San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald James De Meulle died as the result of the crash of the Hughes 500 helicopter into Lake Silverwood at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 31.

Deputy De Meulle was riding as observer in the craft with pilot Deputy Stephen Nix. The accident was the first fatality in San Bernardino County Sheriff’s aviation history.

The helicopter was on routine patrol enroute to Victorville from the Rialto airport when it hit Edison high voltage transmission lines adjacent to Lake Silverwood in the San Bernardino Mountains. At least one witness reported the aircraft’s engine to be emitting an erratic sound as it flew at a low altitude into the power lines. The chopper broke up on impact with the tail rotor section falling to the ground at the edge of the lake. The cockpit section with the main rotor then dived at a steep angle into the lake emitting flames at it fell according to witness on the ground. A shower of shrapnel-like parts showered the beach and lake area injuring a ten-year-old boy riding a jet ski and a 30-year-old woman who was lying on the beach.

According to a Sheriff’s spokesman, both observer De Meulle and pilot Nix were in the cockpit as it submerged in 12 feet of water. Deputy Nix, although suffering a broken neck vertebrae and back injuries, was able to release himself from his harness and rise to the lake surface, When Deputy De Meulle did not emerge from the cockpit, Nix made at least three attempts to dive below the surface and free his observer. Unsuccessful, Nix shouted for help to save his partner.

Several persons responded to the call for help including lifeguard Jeffrey Miller, 21, of Fontana. Miller sustained cuts and inhaled fuel while attempting to rescue De Meulle. Fifteen minutes elapsed before De Meulle was removed from the submerged helicopter.

De Meulle, 28, of Chino Hills was airlifted to San Bernardino County Medical Center by a Sheriff’s helicopter where he was pronounced dead at 2:37 p.m. De Meulle was a former Army helicopter pilot with more than 2,5000 hours of flight experience. He joined the Sheriff’s Department 2 ½ years ago. He leaves his wife Marilu, and two children, Danielo Allen, 6, and Kristy Anne, 4.

The pilot, Deputy Stephen Nix was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center where his condition was listed as good.

Some came from Oregon and Southern California. Others traveled to the Siskiyou County community from as far away as Washington state.

All had come to the Yreka High School football stadium to pay respects to Siskiyou County sheriff’s deputies Larry Breceda and Dale Rossetto, killed Thursday, July 31, in an airplane crash three miles southwest of Mt. Ashland in Oregon.

Breceda, 29, of Montague and Rossetto, 30, of Yreka were, at the time of the crash, on a marijuana-spotting mission in conjunction with the state’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) program.

Also killed was Redding pilot Noah Stinnett, 46.

The deputies’ deaths marked the first fatalities in the Sheriff’s Department in more than 30 years, and marked the first time offices have been killed during the four-year history of the CAMP program.

Some 400 uniformed law enforcement officers attended the hour-long, 9:30 a.m. service, which had all the rituals of a full military memorial. They were joined by some 600 friends, public officials and county residents.

Among those attending were officers from San Bernardino County; the Drug Enforcement Administration in Olympia, Washington; the FBI office in Sacramento; and state Department of Justice and Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, both in Sacramento.

Siskiyou County sheriff’s deputy Gary Peery said this morning that several at the ceremony had attended the regional police academy in Oroville with Breceda and Rossetto.

The crowd sat somberly in the mid-morning heat during a 21-gun salute, the playing of taps and a California Highway Patrol flyby.

In a eulogy by Peery and fellow deputy Larry Schaller, Breceda and Rossetto were described as “heroes” who died while working to better their community. The crowd stood in applause as Schaller told the victims’ families the deputies had not “died in vain.”

“One of the fathers approached me (after the service) and was overwhelmed by it,” Peery said of the camaraderie displayed among law enforcement officers at the service. “He said, ‘I didn’t know how you guys treated each other.’ ”

“A lot of people don’t understand the customs we have,” Peery said.

Since the airplane was discovered by a search team Sunday afternoon deputies wore black ribbons across their badges and county residents and public offices have flown flags at half-staff.

The flags were raised and the ribbons ripped off after the service, but Peery said a sense of resolution will not come until the cause of the crash is known.

We would all like to know exactly what caused it and as soon as possible,” he said.

The first Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy killed in the line of duty in 55 years was shot by a Los Gatos man with a history of “mental instability” and confrontations with police, authorities said.

In fact, officers responded on a number of occasions to reports of violent behavior by Michael Robert Stephens, including the day before Stephens fatally wounded Deputy Doug Miller and was himself killed in an exchange of gunfire, sheriff’s officials said, Monday, June 9.

Miller, 31, was shot in the lower abdomen after Stephens grabbed a gun from the deputy’s holster and started a shoot-out with three other deputies and a California Highway Patrol officer, sheriff’s officials said.

The officers were responding to a call from Stephens’ parents after Stephens became violent in their home in an unincorporated area near Los Gatos.

Miller, a seven-year member of the Sheriff’s Department, died early the next morning after emergency surgery at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

Sheriff Robert Winter called the deputy’s death “a sad occasion in the history of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department.”

In a speech in Sunnyvale to the California State Sheriffs Association, Gov. George Deukmejian said, “I am deeply saddened that an outstanding law enforcement officer has been killed. All of the officers demonstrated great bravery and a tremendous amount of courage.”

After Miller was wounded, Stephens, 28, was shot four times by Deputy Bill Scott. Another deputy, Dennis Nixon, was shot in the heel during the shoot-out and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose for treatment.

Winter said Scott and Nixon would be placed on routine administrative leave until “they are ready” to return to work.

According to Sheriff’s Department officials, Stephens had a history of mental problems and run-ins with police. Winter said Miller was aware of Stephens’ volatile history and had contact with the man prior to Sunday’s shooting.

Winter would not reveal the extent of Stephens’ police record, although Deputy Steve Lieurance said the Los Gatos man “did not have a big sheet” of past violations.

There was no record of Stephens having a felony record in Santa Clara County Superior Court, and Lieurance said there were no charges pending against Stephens when he was killed.

The shootings occurred about 9 p.m. after the Sheriff’s Department received a domestic disturbance call at the Stephens’ residence. The parents wanted their son taken to Valley Medical Center for psychiatric observation.

Winter said that deputies responded to the same type of call on Saturday, when Stephens fled the house before officers arrived.

When the deputies went to the house again Sunday night, Stephens’ mother cautioned them that her son was particularly violent and might have to be restrained, sheriff’s officials said.

According to Winter, Stephens was in a small room off the garage when the deputies approached him.

Stephens put up a struggle, at which point Miller tried to handcuff him.

Winter said that Stephens grabbed Miller’s service revolver and shot the deputy in the lower abdomen, below the bulletproof vest he was wearing.

After Miller was shot, deputies said that Scott grabbed Stephens’ gun and shot Stephens four times. But Stephens managed to fire the revolver three more times, one shot hitting Nixon in the heel.

Stephens was pronounced dead at the scene.

Miller, a native of San Jose, worked at the county jail before going to patrol several years ago. He was a Navy Veteran.

His parents, Walter and Lorraine Miller, of San Jose, survive him.

More than 500 uniformed officers were waiting silently for the memorial service for slain Torrance police Officer Thomas Joseph Keller to begin, when someone started whistling the “Star Spangled Banner.”

The whistler, who didn’t even realize he was whistling, was acting out his nervousness in a manner that underscored the sadness of the event.

Keller, who was shot and killed on Thursday, April 17, by a 22-year-old illegal alien in a Torrance sporting goods store, is the third officer in the 65-year history of the Torrance Police Department to be slain in the line of duty.

The last time a Torrance police officer was killed in the line of duty was December 22, 1968, when Keller was 8 years old.

Torrance Chief of Police Donald E. Nash, who stood behind a large emblematic police badge draped in black sash, called Keller “an outstanding officer who worked with compassion and dedication and knew about fear.”

“No one can explain why a crazed gunman did what he did,” said Nash.

Added Torrance Mayor Katy Geissert, “To think his life could have ended by a deranged individual is beyond our comprehension.”

A coroner’s autopsy disclosed that Rafael Hernandez Navarro, an illegal alien and a veteran of the Mexican army, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest soon after shooting Keller.

“Tom Keller was a true cop who faced pimps, prostitutes, dope addicts, thieves, liars and cons with professionalism and skill,” said Father Bill Caffrey, the police chaplain.

Lt. Robert M. Armstrong said a tree in Keller’s honor would be planted on the lawn in front of the Torrance Police Department.

Keller, who would have turned 26 on April 29, was due to be married in August. His fiancée, 25-year-old Patty Dahlia, sat with Keller’s family during the 35-minute outdoors service that concluded with a fly-by by five helicopters.

Besides Dahlen, Keller is survived by his parents, Eleanor and Max, a brother, John and two sisters, Ann Keller and Patricia Muraoka.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Raul Adauto was assigned Narcotics Bureau (Norwalk station crew). He was assigned to the Narcotics Bureau from August 14, 1983 until his death on April 5, 1986. Deputy Adauto had preciously been assigned to the Norwalk Station. Deputy Adauto sustained a knee injury while working. He failed to regain consciousness from the anesthesia during a subsequent surgical procedure to repair the knee injury.

A Rialto police sergeant was killed March 3 when an assailant attacked him behind a gas station, grabbed his gun and shot him once in the head.

The death of Sgt. Gary Wolfley, 30, was the first line-of-duty police death in the city.

Wolfley was transported to and pronounced dead at San Bernardino Community Hospital.

After shooting Wolfley and firing at another Rialto police car, the alleged assailant, Dennis Mayfield, 26, of San Bernardino, ran from a Shell gasoline station to a house, Rialto Police Chief Ray Farmer said.

Mayfield smashed through a window of the small, one-story house and barricaded himself in a back room, taking resident William Haverstick hostage and shooting him once in the leg critically injuring him, Farmer said.

When Mayfield reportedly broke into the house, a Rialto man in his 30s, who was staying with Haverstick, fled and alerted the police.

Officers from four law enforcement agencies surrounded the house. After five hours of negotiations, which included the help of Mayfield’s parents, Mayfield threw Wolfley’s .357-Magnum out the window and surrendered, said Farmer.

Mayfield was arrested at 6:45 a.m. on suspicion of murdering a peace officer.

Howard Bell, 25, of Rialto, also was taken into custody at the gas station. Later, he was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to the crime, Rialto Police Lt. Brian Hebbard said.

Wolfley was on patrol duty with his wife, Candette Wolfley, an officer with the Fontana Police Department, early yesterday morning when he received a call of suspicious circumstances at the Shell gas station.

The sergeant arrived at the service station at 1:36 a.m. Two men, allegedly Mayfield and Bell, were standing near the gas pumps.

They apparently had gone to the gas station to search for someone with whom they had been fighting in San Bernardino late Sunday night, said Farmer.

When Wolfley arrived and identified himself as a police officer, Bell froze but Mayfield fled.

Wolfley chased Mayfield on foot and drew his revolver. Mayfield ran around the back of the gas station. Gas station attendants heard a shot and saw Mayfield running, Farmer said.

Candette Wolfley radioed for assistance. Rialto Police Officer Joe Cirilo arrived and sped after Mayfield, who fired several times at Cirilo’s patrol car.

One of the bullets blew out Cirilo’s windshield, Farmer said. Cirilo received minor hand injuries in the incident.

Mayfield ran about a quarter mile to Haverstick’s residence where he broke through the window and took the man hostage, Framer said.

Police evacuated an elderly couple whose house is in front of Haverstick’s residence and used their phone.

After five hours of phone calls, negotiations and the help of Mayfield’s parents, of San Bernardino, who came to the house to talk with their son, Mayfield surrendered.

Chief Farmer said Wolfley’s death is the first such death in his department’s history.

“It’s very difficult for us because we are a smaller agency. We’re like a family here,” he said.

Farmer said Wolfley worked at the department for 12 years. He started at age 19 as a dispatcher and worked his way up to a patrol officer, then a detective and finally was awarded sergeant’s stripes in May. At the time of his death, Wolfley was in charge of the department’s canine unit.

Wolfley graduated from Eisenhower High School in Rialto. He is survived by his wife, Candette, and a son, Christopher.

Tim Ruggles, a reserve with the Placer County Sheriff’s Department, had only one goal: to become a full-fledged deputy.

But his career ended before it really began when he died Sunday night, February 9, following the crash of his patrol car while on a call near Loomis, authorities said.

The wreck occurred on at 8:20 p.m., said Placer County Sheriff Donald Nunes. The driver, Deputy Jon Perriraz, 29, was only bruised and got out of the car on his own. Ruggles, however, lost consciousness and was pinned inside for nearly an hour before being pulled out by firefighters using metal-tearing “Jaws of Life.”

Ruggles, 23, of Roseville, was transported by helicopter ambulance to University Medical Center in Sacramento, where he was pronounced dead at 10:07 p.m.

“All of us in the department are choked up at Tim’s death,” Nunes said. “He was a fine young man who had chosen law enforcement as a career and was preparing to become a regular deputy.

“I was looking forward to promoting him in the near future.”

Ruggles had been with the department about a year, working on-call to relieve vacationing deputies and court bailiffs.

As part of his training, Ruggles was required to ride along with deputies. “That’s what he was doing Sunday night,” Nunes said.

The chain of events leading to his death began in Loomis when Deputy Mike Cash sighted a car driven by a suspected burglar. Before intercepting the car, Cash requested a backup, Nunes said.

Perriraz and Ruggles were responding to the call when their car darted off a curved section of Laird Road and crashed into a large oak tree just outside the Loomis city limits.

The sheriff would not speculate as to the cause of the accident, which is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol, and declined to report any other details.

CHP officials said details of the accident would have to come from the Sheriff’s Department after it received the CHP’s reports.

Perriraz was not available for comment.

Nunes said the suspected burglar who unknowingly triggered the event was not apprehended.

An autopsy conducted by the Sacramento County coroner’s office established that Ruggles died of head injuries, a coroner’s spokesman said.

Ruggles is survived by his parents, Merle and Pat Ruggles of Roseville and by an uncle, Hal Ruggles, a retired captain from the Auburn CHP office.

Recalling his eight years as Los Angeles’ chief of police, Daryl Gates counted 16 officers in that time “who have given their lives in the line of duty.”

“And every time one of us is killed,” said Gates, “the rest of us wear black bands around our badges. Well, I’m taking my black band off. I don’t need a black band to remember Arleigh and Ron.”

The names Gates was referring to, of course, are Detective Arleigh McCree and Officer Ronald Ball, the two members of the police bomb squad who were killed Saturday trying to defuse a pipe bomb in North Hollywood.

Gates was one of more than 3,000 people, including solemn representatives from virtually every police jurisdiction in Southern California, from around the nation and from the armed services gathered yesterday at the Scottish Rite Temple for a memorial service honoring the fallen policemen.

“I cannot remember when two deaths have stirred the department as deeply,” said Gates, who called McCree and Ball “heroes whose deaths have made us realize the awesome, awesome task of securing the peace in our communities.”

The 50-minute service, which opened with the playing of bagpipes, was led by Assistant Police Chief Robert Vernon, who read the 23rd Psalm and other portions of the Bible and then followed with what he called “the department’s official eulogies.”

In remembering McCree and Ball, both of whom were previous recipients of the department’s Medal of Valor, Vernon described McCree as “a calm, efficient, devoted, dedicated, unselfish professional.”

Vernon then quoted one of Ball’s previous commanding officers that said some years ago that in Ball’s case, “Outstanding is almost not enough for this copper.”

Jim Trahin, Ball’s former partner, used Ball’s nickname, “The Wizard,” to recall how expert he was in his chosen field of law enforcement, firearms and explosives.

“But more than that he was a compassionate and sentimental human being who was born 100 years too late,” said Trahin, who talked affectionately of Ball’s love “of his family, his home in Simi Valley, his western shirts and his cowboy boots.”

“Arleigh and Ron leave a legacy,” said Gates, “a legacy of devotion – to flag, community and nation. They are the kind of heroes that built America and made it strong.”

Interment was private, and at the request of both families, the police department’s Copper Creek Band played country and western music as the mourners filed out of the Scottish Rite Temple and into the rain.

Edith McCree eulogized her husband as a man who “made an indelible mark for all of us, and in doing so will never be gone from our lives.”

Besides his wife, McCree leaves a son, John, and a daughter, Kathleen McCree Downing.

Ball is survived by his wife, Ann, two daughters, Stacy and Tiffany Bardy, and a son, Scott.

Reprinted from The Los Angeles Herald Examiner
February 16, 1986