Officer Michael Crawshaw shot in line of duty
Another police officer has been shot and killed in the line of duty. KDKA-TV has identified the fallen officer as Michael Crawshaw. Crawshaw, 32, was a 2.5-year veteran of the Penn Hills Police Department. Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said the officer was gunned down, apparently with an assault rifle, as he sat in his car awaiting backup outside 201 Johnston Road, while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Officers found another man, Danyal Morton, 40, dead of gunshot wounds inside.
Police Chief Howard Burton said Crawshaw properly followed protocol by parking his car a few doors away from the scene and calling for backup, but while he was on his radio, someone walked up to the car and shot him. This person reportedly fled the scene.
The slain officer had just arrived on the scene, a residential neighborhood off Frankstown Road, at about 8:20 p.m. and was apparently calling for backup on his radio when he was shot, Supt. Moffatt said. He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian, where he was pronounced dead. Supt. Moffatt said it was unclear why the officer was responding to the house. He said police were reviewing the 911 tapes to determine the nature of the call and the sequence of events.
Crawshaw was originally from the Shaler/Glenshaw area and worked for the University of Pittsburgh Police Department before moving to Penn Hills. He was not married and did not have children. The last Penn Hills police officers to die in the line of duty were Sgt. William Schrott and Patrolman Bartley Connolly Jr. in 1972. The men were shot trying to apprehend an armed robber at the East Hills Shopping Center.
It is a sad commentary that another police officer has been murdered. This brings the total deaths of police officers in the last two weeks to six, with Maurice Clemmons murdering four in Lakewood, Wa., and Bart Wayne Johnson, who murdered a police officer in Pelham, Al.
By Janet Shan
No comments:
Post a Comment