Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police honors 11 area officers

Wichita police Officer Darren Hicks had no way of knowing his shift on Sept. 6 would end in a pursuit, and that he would be shot at multiple times.

It started with paperwork, and ended with Hicks pursuing three people through a residential cul-de-sac, eventually making an arrest in a backyard.

He and Wichita police Detective Steven Molde were honored for “uncommon valor in the line of duty” Wednesday night at the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police Awards in Manhattan. They received the gold award, the association’s second-highest honor.

Its highest honor is given to officers killed in the line of duty.

The two are among several local law enforcement officers honored for their work in 2014. Here are some of the officers, and their actions, that were recognized Wednesday. The accounts are based on nomination forms from the Kansas Associations of Chiefs of Police.

‘The deer-in-the-headlights look’

Hicks and his partner, Molde, began their evening at Patrol West, completing some paperwork from a case they worked the night before.

Soon, a call came in of a shooting at a gas station at Maple and Maize Road. As suspect vehicle descriptions were broadcast, Hicks said he knew of a car that was connected to drug complaints he had worked previously that matched the description.

Hicks and Molde got in their patrol car and began driving. At Central and I-235 they saw the suspect vehicle exiting onto Central going east.

“When the driver saw me the first time, he got the deer-in-the-headlights look,” Hicks said. “Around that same time, the vehicle picks up speed. I light it up to initiate the traffic stop, and the chase is pretty much on at that point.”

Around Eighth and Flora, the driver rolled down his window and started firing shots from a handgun at the officers, Hicks said.

Hicks slowed down to allow some distance between the two but maintained pursuit.

The suspect car eventually spun out near 13th and Hoover, and as the driver was exiting his car, he fired “four or five more rounds,” Hicks said.

Two other passengers in the car got out and began to run to a nearby cul-de-sac.

Hicks, who had patrolled the area and had family that lived nearby, knew where to go to head off the suspects.

Hicks ran into a backyard and found the three suspects – the driver still had a handgun pointed at him. Hicks began giving orders for the man to drop the weapon, which he did.

Molde and other officers who had responded to the scene arrested the other suspects.

The three were charged with attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and possession of methamphetamines.

Hicks said his knowledge of the area helped apprehend the suspects.

“I give (Molde) credit – he did a hell of a job following him,” he said. “With us both having the experience of being in the area, it made that portion of it a lot easier. We knew the turns we were taking, knew what the streets were and we were able to keep track of where our location was with other officers.”

Saving a life

“For those who have not had the honor to wear the badge of a law enforcement officer, it’s hard to describe in words the feeling one gets after helping save a life,” Gordon Bassham, former Crime Stoppers spokesman, said in a e-mail to The Eagle providing the nominations for all of the awards.

Silver awards are given for “extraordinary action which directly contributed to the significant prolonging or actual saving of a life” according to the police chiefs association and were presented to Eastborough police Capt. Michael Cross and Wichita police officers Brandon Hall, Kaleb Brewer and Corbin Moren.

Hall, Brewer and Moren were dispatched to a call of a woman sitting on the Edgemoor bridge over Kellogg on April 20, 2014. Cross joined them at the scene.

When they arrived, the woman had climbed over the metal railing and was dangling her feet over the edge.

The woman was initially uncooperative. Hall talked to her and found out she was a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

As she was talking to Hall, the other three officers sneaked up behind the woman and pulled her away from the ledge.

Officers later learned she had been deemed suicidal in the past and had tried to kill herself several times before.

A dangerous rescue

One woman survived a fiery single-car rollover that killed four on March 15 at Kellogg and Oliver, thanks to the work of Wichita police Officer Rebekah Jabara, who received the silver award.

She was called to the scene of the crash around 7:30 p.m. that night and found the smoking car on its nose, leaning against the overpass.

A woman had been partly ejected from the vehicle and was draped over the side of a concrete wall. Both of her legs were severely broken.

The car then caught fire, and Jabara ran to pull the woman from the wreckage, with the aid of a Wichita firefighter.

Firefighters noted that, since the car was “precariously leaning toward the driver’s side,” it could have rolled over at any time and crushed Jabara and the woman.

“Although she sustained open fractures to both her legs and a crushed pelvis, the woman is alive today thanks to the bravery and quick work of Off. Jabara,” Bassham said in the e-mail.

A shooting victim

Late in the afternoon on Dec. 12, Wichita police Officer Tiffany Stephen was dispatched to a shooting call at Exploration Place in downtown Wichita.

Upon arriving, she found a man lying on the ground, bleeding. The man had shot himself with a shotgun nearby.

Stephen called for medical assistance and began rendering aid to the man, applying pressure to the wound to prevent further blood loss.

Stephen stayed with the man and kept applying pressure as Emergency Medical Services crews took him to the hospital.

EMS said that “without the quick thinking of Off. Stephen, this patient would have bled out before EMS was able to begin their emergency treatment,” according to Bassham. Stephen received the silver award.

The man is expected to make a full recovery.

A heart attack

Retired Wichita police Lt. Clark Wiemeyer and Sgt. Santiago Hungria received a silver award for their work in saving Wichita police Detective Vince Van’s life after he sustained a heart attack during a run in Riverside Park last November.

The three were running together when Van began to experience shortness of breath and collapsed on the sidewalk of the 11th Street Bridge.

Hungria couldn’t find a pulse, and called 911. Wiemeyer and Hungria began performing CPR on Van, updating 911 dispatchers on his condition.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and had to resuscitate Van twice.

Doctors at Via Christi said Wiemeyer and Hungria saved Van’s life that day. The two were honored at City Hall earlier this spring for their actions on Nov. 12.

‘Simply outsmarting’ criminals

The Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police awards Bronze Awards to recognize outstanding achievement.

Sedgwick County sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Heater, who works on the Sheriff’s Third Watch, came up with a data system to track the crimes committed by a small group of career criminals.

In January 2014, Sedgwick County was inundated with property crimes.

Knowing that most crimes were being committed by people in order to obtain money for drug addictions, Heater developed the system to prioritize his work.

It led to the indictment of multiple offenders, with some still awaiting indictment. It also led to the recovery of more than 100 stolen vehicles, the seizure and recovery of more than $30,000 in currency and numerous other stolen items that were returned to their rightful owners.

Heater was “simply outsmarting” the criminals, Bassham said in the e-mail.

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police honors 11 area officers."