Last Thursday, an Oak Hill, North Carolina couple was murdered and their home set on fire. Police believe Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife Dora, 62, were chosen randomly by the attackers, Edward Campbell, 54, and his son Eric, 21.
Later in the day, two Lewisburg, West Virginia police officers on routine patrol noticed that an SUV matched the description of a vehicle stolen in North Carolina. They made what they may have thought was a routine stop.
The driver of a pick-up truck pulled over at the same time the police stopped the SUV. It turned out that Edward Campbell was driving the pick-up and his son was in the SUV. Edward Campbell opened fire, striking both officers–Lt. Jeromy Dove and patrolman Nicholas Sams. Police returned fire, wounding Edward Campbell.
Lewisburg police chief Tim Stover told Metronews the officers suffered only minor injuries, probably because they were wearing bulletproof vests. They’ve been released from the hospital and Chief Stover says they’re doing well and in good spirits.
The ordeal was quite an introduction for patrolman Sams. He graduated from the police academy just two weeks earlier.
The police have been taking a lot of criticism lately because of tragic incidents in Ferguson, Staten Island and Cleveland. The country has engaged in an emotional debate over the use of deadly force.
The episode in Lewisburg last week, however, serves as an important reminder of the dangers of wearing a badge. It’s cliché perhaps, but true; police put their lives on the line every day. Even in normally sleepy Lewisburg, the police cannot assume that they won’t run into a serious threat while carrying out their responsibilities.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 126 police officers died in the line of duty in this country last year; 50 of them were shot to death, compared with 32 deaths by gunfire the previous year. Last month, New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were targeted and assassinated simply because they were wearing badges.
What if Dove and Sams had not stopped that SUV? Would the Campbells have taken more innocent lives? What if Dove and Sams had not been wearing bulletproof vests or Edward Campbell had aimed for the head? Would the officers have been the first tragic statistics of 2015 of officers killed in the line of duty?
No, the cops aren’t perfect, but they are the Thin Blue Line that stands between order and chaos, between peaceful citizens and criminals. We value our freedom in this country, but you can’t have freedom without the rule of law, and the first line of enforcement of our laws is the police.