Another Officer Killed in St Petersburg Ofc. David Crawford

[RememberTheFallen]

Another sad day in St. Petersburg.

From TBO.com
Link to story: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb...st/news-metro/

ST. PETERSBURG - A 25-year police veteran of the St. Petersburg Police Department was fatally shot by a suspect at Second Avenue South and Eighth Street South on Monday night.

Police identified the slain officer as David S. Crawford. The 46-year-old officer became the third St. Petersburg police officer to be shot and killed in the line of duty in less than a month.

"This killer has taken someone precious to us – a member of our family," said Chief Chuck Harmon, who spoke at a 2:15 a.m. news conference outside the hospital.

"I'm not going to lie – the city has been through hell," Mayor Bill Foster said. "It took 30 years to lose an officer in the line of duty, and within 30 days, it's happened again. I can tell you cities don't prepare for this, departments don't prepare for this."

Shortly after 10:30 p.m., Crawford was shot multiple times in the chest at close range. He returned fire but it's not known whether he hit the suspect, Harmon said.

Michael Ponce de Leon was a witness to the aftermath of the shooting.

"Everybody was screaming," he told BayNews 9. "All the cops were like, 'No, not again.'

"Blood was everywhere," he said. "He was basically mumbling. I don't' know if he in agony or pain; I couldn't make it out."

Ponce de Leon said he yelled at the downed officer to keep him conscious.

Police initially received a call of a suspicious person or prowler who was in the 700 block of Third Avenue South. The caller told police the suspect had a brick in his hand and they feared he might use it to break into a building to commit a burglary.

The caller described the suspect as a black male who was 18 to 20 years old and wearing a black hoodie, Harmon said.

Officer Donald Ziglar arrived about 10:34 p.m. and seconds later Crawford pulled up, Harmon said.

Crawford confronted the suspect at Second Avenue South and Eighth Street South and was shot multiple times. He returned fire but the suspect was able to run away.

At 10:37 p.m., police received a report that an officer had been shot.

Crawford was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead hours after the shooting. Ziglar wasn't shot or injured. Investigators were interviewing him early Tuesday morning, Harmon said.

Harmon said he had little detail on the suspect. But he urged residents to call (727) 893-7780 if they saw something or someone suspicious.

The shooting comes on the heels of the Jan. 24 deaths of Sgt. Thomas Baitinger, 48, and Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz, 39. Fugitive Hydra Lacy Jr. shot them and wounded a deputy U.S. marshal as authorities tried to capture him in a south St. Petersburg home. Lacy died in the standoff.

Foster asked residents to pray for the Crawford, his family and all the officers on the force.

"We're still healing from the first tragedy, and it's going to take some time," he said. "We've been nicked again, but these men and women are strong," he said. "And they're pros. And they're back on the street protecting our citizens."

Throughout the night and morning, police officers in uniform and plainclothes gathered at the hospital.

Downtown St. Petersburg is an armed camp.

St. Petersburg police car 2712, driven by Crawford, is still parked at the intersection of Third Avenue South and Eighth Street South, in front of the AAA Plaza.

Law enforcement has set up a staging area in a lot on Martin Luther Blvd and First Avenue South. Police, deputies and the FBI are fanning out from there, looking for a killer.

The search is concentrated in the Campbell Park area, roughly Fourth Street South to 16th Street South and roughly Fourth Avenue South to 15th Avenue South, police said.

Not far from Tropicana Field, Campbell Park, which is at 16th Street South and Seventh Avenue South, had been cordoned off. Officers patrolled the area carrying rifles and walking with K-9 units. Roads also were closed.

Residents in the neighborhood have been advised to stay inside with their doors locked.

Nine officers in Florida have been killed in the line of duty this year – as many as all of last year, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. Monday's shooting marks the 29th officer to die in the line of duty this year, compared with 162 officers last year.

And from Baynews9.com
Link to Story: http://www.baynews9.com/article/news...cer-identified

ST. PETERSBURG --
A St. Petersburg police officer shot in the line of duty in downtown St. Petersburg has died.

The officer has been identified as 46-year-old David S. Crawford.

The shooting happened at 2nd Avenue South at 8th Street South.

Police said a citizen reported a "suspicious person" at 10:30 p.m. The caller said they saw a man with a brick and thought he was going to break into something.

Two officers were dispatched to the scene. They arrived five minutes later. A few minutes after that, one of the officers reported shots had been fired and said an officer was down.

That officer was taken to Bayfront Medical Center, where he later died.

At a press conference, Police Chief Chuck Harmon said the officer was shot "multiple times at close range" and returned fire. Harmon said it's unknown if the suspect was injured.

Ofc. Crawford was a 25-year veteran. The other officer at the scene, Officer Donald Ziglar, was not injured.

Harmon did not address if Crawford was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster paused before he spoke at the press conference.

"I'm not going to lie. This city has been through hell. It took 30 years to lose an officer in the line of duty. And within 30 days it happened. Again," he said. "Cities don't prepare for this. Departments don't prepare for this. But what I can assure the citizens of St. Petersburg is that the officers prepare for this every day."

Active suspect search under way
Police are still looking for the suspect, described as a black male, between 18 and 20 years old, wearing a black hoodie. The suspect was last seen jumping over a fence.

"We have a killer on the loose," Harmon said.

Officers are searching by air and ground for the suspect.

"Obviously, when something like this happens we're gonna put every officer we can on it," said police spokesperson Mike Puetz. "We have about 50 plus officers out here conducting searches right now plus we have the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office helicopter and we have officers from the sheriff's office as well."

Officers are also reportedly stationed at nearby interstate entrances and exits.

"I have teams out there tonight looking for evil," Foster said. "I've got other teams throughout the city, protecting the city and they'll be there again tomorrow. And they'll be out day in and day out protecting our city."

Residents heard gunshots
A resident near the scene described hearing gunshots. Roland Murphy took video with his cell phone. He said the gunfire only lasted a few seconds.

"I was laying down in bed and I heard some gunshots," Murphy said. "I kinda jumped out of bed."

Murphy took the video about a minute after hearing the gunshots. The video shows police cars and sirens can be heard nearby.

"The chopper's around flying over this area. Looks like there's just a large police presence. Everything's caution-taped off," Murphy said. "We got police presence from about 4th or 5th Ave. South on 8th Street all the way up as far north as I can see on Central."

Another resident, who lives nearby, also described a chaotic scene after hearing gunshots.

"I turned and looked out the window," said Matt Douglas. "As soon as we looked up the road towards the police station we saw an entire line of flashing lights were coming down, immediately splitting to adjacent streets as they got down here and surrounding the area."

Two officers killed last month
The St. Petersburg Police Department just lost two of their own last month. Tom Baitinger, 48, and Jeffrey Yaslowitz, 39 were killed in the line of duty in a gunfight with a man hiding in an attic.

My Families thoughts and Prayers are with the Family, Fellow Officers and Friends.
God be with you at this very difficult time.
A/Sgt Mike Green
FHPA

It is with great sadness that I have the family & friends of Ofc. Crawford in my prayers & thoughts. I am fearful for
the SPPD's officers. Twice in less than a month we have lost 3 officers. It angers me that criminals running around
with loaded guns consider Police Officers expendable. This is not the wild west.
This prowler could have stopped, what is the worse that could happen? He would get questioned, possibly go to jail AGAIN.
What ever his consequences would have been, they would certainly not be worth the loss of Ofc.Crawford's life. Now every
officer that is involved with finding this murderer is putting their life in danger, as they do every day. Where the respect for
the brave people that chose this profession has gone to, I do not know.
I never imagined that the town I was raised would turn into a place where residents shoot to kill. I am truly sad for the
SPPD, the family & friends of Ofc. Crawford, and the residents of this once fairly safe place to live. May all of our officers
Be Safe out there & God Bless you all.

The 15 year old suspect's parents brought him in. Arrest made with a confession obtained.

My condolences to the family and friends of Officer David Crawford. I will keep you in my Prayers. A Hero indeed, Rest in Peace my brother.

Eddie Morera
Ret. Tampa Police Detective

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family ..... Everyday I get in my car and put on my seatbelt. Its the law right????? Save your own life and please wear a VEST! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK ST PETE!

My thoughts and prayers are with the Crawford family. I also pray that when Rick Scott shows up at the funeral, people will recognize that he is the number one enemy of all public servants as he continues to diminish the Crawford's family's ability to have a stable future for the sacrifice of thier loved one and our fellow officer. Lets not loose focus on Imperiallist Scott's agenda and how a family like the Crawfords, which is any one of us, is going to have to live with greatly reduced benefits for the sacrifice of doing your job.

Like in Miami, I'm sure he will show up and sit stoically.. staring off into space with those beady little eyes and turn right around and charge us 5 times as much for insurance and reduce our retirements to half its value.

As cops, WE truly support the Crawfords and other families that have lost their heros to the fight. The fight of protecting the public in this state. A job that may require the ultimate sacrifice as we have our families future vaporized by a gutless wonder in the Governor's office. The reality is that our fight just has to include our elected officials. It's a matter of justice. The thought of Scott's anti american radical agenda "makes my brain hurt"..

Instead of all the hocus pocus and superstition with an invisible, non existent entity you can't prove that exists, put your money where your mouth is and try donating some money to help the family in an attempt to relieve them from some of the financial burden they will/are incurring at this time.

Everyone is sorry for their loss. Show that you can do more !

Instead of all the hocus pocus and superstition with an invisible, non existent entity you can't prove that exists, put your money where your mouth is and try donating some money to help the family in an attempt to relieve them from some of the financial burden they will/are incurring at this time.

Everyone is sorry for their loss. Show that you can do more !

Yes, that is what we do. More. And we should and I believe as cops we do just that. Never leave a brother or his family alone. But to say that current political winds are "invisible and Hocus Pocus" is delusional.

None of us want reduced benefits for any co-worker or loved one! However with the reduced tax base (higher unemployment) and everyone wanting the biggest and best benefit package (cops, firefighters, teachers, dog catchers) we are challenged and strained by the calculator! There is not enough money to fund all of these supersized retirement packages.....
If you love your family like I do, go buy an individually owned life insurance policy so you have the piece of mind that you might not have right now!
Don't rely on your employer the pension the pba the church the govt. to provide for your family, man up and proactively take care of it!
You can still complain about your feelings as they relate to why everything should stay the same and why we are entitled to all of these benefits (I'm right there with you complaining) but at the end of the day its your responsibility to take care of these matters even as things change we have to adapt!