Winston-Salem, NC: Some 911s very risky

By John Hinton | Journal Reporter

For police officers, domestic-violence calls are some of the most dangerous situations they will encounter, Police Chief Scott Cunningham said last week.

"Domestic-violence situations are so emotional," Cunningham said. "Physical force is sometimes there, and sometimes that leads to an arrest."

Officers must protect themselves and others but cannot overreact, Cunningham said at a news conference Friday, where he talked about the two police officers who were wounded Wednesday during a shootout behind the Bojangles' restaurant on Peters Creek Parkway.

The gunman, Monte Evans, was killed, and Sgt. Mickey Hutchens and Officer Daniel Clark were seriously injured.

Clark, 28, who was hit twice, was released from the hospital Friday. However, Hutchens, who was shot in the head, the bullet penetrating his skull, was fighting for his life last night after his condition got worse over the weekend, city officials said.

Hutchens, a patrol supervisor, is a 27-year veteran of the police department.

In a news conference Friday, Cunningham said that a neurosurgeon described Hutchens' injuries as "critical and grave."

Evans had gone to the restaurant to confront his ex-wife. When Evans saw the officers, he ran. The shootout occurred nearby in a ravine next to Salem Creek.

In a domestic-violence situation, officers must wait for a "definitive and overt sign of escalation" before they take action, Cunningham said. Most incidents "don't end up with this level of frustration and violence."

Capt. David Clayton, commander of the department's criminal investigation unit, said that officers have responded to more than 3,800 domestic-violence calls this year, and about 5,200 calls in 2008.

One domestic-violence-related killing has occurred in Winston-Salem this year, and seven domestic-violence homicides occurred last year, Clayton said.

"Domestic-violence calls can be very, very dangerous," Clayton said. "It is a volatile situation. Oftentimes, those emotions can be directed toward the officers."

Wednesday's shooting coincides with October being National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

According to the 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey of the United States, about 623,000 violent crimes were committed by an intimate partner. Eighty-nine percent of the victims were females.

Research has shown that nearly 20 percent of women in North Carolina have reported experiencing physical violence by an intimate partner at some point during their lives.

Valene Franco of Winston-Salem, the family-law managing attorney for Legal Aid of North Carolina, said she helps hundreds of clients each year who are victims of domestic violence.

Most domestic violence occurs in homes, but often abusers, mostly men, will go to their spouses or girlfriends' workplaces to confront them, Franco said.

In Wednesday's incident, police officers went to the restaurant to protect people, and they were seriously injured.

"It was tragic," Franco said. "That's why it's dangerous when domestic violence happens at work. Innocent people can be hurt."