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'All we can do is stick together'
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Published: October 8, 2009
Police chief Scott Cunningham, on the job in Winston-Salem for a little more than 15 months, found himself yesterday tending to the one thing that he had hoped that he would never have to face again when he agreed to take his position: keeping vigil in a hospital with the family of a gravely wounded officer.
He sounded weary, frazzled and a little angry as the afternoon grew long and he prayed for Sgt. Mickey Hutchens, a 27-year police veteran who was fighting for his life after being shot during a call.
"Unfortunately, I have some experience with this," Cunningham said. "I've buried eight of them so far.... I don't ever want to have to do that again."
‘Just sit and pray'
If you live long enough, eventually you will find yourself inside a similar hospital room waiting for answers about someone you love.
It could be something that you expected, a grandfather or favorite uncle who is undergoing surgery for cancer or a heart blockage. It could be sudden, a wife or child or a friend who was rushed to the emergency room after a car wreck or a stroke.
The uncertainty, the not knowing, the waiting for a doctor to come into the room is what's most excruciating.
You weep. You pray. You make bargains.
If only he makes it. Please don't let him suffer. Help us.
In this case, when two officers were shot responding to the most common of police emergency calls -- unknown domestic disturbance -- waiting for news, any news, is even worse.
Certainly the families of Hutchens and Officer Daniel Clark, the second officer who was shot yesterday morning at the Bojangles' restaurant on Peters Creek Parkway, agonized in such a small room at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center as Cunningham and other members of the thin, blue line closed rank around them.
As the face of the police department, Cunningham had to balance being a leader on a dark day with simply being a human being confronting uncertainty.
"The bottom line is you just sit and pray," he said. "You just try and support the family as best you can."
No answers
It may be awhile before all the facts about yesterday's events are known with any degree of certainty.
While on patrol, Hutchens and Clark went to the Bojangles' in response to a call about a disturbance. The suspect in the shooting, identified as Monte Denard Evans, 35, had gone to the restaurant to speak with his former wife.
When Hutchens and Clark arrived, Evans bolted. Witnesses reported that shots were fired. The officers were wounded; Evans died at the scene.
It sounds a lot as if the officers were ambushed. Clark returned fire.
The rest is uncertain.
For now, it's also immaterial.
For now, the thoughts and prayers of an entire community are with the families of Hutchens and Clark, as well as with the other 500-plus officers (and their families) who show up day after day, week after week, year after year to keep strangers safe.
"I don't have any answers now," Cunningham said. "All we can do is stick together."
ssexton@wsjournal.com
(336) 727-7481
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