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Cd'A officer shot on duty back at work

by Matthew Gwin Staff Writer
| May 25, 2018 1:00 AM

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Coeur d'Alene Police officer Charles Hatley is escorted out of Kootenai Health Friday morning. Hatley was shot in the abdomen after exchanging gunfire with Curtis Ware after a traffic stop Tuesday night in Coeur d'Alene. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)

Officer Charles Hatley of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department returned to duty earlier this month after suffering a gunshot wound while responding to a call on Feb. 27.

Hatley, a 30-year-old officer in training, has fully recovered and described the experience as “eye-opening.”

“I knew going into it something could happen, but you can’t always live on that line,” Hatley said. “I think it just made me more aware and gave me a heightened sense of what could happen.”

He recounted the details of that evening, when he and fellow officer Taylor Beach responded as backup to a traffic stop initially made by Officer Kelly Mongan on Hattie Avenue near Government Way.

At the scene, Mongan served an outstanding warrant for the arrest of 34-year-old Curtis Bradley Ware, from Post Falls, a passenger in the vehicle.

Ware became combative and exchanged gunfire with officers, wounding Hatley in the abdomen, before being shot and killed by police.

“I just remember [Mongan] telling the guy to step out of the back passenger seat, and the guy stepped out so I started walking around the trunk of the car to assist him,” Hatley said.

“As soon as I got to the back of the trunk, the guy turned his back toward Mongan, who grabbed his left arm,” he continued. “He started to struggle with him for a second, and I remember thinking, ‘All right, we’re gonna have to fight this guy.’”

“As soon as that thought cleared my brain, there was a gunshot going off. I was probably 3 feet from him.”

According to Hatley, the entire incident occurred almost instantly.

“I think he was out of the car for three seconds [before firing his weapon],” Hatley said.

Remarkably, Hatley avoided a more severe injury because the bullet struck his service belt. In fact, he said he has no lingering pain and did not have to undergo any rehabilitation or physical therapy.

Hatley underwent surgery at Kootenai Health after being wounded and was released three days later.

He described the support he received from his wife, Michelle — who gave birth to their daughter, Aliyah, in January — and his fellow officers as “phenomenal.”

“We’d get contacted multiple times per day just asking if we needed anything,” Hatley said. “There was always somebody asking if we needed anything at all. They were always present.”

After a leave of more than two months, though, he said he was eager to get back to work with Officer Beach and the rest of the department.

“I really did miss the daily interaction. It was work, but at the same time [Officer Beach] would make it fun so we could enjoy our training, because the job is already stressful enough.”

Detective Jared Reneau said Hatley’s desire to return to the line of duty speaks volumes about his character.

“The fact that he’s wanting and ready to come back to work before he’s released to full duty I think speaks a lot about Officer Hatley himself,” Reneau said. “There are definitely people who, an incident like this would give them pause and make them evaluate, ‘Is this really something I want to do?’”

“The fact that he still wants to do that — that’s the kind of officer that we want,” he continued. “That’s the kind of officer we need on the street.”

At the time of the incident, Hatley — who was hired by Cd’A PD in August after working in the detention center for the Sheriff’s Office — was in the third week of the first phase of the department’s training program.

Beginning June 1, he will resume training, which involves three phases lasting four weeks each, followed by a two-week evaluation period.

Once he completes that process, he will then become a full-fledged officer later this year.

An Idaho State Police investigation into the shooting is ongoing, according to ISP public information officer Tim Marsano.