ByDennis N. Griffin
The men and women of law enforcement don't have the luxury
of picking and choosing each and every situation they become involved in. They
respond to calls for service as dispatched, and react to what they observe
while on the streets. Complaint-takers can reduce the risk to officers by
obtaining detailed information of the situation the officer is responding to.
And the officer's training, experience and instincts can guide him or her in how they handle the various circumstances
they encounter while on patrol. But nothing is cast in stone. Every call and
incident carries its own unique problems and dangers. Yet to keep us and our
communities safe, these dedicated individuals are out there day after day
putting their lives on the line.
One such person is Enrique Hernandez. Enrique is a cop in
Las Vegas, Nevada, and in my eyes is a true hero.
The Story
In 2002, 28-year-old Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department officer Enrique Hernandez lived on the northwest side of Las Vegas
with his wife Leean and their year-old daughter Maricela. The former Marine had
graduated from the police academy in June, and finished riding with a
field-training officer that October. He was at the beginning of what appeared
to be a promising law-enforcement career. But late that year he was involved in
an incident that nearly took his life. I had an opportunity to interview
Officer Hernandez in 2003.
It was December 12, and Officer Hernandez was working alone
on patrol on the 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. shift. At about 10:20, he was stopped at a
traffic light at the intersection of Eastern and Bonanza. Facing southbound on
Eastern, he observed a dark-colored SUV turn from Bonanza onto Eastern, also
heading south. The vehicle had no license plate, nor was any permit, sticker or
decal visible. Immediately after making the turn, the SUV pulled into a gas
station and convenience store located on the southeast corner of the
intersection. As the traffic light changed, Officer Hernandez proceeded through
the intersection and followed the suspect vehicle into the parking lot. He
turned on his car’s roof lights, planning to stop the vehicle and determine its
registration status.
Although many police officers might argue that there is no
such thing as a “routine” traffic stop, up to this point nothing had happened
to cause Hernandez to become alarmed. There was no indication that there was
anything particularly unusual or dangerous about the SUV. But unknown to
Hernandez, its driver, 24-year-old
Javier Duarte Chavez, was an illegal immigrant. Previously convicted of a
felony in Nevada , Chavez had served time in
the state prison system and been deported to Mexico United States
That wasn’t Chavez’ only problem, however. On this night he
was driving back from the residence of a man and woman who owed him money and
were refusing to pay. Though armed with a stolen .38 revolver, the slight,
five-foot-tall Mexican, left the couple’s home without the money after being
told the police had been called.
It will never be known for sure whether Chavez thought the
police were trying to stop him for the incident that had just occurred,
although that seems like a strong possibility. Whatever was in his mind, he had
no intention of letting Officer Hernandez get a hold of him.
The lives of both men were drastically altered by the events
of the next two minutes and 45 seconds.
“I put my lights on, but the SUV swung around out of the
parking lot and headed back south on Eastern. I called in that I was in a
pursuit and gave the direction of travel. The suspect made a left on Cedar, a
right on 28th Street
“Shortly after we got on Marlin, he lost control of the
vehicle, jumped the curb and hit a light pole. I pulled in to the curb behind
him. He hit that pole pretty hard and I didn’t think he’d get out and run right
away, but he did. I called in that I was now in a foot pursuit and the chase
was on again.
“We were running through an apartment complex and I was
several yards behind. All of a sudden I saw one of the apartment doors open and
he ran inside, the door shut behind him. He hadn’t displayed a weapon yet, but
it was obvious there was more to this than I had originally thought. In my
mind, I was concerned that he may take the occupants of the apartment hostage.
I drew my gun, opened the door, and went in. I didn’t see the suspect, but
there was a woman standing inside the door and a couple of little kids. The
woman started screaming.
“It was a small apartment. The living room was on my right
and I could see that the next room toward the back was a kitchen area, with a
sliding glass door leading to the outside. I didn’t know if the suspect had
gone out the back or was somewhere in the apartment. I started moving
cautiously toward the kitchen, stopping by the wall that separated the two
rooms. As I again went forward into the kitchen, I detected movement against
the wall to my left, about five feet away. Then I saw two muzzle flashes. My
left arm was jerked back, but I didn’t realize right away that I’d been hit. We
then fired at each other simultaneously. I learned later that my round struck
him near the right armpit and exited out his back. His bullet got me in my
right forearm, my gun arm. It shattered the bone, then traveled up my arm and
lodged in my shoulder; it’s still in there. It felt like the arm had been blown
off. It went dead and I lost the feeling in it; my gun fell out of my hand to
the floor. I was now totally defenseless. It turned out that his wound wasn’t
debilitating.”
There was a brief pause, during which Officer Hernandez
realized that he had to get out of that apartment. As he started to retreat, he
accidentally kicked his gun, knocking it under a piece of furniture. Before he
could get out of the room, Chavez again opened fire. Hernandez was struck in
his side, neck, and leg. He stumbled toward the front door, falling, then
regaining his feet. He made it outside and fell to the ground about 10 feet
from the door. Chavez, his gun now empty, fled in the other direction through
the sliding-glass doors. It was later learned that the apartment in which the
shooting occurred was where Chavez lived. The screaming woman was his
girlfriend.
Hernandez continued his story, “A guy came out of the
apartment and asked if I was okay and told me not to die. It turned out that he
was the suspect’s brother-in-law. He’d been upstairs taking a shower while the
shooting was going on. I asked him to call 9-1-1 and tell them what had
happened. The last they’d heard from me was when I called in the foot pursuit.
Responding units would have no idea exactly where I was.”
As additional personnel arrived, they administered medical
treatment while Hernandez, who remained conscious at all times, provided
suspect information. He said it wasn’t until he got into the ambulance that the
pain began to set in.
While the fallen officer was being transported to the
hospital, his survival uncertain, the hunt for Javier Duarte Chavez began. SWAT
and K-9 teams soon tracked the fugitive to a nearby row of unoccupied
apartments. One of the dogs confirmed that Chavez was hiding in an airshaft a
few feet above the floor. As SWAT officers prepared to enter the apartment,
they were not certain of how much ammunition Chavez had for the .38, and
thought he might have picked up Hernandez’ service weapon, which remained
undiscovered at the scene of the shooting.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get Chavez to
surrender, he pointed his .38 at the officers and they opened fire, killing the
suspect. It was later determined that his gun had been empty and the incident
was a case of “suicide by cop.” A coroner’s inquest and Use of Force Board both
ruled that the shooting of Chavez was justified.
Officer Hernandez was released from the hospital before
Christmas, but he faced more than a year of therapy and rehabilitation. In
January 2004 he completed treatment and was taken off medication. He returned
to work on light-duty at the Downtown Area Command and the Public Information
Office. In early March he was assigned to the Domestic Violence Detail on
restricted duty. He carries a gun, but is prohibited from getting involved in
physical altercations. It is anticipated that the three bullets still in his
body will eventually work themselves out and no surgery is planned. “My right
arm is in good shape. My hand is only about 60% and my left foot hurts most of
the time, but I’m back to work and I’m happy,” Enrique says. He has no
complaints about how Metro has treated him since the shooting.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more. My Metro family has done
everything possible in the way of help and support,” he said.
And finally, the big question. On that night, wounded and
unarmed, did he think he was going to die?
“I never thought that. I knew I was going to live,”
Hernandez said confidently.
Under those circumstances, how could he be so sure?
“Because I wasn’t going to let a guy like him kill me.”
And he didn’t.
Dennis Griffin is a True Crime Author, Co-Host of Crime Wire and Real Wiseguyson Inside Lenz Network. He has written several books concentrating on the history of the mob presence in Las Vegas. www.dennisngriffin.com
