Two officer-involved shootings create bond between Raleigh police, Highway Patrol
In the aftermath of two officers being shot within five days, an extraordinary bond has been created between the Raleigh Police Department and the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown and Highway Patrol Commander Col. Glenn McNeill are still hurting, but incredibly grateful for a community that has lifted them up following the shootings of Officer Charles Ainsworth and Trooper Daniel Harrell.
Harrell was shot in the face Monday evening when he tried to pull over a vehicle on Haynes Road, southeast of Elm City. He was rushed to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville and was released from the hospital Wednesday.
Ainsworth was following up on a report that a stolen car had been spotted on Teakwood Place on Jan. 9 when he was shot several times, including in the neck. He remains hospitalized at WakeMed.
“He still remains in critical condition and so the family is clearly there by his side as are many Raleigh police officers, and we are praying for his continued healing and recovery,” Deck-Brown said.
When Ainsworth went down, Raleigh police officers had another job to do and Deck-Brown had a singular mission.
“We still had a suspect at large and my first and foremost priority was to get to that hospital,” she said.
The two officer-involved shootings within just five days have created a painful yet powerful unity between the two departments.
“We’ve had conversations about having shed tears with the families of our injured officers and it’s a difficult time to try to be strong for your organizations, but to have support and to have friendships like what we share with one another, they’re very special,” McNeill said.
In the aftermath, both McNeill and Deck-Brown are asking for change.
“What I would love to see would be a level of intolerance from our community that speaks to a desire to see fewer weapons out there, and when you see something your say something,” Deck-Brown said.
With his trooper now recovering at home, McNeill beamed with pride.
“In my eyes he’s a hero because he faced extreme adversity and was able to respond the way he was trained, I would say even better than how he was trained,” he said. “To be shot and to continue to apprehend and work towards a chase scenario, to apprehend the bad guys and relay information, it was phenomenal.”
