Trained response

On a black, winter evening in February a routine traffic stop in Coeur d’Alene tested three police officers as it escalated in a moment from an arrest to a gunfight.

Coeur d’Alene police officers in the evening of Feb. 27 on east Hattie Avenue transitioned from well-trained cops to practiced professionals as they took and returned gunfire, restrained from shooting, kept suspects corralled and exposed themselves to danger while helping wounded peers off the field.

For their actions, the officers received commendations, and one, Taylor Beach, is nominated for a national medal of honor.

The incident resulted in the death of 34-year-old Curtis Ware, an armed fugitive, who was shot through the lungs and heart.

Coeur d’Alene officer Charles Hatley was also shot, but thanks to the actions of fellow officers, he was evacuated in a patrol car to the hospital. He returned to full duty earlier this summer.

“He has a pretty good scar,” Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said at a Monday press conference. “A couple of them actually.”

Last week, a Bonner County prosecutor, after poring over reports from independent state police investigators, cleared the Coeur d’Alene officers of any wrongdoing in Ware’s death.

At Monday’s press conference, White showed videos from the car and body cams of police involved in the shootout. The videos from all three officers including Hatley, Beach and Kelly Mongan show the stop at 7 p.m. in a neighborhood south of Interstate 90 near the Ironwood shopping plaza.

Police asked the three occupants of a black car for their identification, they shine flashlights, wait for a response from dispatch and ask twice if anyone has weapons.

“No crazy knives or guns or anything like that?” Mongan asks.

The two men in the front, Trenton D. Szafransky, 23, and Eli W. Darby, 24, twice respond in the negative. Ware in the back seat doesn’t answer. He looks broody, wearing a stocking cap. Mongan asks him to keep his hands within sight.

“Hey dude, keep your hands where I can see them,” Mongan says. “It’s making me nervous you digging down there.”

Moments later as police verify Ware has an active warrant and ask him to step from the car, he turns, fires at Hatley, who is behind the car providing backup, and the chaos is punctuated with the blazing of gunfire from Ware’s Glock handgun and returned fire from officers.

Hatley yells he has been hit, but doesn’t know if the bullet struck his utility belt or body armor. He continues to return fire before tending to his wounds.

Beach places herself between Ware and Hatley, shielding the wounded policeman while returning fire. She then helps him into a patrol car to be shipped to Kootenai Health a half-mile away.

Beach was awarded the Lifesaving Medal for evacuating the wounded officer, and the Medal of Honor. For his bravery, selfless actions and professionalism despite being wounded, Hatley was awarded the Purple Heart and the Medal of Honor. Mongan, who was injured in the scuffle with Ware, and was also being shot at from close range, returned fire and allowed Beach to evacuate Hatley. Mongan was awarded the Medal of Valor.

White said he was proud of how his officers — Hatley was in a field training program that night — responded to the situation with selflessness and professionalism.

“They responded exactly how officers are trained to respond,” he said.