Police Officer Chris Kilcullen Eugene Police Department Oregon EoW: Friday, April 22, 2011

Police Officer Chris Kilcullen
Eugene Police Department
Oregon
End of Watch: Friday, April 22, 2011

Biographical Info
Age: 43

Tour of Duty: 12 years
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Friday, April 22, 2011
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Apprehended

Officer Chris Kilcullen was shot and killed during a vehicle pursuit of a female suspect.
He had attempted to stop the woman for a traffic violation on I-105 but the woman fled. Officer Kilcullen, who was on his department motorcycle, pursued the suspect into Springfield where the vehicle exited at 52nd Street.
The vehicle swerved around several cars that were stopped at a red light and Officer Kilcullen pulled up alongside it and lowered his kickstand. As he indicated for the woman to pull over she fired a weapon at him, fatally wounding him.
The woman continued to flee and was pursued by Springfield police officers to a rural area where she finally stopped. She remained in her car for several hours until finally being taken into custody.
Officer Kilcullen had served with the Eugene Police Department for 12 years. He is survived by his wife and two children

Agency Contact Information
Eugene Police Department
777 Pearl Street
Room 107
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 682-5111
Please contact the Eugene Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.

SPRINGFIELD — Eugene police officer Chris Kilcullen — a 12-year veteran of the city police force and a father of two — was fatally shot Friday afternoon while pursuing a car that had sped away from his motorcycle during an attempted traffic stop on Interstate 105, police said.

Authorities arrested the woman who allegedly killed Kilcullen following a standoff with a police SWAT team that cornered her east of Lowell. That was after she allegedly led officers on a 20-mile chase to the rural area after fleeing the scene of the shooting, which occurred about 4:30 p.m. along the Highway 126 Expressway in Springfield’s Thurston area.

The suspected shooter is identified as Cheryl D. Kidd, 56, of Springfield. Kidd was being interviewed late Friday night by detectives and will be lodged in the Lane County Jail on a murder charge, Springfield Police Chief Jerry Smith said.

It remains unclear what led Kidd to allegedly pull out a handgun and shoot the officer.

“We still have to see what’s going on with her,” Smith said, adding that investigators will speak with the woman’s friends and family.

Kilcullen, 43, is the first Eugene police officer to die in the line of duty since 1934.

During a brief but somber news conference held less than six hours after the shooting, Eugene Police Chief Pete Kerns spoke of Kilcullen’s “honorable career” with the department and recalled the officer as a “very popular guy” who was “relentlessly positive and upbeat.”

Flanked by a group of police supervisors — three of whom had affixed black bands to their badges in a display of mourning — Kerns said he was pleased to hear that Kilcullen’s alleged killer had been taken into custody uninjured, although he expressed bitterness about the incident.

“I am personally angered by this — that someone would kill one of our officers,” Kerns said.

The incident that ultimately led to Kilcullen’s death and Kidd’s arrest began when the officer — working on his motorcycle as a member of the police department’s traffic enforcement team — tried to stop an eastbound 1998 Buick Skylark on Interstate 105, police said.

Instead of pulling over for Kilcullen, the Buick’s driver sped into Springfield on the interstate, which becomes the Highway 126 Expressway east of Interstate 5. Police radio traffic indicated that the driver reached 80 mph during the pursuit, before approaching the highway’s intersection with 52nd Street in Springfield’s Thurston area.

A number of vehicles were stopped at a red light at the intersection. Smith said the Buick slowed and swerved around to the right of those vehicles, while Kilcullen pulled up beside the car and lowered his motorcycle’s kickstand.

“We have some indications that he was trying to point for (Kidd) to pull over, and she fired at least one round from a handgun” striking Kilcullen, Smith said.

Kilcullen fell against the rear tire of a tractor-trailer rig that had stopped at the intersection, Smith said.

Kilcullen did not return fire, Eugene police Sgt. Sam Kamkar said.

Kilcullen was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

While police and medics raced to the scene of the shooting, the Buick continued along the highway, with Springfield police giving chase. Kidd allegedly disregarded officers and drove south to Jasper-Lowell Road before heading east toward Lowell. She continued on North Shore Drive, then turned onto a U.S. Forest Service road where she reached a dead end, police said.

At least one officer immediately began negotiating with Kidd, while others set up a perimeter around the Buick, Smith said.

Police were able to talk the woman out of the car and take her into custody about 7:30 p.m., Smith said.

By that time, many of the investigators who responded to the shooting scene had left. The highway’s eastbound lanes, which had been closed since shortly after Kilcullen was shot, was reopened by 8:30 p.m. During the closure, state highway workers diverted eastbound traffic onto 42nd Street, causing a 2-mile-long traffic jam there.

Police also closed through traffic on 52nd Street near the scene for more than three hours following the shooting.

While Springfield police handle the shooting investigation, Kerns and his officers are mourning Kilcullen’s death.

“Our department is grieving, along with his family,” said Kerns of Kilcullen, who is survived by his wife and two children.

“This is a moment of pure sorrow,” Eugene Police Employees’ Association President Erik Humphrey said in a statement.

“Today, we lost a brother officer, killed in the line of duty. There is no greater sacrifice,” Humphrey said. “Our devoted prayers are with this fine officer’s family. This void in law enforcement will remain forever. We now have a guardian angel walking the beat. God speed, our beloved friend.”

According to The Register-Guard’s archives and the website www.odmp.com, two Eugene police officers prior to Kilcullen had died in the line of duty.

In 1930, officer Oscar Lee Duley was shot and killed near Marcola by moonshiner Ray Sutherland. Just four years later, in 1934, officer Jesse Jennings Jackson died in a motorcycle crash.

Kilcullen is the second Eugene officer to die this year. In February, Sgt. Jerry Webber was killed in an off-duty, accidental shooting at a firing range southeast of Eugene. Webber, 44, had been with the police department since 1994.

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