Harris County (TX) Deputy Constable Fatally Run Over During Traffic Stop

**ManImBored** · 10-02-07, 08:22 AM

I REALLY HATE POSTING THESE

HOUSTON -- A Harris County Precinct 5 deputy constable died after he was run over during a traffic stop, KPRC Local 2 reported.Investigators said Deputy Constable Jason Norling, 38, a motorcycle deputy, stopped a driver on suspicion of a traffic violation in the eastbound lanes of the Westpark Tollway near Gessner Road at about 10:20 a.m. Monday. Norling's motorcycle was parked directly behind the vehicle that was pulled over. "He was standing up next to the window of the violator he had stopped when he was hit by another vehicle," said Capt. Terry Thurman with Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office.A driver in a sport utility vehicle hit Norling's motorcycle and then the deputy as he passed by, officials said. The driver stopped at the scene. Norling was giving the first driver his license back when the accident occurred. Norling was rushed to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:30 p.m. He had been with Precinct 5 for eight years, officials said, and a motorcycle officer for five. Norling's brother also works for Precinct 5 in the Warrants Division.

Investigators said the driver faces charges of failure to move over to a lane for a police officer, which could be upgraded to negligent homicide with a motor vehicle. The motorist was reportedly distracted by something before striking the deputy, but officials did not elaborate.Norling leaves behind a wife and a brotherhood of fellow officers."Most police departments are a brotherhood -- close knit. And when something like this happens, we get a little closer," said Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Phil Camus. "There's a period you get kind of numb and it doesn't sink in. That numbness will go away, but the sadness will be with us for a long time."A new state law requires motorists to switch lanes when they see an emergency vehicle along the side of the road. If they cannot switch lanes, they should slow down 20 miles below the speed limit. But that apparently did not happen this time, according to authorities.

Interview with the wife:

Deputy's wife knew dangers of her husband's job
'You can't control the foolish things that other people do'
By SARAH VIREN

Lisa Dawn Norling answered her cell phone smiling Monday morning. At work, she saw her husband's number on the caller ID.
"Hey baby," she recalled saying in a chipper voice. But the voice on the other line was not her husband's. There was a woman on the other line. She said there had been an accident and her husband, Jason Norling, a Precinct 5 deputy constable, was at the hospital.

"I just broke down," Lisa Norling said late Monday evening from the couple's northwest Houston home. "I thought it was an awful joke."

When she arrived at Memorial Hermann Hospital, doctors were already operating on her 38-year-old husband. Less than two hours later he was gone.

"He was all covered up," Norling said. "I touched his hand and that was it."

Lisa Norling said she'd long understood the dangers of her husband's job. He rode a motorcycle, gave tickets on busy highways. But something about his competence, his dedication to safety had always set her at ease.

"I never worried about him because I knew he would never do anything foolish," she said. "But you can't control the foolish things that other people do."

On Monday, police say her husband suffered fatal injuries after being struck while on a traffic stop on the Westpark Tollway. Authorities say the driver of the sport utility vehicle that hit her husband may have been talking on a cell phone at the time of the crash. The accident is under investigation.

Late Monday, the grieving widow shared the story of meeting her husband for the first time at a restaurant in 1995. It was love at first sight, she said. They married two years later. Jason Norling was fresh from the academy, ready for police work. She was drawn to his protective spirit, his honesty, his integrity.
"He wanted to be a police officer to make the world a better place," she said.

In their first years together, Jason Norling worked for the Hempstead Police Department. Eight years ago he took a job as a deputy constable in the 5th Precinct, where his brother Ty is a sergeant.

This year, the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, Lisa Norling turned 40 and they decided, after waiting for many years, to start trying to have kids.
"I said this will be my best year with him, and instead it's a nightmare," she said.