I once got schooled and scolded by a law enforcement official after I reported an incident I referred to as a “routine traffic stop.”
That was nearly 40 years ago. I did it once. I was told by this individual, who worked for a sheriff’s department in Oregon, that “there’s nothing routine” about a traffic stop.
Lesson learned.
Today, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper pulled someone over in a traffic stop just south of Dallas. The man shot the trooper to death. The suspect fled and was captured in Waller County north of Houston.
I don’t have any details of the traffic stop. All I can presume is that the trooper never expected that the stop would be the last duty he’d ever perform as a law enforcement officer.
This puts in the starkest terms possible about the dangers our police officers face whenever they put on the uniform and go to work every single day. They suit up, say goodbye to their loved ones and expect to return home at the end of the day.
Traffic stops are supposed to be “routine,” but too often they can erupt in violence.
One of those traffic stops did so today. With tragic results.
This is one of those news accounts that breaks my heart and fills me with immense respect for those who swear to “serve and protect” the public.