Courage and Honor in Dallas

“How men of courage and honor act in the gravest of circumstances.” Mike Pannone

We'd have missed this article from the Washington Post had Mike Pannone of CTT not pointed it out. Among the LEOs responding to Micah Xavier Johnson's gunfire in Dallas were five campus police officers from El Centro College. One of them was hit under his vest when incoming rifle rounds shattered a glass door; that glass lacerated another officer's leg. The latter officer, a veteran Navy Corpsman, pulled a fallen officer from outside to a position of cover in order to treat him. That officer was Dallas Area Rapid Transit Officer Brent Thompson, who was already dead.The former officer moved to another entrance to check a blood trail and was taken under fire again.

Courage and Honor in Dallas

Abbott ran in the direction of gunfire, and a Dallas police sergeant, who had a larger tactical vest on but no helmet, called for an officer to get behind him. Abbott did: “He said, ‘Get behind me, I can take his shots to the chest, he’ll have to shoot me in the head to kill me.'”

So that officer provided cover, using himself as the shield….

…At some point Shaw put his hand under his vest where his stomach hurt and when he pulled it out, he saw it was covered with blood. But like Abbott, he ignored the pain.

“I just wanted a piece of him,” Abbott said of the gunman. “I wanted to get him.”

Both men, their fellow officers and responding LEOs continued to search and clear the college structure despite their injuries and the volume of fire.

Dallas officers under fire near El Centro College.

This is only one of numerous accounts of officers pulling nearby citizens out of the line of fire, often covering them with their bodies. As the investigation continues and the furor subsides, we will no doubt hear more, and not just from Dallas. What happened at El Centro College in Dallas, and what happened in Baton Rouge will, unfortunately, not be the last such event we see.

DPD Officer James Smith

You can read the story in its entirety here.

Cover photo by David Woo courtesy of the Dallas News.