Off-Duty D.C. Officer Slain After Attempted Robbery, Shootout

[Steve in PA]

Off-Duty D.C. Officer Slain After Attempted Robbery, Shootout

Oxon Hill, Md. (AP) -- An off-duty District of Columbia police officer was killed early Wednesday after a shootout with a teenager who allegedly attempted to rob him, authorities said.

Sgt. Clifton Rife, 34, was slain about 4:30 a.m. outside an apartment building in the Maryland suburb of Oxon Hill, said Sgt. Joe Gentile, D.C. police spokesman. The robbery suspect, 16-year-old Jonathan Montinous Washington, was also killed.

Rife was a 13-year veteran with the police department's narcotics branch, Gentile said. He is survived by a wife and two children.

"He contributed an awful lot to our department," Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey said during a news conference outside Prince George's Hospital Center. "We're going to miss him very much."

Sgt. Tammy Sparkman, with Prince George's County police, said Rife was visiting a friend on the 5400 block of Livingston Terrace when he was allegedly approached outside the apartment building by Washington. Washington lived nearby in the 5600 block of Livingston Terrace, according to police.

Shots were fired by both men, Sparkman said. Washington was pronounced dead at the scene. The police officer was taken by helicopter to the hospital after summoning help.

 

[hammer4nc]

Steve,

Wow, a dozen cop shooting threads in one day, without any particular point, or enlightening comments relating to civil rights/gun ownership? What's that all about? Is this the internet equivalent of a temper tantrum? You're not a LEO, are you?

To satisfy your apparent fascination with stories involving nothing but cop shootings,
go over to TheeBadone's forum here:

http://www.huntamerica.com/wwwthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=leo

He needs someone to talk to...

I suspect your latest wave could lead to new forum rules prohibiting threads discussing law enforcement issues...that wasn't your real intention, was it?

 

[FedDC]

You won't get a lot of sympathy on here for slain officers. As a matter of fact, there are quite a few members here that have said they would gladly kill a police officer themselves if they felt he was violating their civil rights in some way. So much for the judicial process...

 

[Beren]

Steve's one of the good guys floating around. He's also a Pennsylvanian, which makes him doubly cool.

My take is that Steve is simply trying to give "equal air time" to Good Cop threads to provide perspective compared to all the Bad Cop threads.

You won't get a lot of sympathy on here for slain officers.

Rubbish. When officers are slain performing duties that truly protect and serve the public, most everyone here would honor and cherish their memories. I still remember the turmoil and pain we all felt when I was just a little kid and a local small-town cop was gunned down by some punk.

http://colldev.cr.duq.edu/dp/timeline.htm

I was just a little kid, but I remember, and sympathize.

Simple solution to most of today's problems: end the War on Some Drugs and let cops go back to real policework.

 

[PBIR]

My condolences to the officer's family.

 

[BeLikeTrey]

Ahem

If you despise this site so much, do us all a favor and leave. I don't think anyone advocates killing police officers on this site. I am tired of people Not taking the High-road here. And please propogate the "us vs them" mentality elsewhere please. You know who you are! Thank you.

sheesh, I gotta use my ignore list for the SECOND TIME now.

 

[BeLikeTrey]

by the way

This is tragic, my condolences to the family of the officer.

 

[Shovelhead]

You won't get a lot of sympathy on here for slain officers. As a matter of fact, there are quite a few members here that have said they would gladly kill a police officer themselves if they felt he was violating their civil rights in some way. So much for the judicial process...

 

[Aguila Blanca]

You won't get a lot of sympathy on here for slain officers. As a matter of fact, there are quite a few members here that have said they would gladly kill a police officer themselves if they felt he was violating their civil rights in some way. So much for the judicial process...

I believe you have posted this ridiculous and totally untrue statement before. There are a number of people on this forum who publicly decry abuse of authority by LEOs, but I cannot recall a single thread in which even a single poster has advocated killing a police officer for violating their civil rights.

I think it's time for you to back this statement up. Please post links to the thread or threads where this sentiment has been expressed, on this forum.

BTW -- posts relating to defending the home against unknown persons bashing down the door at night (i.e. "no knock" warrants) do NOT count. That's not advocating killing police officers, that's pointing out that when you wake up to someone kicking in the door you have no way of knowing whether or not it's a police officer.

 

[sendec]

We seem to get a thread everytime an officer so much as breaks wind, why not this thread?

I'd like to think that most people are'nt exposed to what goes on in reality, but base their opinions on what they see on TV and the net. Take a look at what is actually going on.

 

[FedDC]

Hawk, you just proved my point. You just said that it was OK to kill a Police Officer during the course of his official duties because he was serving a type of warrant that you do not see as justified. Thanks.

 

[mrapathy2000]

the article has a number of points.

despite a ban criminals still have guns in D.C.

suprised the cop didnt hand over his wallet like sheeple are supposed to do.

even with the extroidinary privilege of LEO CCW his fighting chance and all that hard training was not enough.

You won't get a lot of sympathy on here for slain officers. As a matter of fact, there are quite a few members here that have said they would gladly kill a police officer themselves if they felt he was violating their civil rights in some way. So much for the judicial process...

have not seen many advocating that.

I dont care for LEO privilege over ordinary citizens. besides that I dont have problem with cops. glad they are doing theyre job hope they do it honorably unlike the many examples posted on THR where they have seemed to get off easy ie Sheriff deputy in california that took few hundred firearms from evidence room when caught gave half of it was found never heard followup on it wondering if he is serving time.

be nice to have a population that are all able bodied citizens are trained and know some law,defense,naturaul disaster training,basic medical aid or firefighting. should situation arise they could aid and assist. though hopefully they will not belong to bureaucracy or some sort of police state agenda.

sympathies for the family.

 

[PBIR]

Hawk, you just proved my point. You just said that it was OK to kill a Police Officer during the course of his official duties because he was serving a type of warrant that you do not see as justified. Thanks.

No he didn't.

Your first comment was ignorant. Don't compound your mistake.

 

[FedDC]

Mistakes... Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I guess I shouldn't believe my lying eyes.

 

[PBIR]

If you believe there is proof to your initial statement back it up like you were challenged to do. I haven't been hanging around here too long, maybe I missed all the "Best kill shot on a LEO violating your civil rights" threads.

...

 

[TallPine]

So what does this particular incident have to do with anything ...?

 

[BeLikeTrey]

Ahh feeding the trolls



If you feed them, they will come.

 

[Leatherneck]

I'm getting real tired of certain people dragging their crosses through here crooning "poor poor pitiful me!" You don't see the military guys, or the firemen or EMTs doing it, and all those communities suffer losses as well. Of course, they generally don't enjoy violating the civil rights of others on a regular basis.

As to this particular shooting; good old liberal Southern Maryland...no guns allowed.

TC
TFL Survivor

 

[FedDC]

PBIR-

How about this little gem:

Quote-

WonderNine posted (18 Jun 04 - 1602 hours):
It's not my fault I laugh hysterically when a cop gets shot while doing a home invasion. Especially when one cop accidently shoots another....that's the best!

 

[PBIR]

What thread was that in? I'd like to view the context.

 

[FedDC]

Hmmm...it seems to have been deleted...wonder how that happened. But, here is another reference to it.-

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93953&perpage=25&pagenumber=2

Scroll down to DMF's posting on page 2.

 

[JPL]

As probably one of the most virulently anti-police posters on this board, I fully admit that I hate police.

ALL police.

Sorry, but that's the way it is.

What I've witnessed of those who supposedly "protect and serve" has forever soured me on the profession, and little of what I hear or see today gives me any faith that the situation has improved since I was a kid.

That said...

I mourn the loss of human life, ALL human life.

He was a cop by choice.

But he was a human being by grace of God.

 

[Smurfslayer]

hits close to home

Before everyone goes off on an anti-cop rant here, let's put a couple things in perspective:

This guy was survived by a wife and kids, who now, no longer have a provider, protector, father, husband and friend. Whether or not you like or dislike cops, have some problem with authority, are xenophobic etc. Just put yourself in the family's shoes. Regardless of your opinion of cops, this cop was a human being who's life got cut short by the criminal act of some dirtbag <expletives deleted>. It could have been anyone.

Fed probably knows this, for the benefit of those not local to the area, Oxon Hill is very close to DC, in MD. Livingston Terrace is the apartments along Indiand Head Hwy IIRC, in Prince George's County MD. It's a very high crime area, and I would certainly be wary of being in that neighborhood at all, especially in the dark. It said he lived close by, I wonder if he knew the attacker...

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Hawk, you just proved my point. You just said that it was OK to kill a Police Officer during the course of his official duties because he was serving a type of warrant that you do not see as justified. Thanks.

Are you a complete moron in real life, or do you just play one in your on-screen persona?

I did NOT say it is alright to kill an officer in the performance of his duties. What I said, paraphrased, is that when officers come kicking in the door unannounced in the middle of the night, at the WRONG address so the reident(s) have no expectation that any officers might come kicking in their door, that a reasonable person would defend him/herself with all means available.

This is not calling for executions of police officers, it's simply a realistic assessment of why no-knock warrants are a particularly bad idea. Do I think no-knock warrants are unjustified? You bet I do, and this is a prime example of why. Why not put aside you prejudices for a moment and think about how long it takes you to wake up from a sound sleep. What's your reaction going to be if at oh-darkthirty person or persons unknown come smashing through your front door? Oh, yeah, maybe they're hollaring something about "Police!" but if you live in a not-so-great neighborhood, are you going to risk your life on the chance that it's true, and not some goblins using a ruse to delay your defensive reaction?

Heck, it's not just no-knocks that are dumb. It's the whole court-approved notion of an "acceptable" waiting time before bashing in the door. What's the rule, 15 seconds, or is it 30 seconds? I don't know about you or anyone else, but when I'm really tired I don't go from dead asleep to fully altert and functional in 15 or 30 seconds. 15 to 30 minutes is more like it.

Get a grip on reality, man.

Once again, I call on you to post a link to even ONE thread where people on this forum have advocated the killing of police officers. Just one.

 

[WonderNine]

My infamous quote rears it's ugly head yet again. I knew it wouldn't take long for it to appear after reading several posts of cop whining.

In fact, I would like all real LEO's and the internet pretend LEO's (probably the majority of the "LEO's" on here) to add my quote to your signatures. Thank you for complying.