Colorado Springs Officer Shot on Traffic Stop
:( :mad: PLEASE, everyone be careful out there, even on "routine" DUI stops. This story is just too terrible for words. Prayers to the officer and his family. Name isn't released yet.
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COLORADO SPRINGS - A Sand Creek Division officer died Monday night after being shot during a traffic stop.
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A Colorado Springs police officer died shortly after midnight after being shot by a suspect during a traffic stop. 9NEWS 5 a.m. December 5, 2006.
Just after 11 p.m. Monday, Sand Creek Division Officers conducted a traffic stop when they suspected the driver to be under the influence in the 4400 block of East Fountain Blvd.
9NEWS spoke with Sergeant Mark Stevens of the Colorado Springs Police Department. He told 9NEWS, "Two of the officers approached the car to evaluate the driver and the driver produced a handgun and started shooting at the officers."
Stevens added, "One officer was struck and went down. The other officers responded and exchanged gunfire. The suspect was hit and he went down."
According to police, both the officers and the suspect were taken to Memorial Hospital.
The officer, whose name is not being released at this time, died shortly after midnight at Memorial.
The driver, whose name was also not released, is in critical condition and is expected to survive.
Additional officers involved have been put on administrative leave which is a common practice after deadly force situations.
The District Attorney's office and the Colorado Springs Police Department's Major Crimes Unit will continue their investigation.
Fountain Boulevard remains closed at the scene while the investigation continues into daylight. Officials also hope to obtain aerials of the scene by using a helicopter.
This is the second officer shooting death in the past year for Colorado Springs.
Officer Jared Jensen was shot and killed in February while trying to make an arrest.
Detective Jensen was working with other officers to find Jereme Lamberth who was wanted for the Feb. 2 stabbing of his sister. Jensen was shot in the head by Lamberth who was eventually caught.
Prior to Jensen's death a Colorado Springs police officer had not died in the line of duty since 1982. That year, Officer Mark Dabling was walking to his car during a traffic stop when the driver of the stopped car shot him in the back.
Stevens commented on this being the second death in a year saying, "This is a bad year . . . two officer deaths is just unheard of."
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?O...7-c589c01ca7bf
