgrounds in Salem. No services had yet been set for Hoerauf.

Hoerauf had been a reserve officer for seven years before being hired in Albany last November. "His lifelong dream was to be a police officer," O'Malley said.

On Wednesday, some state police who work in divisions outside of patrol came in to work the roads to relieve patrol officers for a day.

"Some officers uniformed up to relieve the patrol people today so they'd have an opportunity to debrief," state police Detective Monte Smith said. "They're giving their fellow officers just a chance to take a breath and regroup."

The troopers first got to know Mignano when she worked in admissions at Salem Hospital. State police troopers then recruited Mignano.

"Troopers would go in there to take breaks," state police Sgt. Mike Peterson said. "I got to know Maria and talked to her about the agency."

Ruecker met with two of Mignano's sisters in the Salem area about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and then returned to Emanuel by 3:15 p.m. to join Burright's brother, Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright.

"There's tough days ahead, but we hope and pray for John to recover," Ruecker said.

Eight days before the accident, Ruecker said, he addressed a group of troopers in Salem and recalled talking about the dangers of the job.

"One of the things I'd been talking about was just the fact that our day-to-day business is dangerous," Ruecker recalled. "Our people do it. They come to work knowing there's risks involved. That's who our people are. But even though we know there are risks, we don't ever think something like this is going to happen."

"In my career, I can't remember any similar circumstances -- to have this kind of a tragedy involving so many people," Ruecker said.

Ruecker said he stood on the state Capitol steps on Aug. 1 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Oregon State Police. During the ceremony, the names of the 26 state police officers who had been killed in the line of duty were read aloud.

"As soon as it was over, I remembered thinking, 'We hope and pray there will never be any more names,' " Ruecker said. "I certainly didn't expect to add another name to the list some 30 days later."

Gov. John Kitzhaber ordered that state and federal flags be flown at half-staff Wednesday, and troopers covered their badges with black ribbons. Inara Verzemnieks of The Oregonian staff, and researchers Lovelle Svart and Gail Hulden contributed to this report.

Inara Verzemnieks of The Oregonian staff, and researchers Lovelle Svart and Gail Hulden contributed to this report.

[Superpopanz]

Those fucking stupid, bumptious and incompetent drivers "drive" me mad. http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/angryfire.gif Sometimes i just think they should be charged with murder and get their bones smashed. We have the same BS over here in Germany, and in 80 % of all cases the drivers who smashed into police/emergency cars and personnel did gravely break the traffic rules....

[RogueExec]

What about the driver of the vehicle that hit them? What's his/her status?

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"Don't let 'em piss on your leg and tell you it's raining."

[Swat1]

As of today, no charges are expected. Alcohol nor drugs were a factor, it looks like the driver fell asleep at the wheel. All indications are this is a real good kid. Yes, his license was suspended, however, it doesn't appear he had any criminal record, nor was a problem kid. His license was suspended for not reporting an accident. So as far as suspensions go, that is a minor one and really an administrative thing. It sucks to lose three officers in a situation like this where there is really no bad guy to go after and get some sense of justice.

Swat1*

[RogueExec]

Originally posted by Swat1:
It sucks to lose three officers in a situation like this where there is really no bad guy to go after and get some sense of justice.

Swat1*

Indeed. At least when it's vehicular manslaughter, the families know that some form of justice is going to help with their ordeal. In this case, they can only sit back and ask, "Why?".