Rescue Hereos

When your kids are growing up, it is natural for them to pretend to be heroes. Whether it is a fire fighter, police officer, soldier, doctor, or EMT. Kids often spend hours pretending to be the heroes they see portrayed on television and in the movies.

When Morgan and Carson were very young, they tended to favor toys portraying these everyday heroes. Fortunately for us, Fisher Price offered the perfect toy for the boys, Rescue Heroes. With names like Billy Blazes, Wendy Waters, Jake Justice, Rocky Canyon, Ariel Flyer, and Jack Hammer, they offered kids the ability to engage in very positive imaginative play involving just about any vocation. They even came out with cartoon videos for a short period of time.

As they grew older, they showed a keen interest in their Uncle Chuck’s career working for the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Violent Crime Enforcement Team (VCET). During one visit to Milwaukee, their uncle took them sightseeing downtown to see the Harley Davidson Museum. Afterward, he promised them lunch (a sure way to win their heart).

My brother, not being familiar with the city, ended up taking them to an establishment in one of the rougher neighborhoods in Milwaukee. As they ate lunch, he casually pointed out the drug dealer in the parking lot. The boys were amazed that he could identify such an individual so easily.

He pointed out that the man was juggling multiple cell phones, seemed fidgety, had a decked-out automobile with heavily tinted windows, and was loitering in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. As they observed the individual, they witnessed at least two subtle drug transactions as they ate their lunch.

Amy and I were not really thrilled with this excursion, but it seemed to light a passion in the very impressionable Morgan and Carson. As they grew, our career choices offered them only computer screens, endless meetings, and frustrating corporate bureaucracies. It is no wonder that they both decided to pursue a career in law enforcement. At the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Morgan pursued a degree in Public Administration and Criminal Justice while Carson chose Sociology and Criminal Justice.

Both obtained meaningful internships during their college experience, one with the Madison Police Department and the other with the Division of Criminal Investigation or DCI (the state of Wisconsin’s version of the FBI).

Becoming a member of the law enforcement fraternity can be a long process. Both Morgan and Carson applied to the Madison Police Department in the fall of 2019. From applications, written tests and essays, to background checks, multiple interviews and psychiatric sessions, the process encompassed more than seven months. Both Morgan and Carson were accepted to the Madison Police Academy and began their training in late May of 2020 during the pandemic.

Both were driven to excel and graduated in the top 10 in their class at the academy. After completion of the academy, each graduate had to complete 3 months on the job with a training officer before they officially began their service.

Amy and I often were asked if we were “ok” with their career choice. We always chuckled when asked this question. As Amy would often and so eloquently state. “It is not my choice. I would have preferred something less risky, but they felt called to serve.”

Just a few weeks into their new careers on Tuesday, March 23^rd about 8:30 in the evening, my phone rang. I did not recognize the number and almost let it go to voice mail, but the 608 area code (Madison) caught my attention and made me pause. I decided I had better answer it just in case.

It was Morgan on the line. He had borrowed a cell phone from a fellow officer. He simply stated that he could not talk to me, but wanted us to know he was safe and unharmed. Oh, and it probably would be best not to watch the news. The 30 second phone call was understandably brief, but alarm bells were going off in my head. Amy and Claire were with me in the living room and immediately knew something had happened from the expression on my face.

Claire of course immediately got online to Madison news sources and learned that there had been an officer involved critical incident, meaning an officer had discharged their weapon. The only other detail we learned was that one individual was transported to UW Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.

Our imaginations went wild with these tidbits as different scenarios played out in our thoughts. Rumors were circulating that a police officer had shot a suspect. As is often the case with initial reports, most of them strayed from the eventual truth.

Amy and I (and Claire) immediately contacted our employers to notify them we would not be at work the next day so that we could go to Madison. We wanted to offer support for not only our boys but their colleagues and roommates on the force.

There are protocols for such incidents to preserve evidence and maintain the credibility of an officer’s future testimony. We were not able to learn any of the details of the incident directly from Morgan until after his interviews and sworn statements were entered into the record. We eventually learned more accurate details from the media as they pieced together the story from eyewitness accounts and public information statements from the Madison Police Department.

Morgan and a fellow officer were outside a homeless shelter in Madison’s North District. They were attempting to get an intoxicated individual admitted to detox (the homeless shelter would not take him due to his condition). While his fellow officer was on the phone in his squad, Morgan was chatting with the individual when he heard several gunshots coming from inside the homeless shelter.

His reaction was pure training as he called into his radio, “Ed 2, shots fired!” and ran into the building. As he entered the building, there was a throng of people running towards him, most keeping low to the floor. It was then he observed a man with a gun in one of the doorways leading to the communal sleeping area. As he ordered the man to drop his weapon, the individual went to raise his weapon. Morgan was able to get one shot off at the man before he ducked out of view behind the door.

Adrenaline was pumping as he raced into the next room. He found a man who had been shot several times (he survived). A fellow resident and former medic in the armed forces was already administering first aid allowing Morgan and his fellow officer to begin clearing the building.

They later learned from video that the man had fled out a back door immediately after being confronted. The suspect was apprehended four days later in Milwaukee and admitted to having a hit list of individuals at the shelter who had not treated him well. He had not anticipated the rapid police response.

Video from the homeless shelter’s surveillance system showed that from the time the first shot was fired to when Morgan confronted the suspect, only 4 seconds elapsed.

A heavy police presence descended on the homeless shelter. This included his brother, Carson, who heard the call on the radio and raced to the scene.

Morgan was swept into critical incident protocols including being patted down for injury, isolated in an ambulance, and then transported to a local hospital for drug testing. Shortly thereafter he met with the union attorney on call for critical incidents. It is a sad state to realize, that if a law enforcement officer discharges their weapon in the line of duty, it is standard procedure to treat them as a suspect until cleared.

The subsequent investigation was conducted by an independent law enforcement agency (in this case, Wisconsin’s DCI). Their report was then reviewed by the District Attorney who determined Morgan’s actions were justified. After this was complete, the Madison Police Department conducted an internal investigation to determine if he had violated any policies and procedures. He was eventually cleared.

In the end, Morgan was on paid administrative leave for a period of four months before he was allowed to return to full duty.

On May 4, 2022, more than a year after the incident, Morgan was awarded the Medal of Valor for his rapid response and bravery in confronting an active shooter. Despite her chemotherapy schedule, Amy insisted we attend and celebrate this event.

There is a picture of our family together just after this ceremony. In the picture, Amy has the brightest smile with her head held high. She is literally beaming with pride at not only Morgan, but Carson and Claire standing beside her. She has her hand over her heart as if it were going to burst.