Very sad news in NE Ohio this morning...

Officer Joshua Miktarian, 33, was gunned down by a 23 year old suspect during a traffic stop at 2am EST on 7/13/2008 in the Cleveland suburb of Twinsburg

http://www.myfoxcleveland.com/myfox/...EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1


Officer Miktarian is a K-9 officer and is the father of a 3 year old daughter.

My thoughts and prayers are with Officer's Miktarian's family, friends and fellow officers

RIP Officer Miktarian   

I hope that piece of scum gets life for the good life he took. My thoughts and prayers go to the family and to the police department as well. My he RIP. So sad when he had a good life to look forward too with his daughter.

Hunter

The officer had a 3-month old baby. What a horrible waste. And the guy shot him on a traffic stop for DUI and overtly loud music coming out of the car, according to Cleveland.com.

Thoughts and prayer with his wife and child. May the child grow up knowing her father was, from all accounts, a fine man. May he rest in peace.

FYI
Here is a list 2007 Deaths broken down my cause.

Total Line of Duty Deaths: 179

9/11 related illness: 5
Accidental: 3
Aircraft accident: 3
Animal related: 1
Automobile accident: 47
Boating accident: 1
Bomb: 5
Drowned: 3
Exposure to toxins: 1
Fall: 2
Gunfire: 63
Gunfire (Accidental): 4
Heart attack: 7
Heat exhaustion: 1
Motorcycle accident: 5
Struck by vehicle: 9
Vehicle pursuit: 6
Vehicular assault: 11
Weather/Natural disaster: 2

Average tour: 10 years, 7 months

Average age: 38

By Gender:
Female: 8
Male: 171

Officer Down Memorial Page (with picture)

Officer Joshua Miktarian was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop on Glenwood Drive at approximately 2:00 am.

Approximately two minutes after making the initial stop he radioed for assistance. Dispatchers then received several 911 calls reporting gunshots. Responding officers located Officer Miktarian. He was flown to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

End of Watch: Sunday, July 13, 2008.   

Eerily similar to an event last year that took an acquaintance...

Quoting TylerDurden (Reply 3): Gunfire: 63

Almost the same time, almost the same circumstances, and within a few weeks to the year later. I can still hear the bagpipes...  

Quoting KFLLCFII (Reply 4): Gunfire: 63

Always sad, but law enforcement is not really a very deadly job---which used to bewilder me...
Over 40% of occupational deaths each year are in farming.....and over 25% in mining. Construction, trucking, timber cutting, and fishing round out the top five.....

One of my local cops became the 27th police officer to be killed in the line of duty in New Zealand on Friday morning. He was struck by a stolen vehicle while putting down stinger spikes.

http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/4112.html

Quoting MCOflyer (Reply 1): I hope that piece of scum gets life for the good life he took. My thoughts and prayers go to the family and to the police department as well. My he RIP. So sad when he had a good life to look forward too with his daughter.

Screw this. Fry the bastard. Give him proper trial by jury, but he should be executed. It has nothing to do with punishment, retribution, or even deterrence. There's simply no place for this person in society and therefore no need to waste tax dollars supporting the perp. It's simple pragmatism.

  Man that's so sad. Such a shame, with a wife, and a three year old. May he rest in peace. Thoughts with his family and friends. I can only pray they will somehow get through this.   

Best wishes to all cops to stay safe out there.

Dave

Quoting DavestanKSAN (Reply 8): and a three year old.

Actually, the daughter is 3 months old... not 3 years old like i had mentioned in my first post...

I'll be going to the candle light vigil tonight at 9pm

   RIP

The officer lived in Tallmadge, an Akron suburb just south of where I live. Today when I was out shopping I saw two sherriff's deputies who were wearing black bands on their badges. I don't know whether they were Portage County (where I live and within which the store is located) or Summit County (Tallmadge's county) but they were certainly showing solidarity. It chokes me up when I see that.

The alleged murderer apparently holds a valid handgun license. That's still no excuse to use the gun the way he did.

This is the fourth LOD death in the Cleveland area in two years - one car accident and three shootings.

Quoting N328KF (Reply 7): Screw this. Fry the bastard. Give him proper trial by jury, but he should be executed. It has nothing to do with punishment, retribution, or even deterrence. There's simply no place for this person in society and therefore no need to waste tax dollars supporting the perp. It's simple pragmatism.

The guy obviously has no respect for laws. Killed someone trying to enforce the law. I agree. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Firing squad is a perfect match for cop killers.

Quoting Redngold (Reply 10): The officer lived in Tallmadge, an Akron suburb just south of where I live. Today when I was out shopping I saw two sherriff's deputies who were wearing black bands on their badges. I don't know whether they were Portage County (where I live and within which the store is located) or Summit County (Tallmadge's county) but they were certainly showing solidarity. It chokes me up when I see that.

I work in Portage County and I live in Summit County in C. Falls (2 mintues from where the officer lived) and i can assure you that ALL police officers, state troopers, sheriff deputies are wearing the black ribbon on their badges at least until Friday afternoon.

- CO7e7

I wonder why in the US cops are often patrolling or doing vehicle stops on their own. Here police carsare usually occupied by two cops. E.g. during a vehicle stop one talks to the driver, checks his papers etc., while the other one secures the scene, e.g. by standing one the side ready to draw the sidearm. He will also watch the surroundings (bystanders, other occupants of the car etc.) for signs of danger and act accordingly. During bigger spot checks (police road blocks, where they routinely check every car and driver for paperwork, stolen cars etc., there will often be a few cops detailed to secure, carrying submachine guns or, recently, assault rifles (G-36).

A second officer is also very helpfull when dealing with aggressive people, wrestling down and handcuffing a drunk or administering first aid.

I think sending out an officer on his own might be cheaper for the county / community, but borders on recklessness.

Jan

Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 13): I wonder why in the US cops are often patrolling or doing vehicle stops on their own. Here police carsare usually occupied by two cops.

Unless you're inside an urban area, traffic stops would not normally be considered dangerous in the US. Suburbs and rural areas are usually routine, and that's probably what this cop expected.

Quoting N328KF (Reply 14): Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 13): I wonder why in the US cops are often patrolling or doing vehicle stops on their own. Here police cars are usually occupied by two cops. Unless you're inside an urban area, traffic stops would not normally be considered dangerous in the US. Suburbs and rural areas are usually routine, and that's probably what this cop expected.

This is exactly the problem. Here in Germany (I don't know about the US, but I think it is similar), most police officers killed by criminals (as opposed to accidents), were thinking that they were handling a routine situation, like a normal traffic citation, e.g. for a driver passing a red light or maybe some family argument, not knowing e.g. that the person theywere stopping was actually e.g. a wanted, violent criminal with nothing to loose.
One example: Two cops in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein were stopping a Volkswagen van on a rural road, where something was wrong with a rear light, in fact something trivial. One cop approached the car, while the other one, thinking that it was just routine, stayed in the police car to mind the radio. The first cop asked, as it is customary in Germany during police checks, for the driver's licence, car regsitration document and ID card.
What they didn't know was that the Volkswagen driver was a neo-Nazi, who had just a day before shot and almost killed an old man with communist affiliations in Berlin and was in fact on the run.
Instead of handing his papers over, the Nazi grabbed a sawn off shotgun, which he had hidden under a newspaper on the passenger seat and shot and killed the unsuspecting first officer, then he shot and wounded the second police officer before speeding off. The second officer managed to contact his dispatcher on the radio, with a description of the fugitive and the van. The police chief called in the state police SWAT team, which stopped the nazi after a short pursuit with a burst from a machine gun. The Nazi is now serving a life term for one murder and two attempted ones, plus various firearms offenses.

Another cop was killed near Cologne a few years ago, again during a routine car stop, because the controlled driver was, again, unknown to the officers at this moment, a wanted member of an organised crime gang. The moment the police officers would have checked his paperwork (they have a small computer terminal in the car), theywould have known that he was wanted and would have arrested him, leading to many years in jail. Again, the criminal had nothing to loose and opened fire. He was later corneredaftera pursuit and rather shot himself than being arrested.

If they know that they are going to arrest e.g. a known terrorist suspect or a known criminal with a history of violence and firearms offenses, they'll come prepared, e.g. with a whole SWAT team and tactical support.

Jan

Transcripts released yesterday indicate that Ofc. Miktarian did call for backup.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008...ispatcher_911_calls_outine_tw.html