Killed in the line of duty; how long has it been for CNY?
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — It’s been over 20 years since Central New York has mourned the loss of a Syracuse Police officer or Onondaga County Sheriff Deputy killed in the line of duty.
But losing more than one at a time is something that the community hasn’t experienced before.
Two officers — an Onondaga County deputy and a Syracuse Police officer — were shot and killed on the evening of April 14.
A set of Syracuse Police officers followed a suspicious vehicle from Tipperary Hill to a home on Darien Drive, in the Town of Salina. This incident resulted in the death of three, an officer, a deputy, and the suspect.
Syracuse Police Chief, Joe Cecile shared, “I’m more concerned about the officers. I’ve been on a long time and [we’ve] got a lot of young officers who have never seen anything like this before. So, you’ve got the peer support out here, the entire team coming out to make sure they’re okay. There are a lot of officers involved in this incident, including the deceased officer’s partner.”
The last officer-involved fatality was in 2003 for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department.
On November 29, 2003, Onondaga County Sheriff Deputy Glenn Searles was responding to a disabled vehicle, just another day on the job.
Around 7 p.m. that evening, wife and mother, Kristine Bell was on her way home from work, headed southbound on I-481 in the Town of DeWitt.
Her car had slid off an icy and snowy road, into the center median, and she was waiting for help to arrive.
A Town of Dewitt Police Officer was being dispatched to assist Bell, but Deputy Searles was working uniform patrol, and headed to the call, canceling the DeWitt officer.
“Upon positioning his patrol vehicle on the inside edge of the road, and after activating his emergency lights, Dep. Searles exited his vehicle, opened his vehicle trunk, where his flares and reflective traffic vest were located, and went to the rear of his vehicle,” said the Onondaga County Sheriff’s website.
However, a driver who was passing the disabled vehicle neglected to yield to the poor weather conditions, and ended up speeding through the scene, in the lane next to Bell and Deputy Searles.
The driver lost control of his car and hit Searle and the patrol car.
The five passengers in the passing car were injured, and Deputy Searles died as a result of the crash.
Bell later stated, “He lost his life trying to help me, and he didn’t even know who I was…”
Deputy Searles was 31 years old when he was killed. He left behind his fiancé and two years of service with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
The Syracuse Police Department’s last officer death was decades ago, in 1990.
Another 31-year-old, Officer Wallie Howard Jr. was killed during undercover work with Syracuse Police.
Officer Howard was working with the Central New York DEA Task Force, and was out on South Salina Street, in Syracuse, at the time of his death.
Around 2:30 on October 30, Officer Howard was getting ready to buy $42,000 worth of cocaine in cash.
He was sitting alone in the passenger seat of a car in a supermarket parking lot when two suspects came up to the vehicle.
“One suspect was armed with a .22 caliber handgun. He climbed into the driver’s seat of Officer Howard’s car while the second suspect walked to the passenger side window carrying a .357 revolver,” said the Officer Down Memorial Page.
The first suspect pulled his gun on Officer Howard. He reacted quickly and was able to pull out his own weapon.
But the second suspect who was standing outside of the car shot at Officer Howard, hitting him in the head at point-blank range.
However, before being hit, Officer Howard was able to fire two shots, injuring the first suspect.
Both suspects tried to leave the scene but were apprehended by back-up officers.
Officer Howard was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. that day, a day when he thought he would make a difference.
One of the two suspects, the officer’s killer, was a 16-year-old juvenile, Robert “Bam Bam” Lawrence. Lawrence was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. He was released in October of 2020.
The killer’s accomplice, who was also a juvenile at the time of the murder, had his sentence commuted on January 20, 2021, by previous President Donald Trump as one of his final acts in office, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
Howard’s partner and good friend, Henry Brown, told NewsChannel 9 in 2020, “I want people to understand what a police officer is going through. The risk he is taking to save their lives. I mean, I have 40-something years in and I still want to do it because somebody has to be out here to help people. And if we aren’t going to do it, who is going to do it?”
Officer Howard served the Syracuse Police Department for nine years. He left behind his wife, mother, and two children.
