AmercianPoliceBeat

May 2009

Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/1731

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 45 of 79

46 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MAY 2009 Circle number 36 on the Reader Service Card. A c c o r d i n g t o Mike Prosperi, owner of the I m o ' s P i z z a near City Hall, everyone in Kirkwood (MO) knew Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton. "He always had a smile on his face," according to Mr. Prosperi, and "he was always saying, 'God bless you.'" But there was another side to Thornton. He was a regu- lar presence at City Council meetings and he was not there to listen quietly. A newspaper correspondent, Janet McNichols, who cov- ered those Council meet- ings, said Thornton would "come to the meeting and he'd have a big easel and a picture of a donkey on there and call the Council asses." He had twice been con- victed of disorderly conduct for disrupting Council meet- ings, and a federal judge had recently dismissed a lawsuit fi led by Thornton claiming that his free speech rights had been violated because he was prohibited from speaking out at meetings. Doug Vaughn, an acquain- tance of Thornton's, said, "He was more than a critic. It got to where he was show- ing up at every Council meeting and trying to domi- nate everything. He kind of lost his mind." On the evening of Febru- ary 7, 2008, Thornton left a note for his brother saying, "The truth will win in the end," and then he made his last trip to City Hall. Armed with a large-caliber revolver, he confronted 20-year police veteran William K. Biggs, Jr., outside of City Hall and opened fi re. After killing Ser- geant Biggs and stealing his weap- on, Thornton then burst into the City Council meeting where about 3 0 people had just re- cited the Pledge of Allegiance. His first target there was another Kirkwood police offi cer, Thomas Ball- man, 37, who was shot and killed before he could draw his weapon. Thornton then continued screaming and shooting. In the horror-fi lled moments that followed, three more city offi cials were killed, and two others were seriously injured, including Kirkwood Mayor Mike Swoboda, be- fore responding offi cers shot and killed Thornton. Sergeant Biggs' son, Bo, said of his father, "Some days he wore the uniform and other days he didn't, but he was always a police of- fi cer . . . if someone needed help he was there." A former police dispatcher described Tom Ballman as a man who "exercised in- tegrity in everything he did. There are just certain people you feel are the best of the best." Sergeant Biggs and Of- fi cer Ballman were two of the 133 federal, state and local law enforcement of- fi cers killed in communities across America last year. All of their names will be offi - cially added to the National Law Enforcement Offi cers Memorial in Washington, D.C., at the annual Memo- rial candlelight vigil on May 13. When those names are added, along with 255 new- ly discovered line-of-duty deaths from earlier years, there will be 18,662 names inscribed on the Memorial walls. While the personal trag- edies behind each and every one of those names can never be diminished, there was one glimmer of good news hidden in the fatality figures from 2008; fewer law enforcement lives were lost in 2008 than in any year since 1960, when 127 offi cers made the ultimate sacrifi ce. For the 11th straight year, traffic-related incidents claimed the lives of more offi cers, 71, than any other cause of death. Forty-four of those offi cers died in au- tomobile crashes, 18 were struck and killed by vehicles and nine died in motorcycle crashes. Among that latter group was Dallas Police Corporal Victor Antonio Lozada, Sr., who was killed in a motorcycle crash on February 22 while escorting Presidential candidate Hill- ary Clinton's motorcade. Corporal Lozada was also one of 14 Texas law enforce- ment fatalities last year, the most for any state. Thirty-nine offi - cers were killed by gunfi re, which was the lowest number of firearms-relat- ed fatalities since 1956, when 35 offi cers were shot and killed. Among the other causes of death, 13 died of job-related illnesses, two were killed in a helicopter crash, two died in a bomb explosion, one was killed in an airplane crash, one officer was beaten to death, one offi cer drowned, one was electrocuted, one was stabbed to death, and one offi cer was killed in a train crash. On average, the offi cers Fewer law enforcement lives were lost in 2008 than in any year since 1960, when 127 offi cers made the ultimate sacrifi ce. Fewer deaths provide little comfort for the loved ones left behind Continued on next page POLICE WEEK 2009 n o b b i R e g d a B l a i r o m e M l a n i g i r O e h t l l i t S ® ® r e k c i t S R E I F I T N E D I N O I T A C I F I T R E C R U O Y F O Y P O C A E S O L C N E T S U M U O Y _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : d e s o l c n E t n u o m A . g n i p p i h S r o f 3 $ d d A . 0 1 $ r e d r O m u m i n i M a e / 8 $ G A T E S N E C I L _ _ _ _ a e / 4 $ N O B B I R E G D A B L A I R O M E M _ _ _ _ a e / 5 $ R A B N O I T A T I C _ _ _ _ a e / 4 $ ) n i P l e p a L ( R E I F I T N E D I _ _ _ _ a e / 5 $ H C T A P D E R E D I O R B M E _ _ _ _ a e / 4 $ ) r e k c i t S l a c e D ( R E I F I T N E D I _ _ _ _ y t i t n a u Q y t i t n a u Q . D . I r o n o i t a c i f i t r e c y m d e s o l c n e e v ' I . s t c u d o r p R E I F I T N E D I y m e m h s u r e s a e l P ! s e Y _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : e n o h P _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ P I Z _ _ _ e t a t S _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : y t i C _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : s s e r d d A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ y c n e g A / t p e D _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : e l t i T _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ : e m a N Ͳ ʹ ͬ ͬ ͯ A G , n i a t n u o M e n o t S , Ͳ ͯ ͱ ͭ x o B . O . P , s n o i t c u d o r P e n i L e u l B

Articles in this issue

view archives of AmercianPoliceBeat - May 2009