He also said he thinks waiting for the advisory board could take months. It just kind of hits closer to home when it’s one of your kids.”Īnother man who did not give his name said it is the responsibility of citizens and the government to protect law enforcement. “So we are in a very, very dangerous line of work, and I get that. “The Hoisington officer who got shot at is my son,” Paden said. Dave Paden, Barton County Sheriff’s Office, spoke. When the commissioners asked if anyone in the audience wanted to comment, Lt. We’re not going to solve it this morning.” Other voices “We didn’t get to this situation in Barton County overnight. Patrick Hoffman, the county’s counselor, disagreed. We don’t have time for boards and meetings and planning and thinking.” 56 would have been a fatality? What if a Hoisington police officer was dead, and I’m trying to figure out a funeral?” Bellendir said. Are we going to wait for an innocent civilian to get shot and killed? What if that woman on U.S.
They filled two of those seats and are looking for a third member.īellendir said an advisory board doesn’t have enough power and will take too long. The commissioners also learned there were three open seats on the board. So, the Commission asked the advisory board to become more active, start meeting monthly, and review some policies.
This has to cease in our county,” he said. “What if that was your wife, husband, child who was struck head-on by a meth head? What if that was one of my deputy sheriffs if the angle of that gun would have been three degrees higher and the bullet went through the windshield? I’d be in here asking you to pay for a funeral. “Now it’s not going to take a steel trap police mind here to be arresting these people for methamphetamine charges and not think they’re probably giving bad UAs at community corrections.”īellendir asked the commissioners to seriously consider the danger. We found methamphetamine in that car,” he said. Two of the occupants of that vehicle were on community corrections. Bellendir said the shooter got away, but deputies caught two others who had been in the car. Bellendir said someone fleeing from a Hoisington police officer allegedly shot at the officer and possibly at deputies who joined the pursuit. The third incident happened early Saturday morning.