Hutchens 'a Hero': Third officer at shooting says sergeant saved him.
Officer Kaleb Mathews, on the Winston-Salem police force for only a
few months, had to make the dreaded call: Two of his fellow officers
had been shot.
Police detailed yesterday Mathews' role in the fatal confrontation
with Monte Evans on Oct. 7 near the Bojangles' restaurant on Peters
Creek Parkway.
Based on the findings of two internal investigations, Chief Scott
Cunningham said, Mathews, Officer Daniel Clark and Sgt. Mickey Hutchens
acted professionally and appropriately as they chased Evans into a
ravine and exchanged gunfire with him at close range.
"There was no golden moment where anything the officers did could have changed the outcome," Cunningham said.
He offered a detailed timeline of the shooting, which killed Evans and Hutchens and wounded Clark. Mathews was not injured.
Mathews and Clark had stopped at Parkway Ford, just behind
Bojangles', that morning to get some work done on Clark's patrol car,
and they were the first to respond to a call from dispatchers.
At 10:16 a.m., Sally Evans, a manager at Bojangles', had called 911
to report that Evans, her former husband, had approached her at the
trash bins behind the business. She told a dispatcher that she had
taken out warrants against Evans about 10 days before, and that in the
past he had pulled a gun and a knife on her.
But when she called police that day she didn't know if he was armed.
Records personnel first verified the warrants, and police Cpl. Matt Winnicki was dispatched at 10:28, Cunningham said.
Before he arrived, a Bojangles' employee pressed a panic button, and
police got a second 911 call saying that Evans was in the restaurant
harassing employees and customers.
At 10:32 a.m., Mathews and Clark drove into the parking lot behind
the restaurant and began talking to employees at the drive-through
window.
Evans left Bojangles' through the north door as Clark entered the
south door. An employee pointed out Evans, and Mathews and Clark chased
him toward Link Road, said Sgt. Jeffrey Stutts of the Professional
Standards Division. Evans started running when he got to the Precision
Tune, then doubled back toward Bojangles'. By then, employees had
locked the doors.
Evans tried the north door then ran around the front of the
restaurant and passed Hutchens, who had just pulled up in his squad
car. As Evans headed toward Salem Creek, Hutchens backed up and got out
of his car just as Evans approached the steep, brushy ravine.
Witnesses later told police that Evans had reached into his
waistband at one point, and one said he thought that he saw the handle
of a gun. But that information did not reach the officers before they
confronted Evans at the ravine, police said.
Police Capt. David Clayton said that the officers were within a few
feet of Evans when Evans turned and began firing with a .380-caliber
semi-automatic pistol.
Hutchens was incapacitated by a shot to the face and never had a
chance to draw his gun. Clark was struck in the chest just above the
heart -- the bullet was stopped by a bullet-proof vest -- and in the
right ear, with the bullet coming to rest at the back of his neck.
Clark fell backward and landed on Mathews' leg, but he was
able to pull out his gun and return fire. Clayton said that Clark fired
six shots. Three bullets hit Evans -- one each in the head, shoulder
and chest, Clayton said.
Evans collapsed face-down in the weeds, and the gun fell to the ground inches away from his right hand.
Mathews, 28, broke into tears yesterday as he recalled what happened.
He said he was able to talk to Clark after Clark was wounded. Clark
told Mathews that he had been shot in the head. Mathews tried to talk
to Hutchens but was unable to get a response.
"Officer Clark's been shot one time in the side of the head,"
Mathews told dispatchers. "We got another officer down…. I got a
confirmed subject down. He's not moving."
Mathews credited Hutchens with laying down his life in service to others.
"Sgt. Mickey Hutchens is a hero," Mathews said. "If it weren't for Mickey Hutchens, I wouldn't be standing here today."
Mathews transferred to the Winston-Salem Police Department from
Lexington earlier this year and was training with Clark at the time of
the shooting.
Mathews is back at work, and he said that the shooting has changed
how he works. He said he has received counseling and may get more, and
that the support of his fellow officers helped him make it through the
ordeal.
"Emotionally, it puts a different perspective on how you view life," he said. "Life is a precious thing."
Yesterday, Monte Evans' family members echoed that sentiment,
thanking God that Clark survived the shooting and congratulating him on
the pending birth of his first child. They also sent their condolences
to the Hutchens family, and thanked the community for helping them
raise money for Evans' funeral.
"Officer Clark, we are truly sorry for the ordeal you had to endure,
and we ask God to cover you with the whole shield of armor," said
Azilee Majett, Evans' mother.
Evans' death has come at a particularly hard time because she has
breast cancer. She had surgery two days after Evans died, and she has
had several surgeries since then.
"He's in a better place," she said about her son. "I hope that with
his last breath he was able to ask God to forgive him for the wrong he
had done. I will be able to see my child on the other side when my time
comes." The family didn't see yesterday's news conference, and wants to
have a private meeting with Cunningham to get answers about what
happened to their son.
Cunningham said that the State Bureau of Investigation has not
completed its investigation. It is waiting for results from ballistics,
toxicology and other tests. Because there will be no arrest or trial,
he said, it's unlikely that the SBI will apply much urgency to this
investigation.
Once its report is complete, the results will be forwarded to the Forsyth County District Attorney's Office, Cunningham said.
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