Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement
#075- "Shot in the Face" with Crystal Sepulveda Part 1
Crystal Sepulveda, a Missouri City police officer, shares her inspiring journey into law enforcement, discussing how the tragic loss of her father as a child fueled her passion for justice and led her to a challenging yet rewarding career in policing. She provides candid stories about her upbringing, her path to becoming a police officer, and the emotional impact of her father's murder investigation. Additionally, Crystal delves into the realities of police work, offering gripping firsthand accounts and a profound understanding of the resilience required in law enforcement. Despite facing immense challenges, including being shot in the face while chasing a suspect, Crystal remained dedicated to her duty. Her incredible courage and determination allow her to share her powerful story, emphasizing the dedication and bravery of those who protect and serve. Join us for a compelling episode shedding light on the strength and resilience of law enforcement officers like Crystal.
email us at- bluegrit@tmpa.org
Crystal Sepulveda, a Missouri City police officer, shares her inspiring journey into law enforcement, discussing how the tragic loss of her father as a child fueled her passion for justice and led her to a challenging yet rewarding career in policing. She provides candid stories about her upbringing, her path to becoming a police officer, and the emotional impact of her father's murder investigation. Additionally, Crystal delves into the realities of police work, offering gripping firsthand accounts and a profound understanding of the resilience required in law enforcement. Despite facing immense challenges, including being shot in the face while chasing a suspect, Crystal remained dedicated to her duty. Her incredible courage and determination allow her to share her powerful story, emphasizing the dedication and bravery of those who protect and serve. Join us for a compelling episode shedding light on the strength and resilience of law enforcement officers like Crystal.
email us at- bluegrit@tmpa.org
9-13. They're running, they're running. Drivers running, got him, got him, stop stop running, stop running sending five seconds hey, blue grip podcast.
Speaker 3:We're back this week. Your host clint mcnear.
Speaker 4:Hey, blue Grit Podcast. We're back this week. Your host Clint McNair and Tyler Owen Tyler.
Speaker 3:Owen, what's up TO man living the dream? Got the old, got the Jeep back, got the soft top on, so living life Sweet, that's going to be nice Well let me. So I got the soft top for Janet For her 40th Well, for her birthday, I shouldn't say 40th.
Speaker 4:You meant 30th.
Speaker 3:I meant 30th, yeah, so she'd been wanting a soft top. The kids wanted to get her one. So you think soft top? You think you can retract it all the way back? Yeah, we found out the night before we got this thing installed on it that it does not retract all the way back. It's just like the bikini top you. It does not retract all the way back. It's just like the bikini top. You can take all the windows and shit off, but you just can't. So she kind of acted happy, but I could tell she wouldn't, did you stick with slant back?
Speaker 4:Uh-huh, I like that dude.
Speaker 3:It looks sharp man, it looks good. You need to post a picture of it right there. Right there, I could do like a background. Yeah, I want to.
Speaker 4:Good Older fatter, all is good. How was your drive down? It was good, it was good, it was smooth. Yeah, smooth, sailing Smooth sailing Well.
Speaker 3:a couple weeks ago we had on Jay McAlellan.
Speaker 4:Jay Mac.
Speaker 3:Your new nickname. Jay Mac, our new TMPA trading coordinator. I shouldn't say former Mo City, I should say retired, retired Is that offensive or is that like honor?
Speaker 4:No, it's offensive a little bit, because former could mean you got forced out. Yeah, you didn't leave on good terms.
Speaker 2:Right, right, I wrote a letter and it was official and everything.
Speaker 4:It's like saying, well, that's my former wife.
Speaker 3:Ah, Well then Okay. Retired means you left on your own. That's your ex-department, so that's like an ex-wife. What the hell does that mean? Anyway, you've got a former colleague that you wanted to bring on, and I'll let you intro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we brought on today Crystal Sepulveda or not Sepulveda Sepulveda? Yeah, so she's a Missouri City officer, started, oh I don't know, four years or three or four years ago, 2019., 2019., 2019. So I've been retired, so you know my mind's not as sharp as it was, but yeah, 2019, almost two years ago went through a critical incident that she's here to talk about, went through a critical incident that she's here to talk about and you know, super, super great person and hell of a fighter, hell of a cop, and you know, just here to tell her story and, you know, entertain and it's going to be a good time.
Speaker 3:Welcome to Blue Grip Yep. Welcome on Greatly, greatly appreciate you driving in.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, absolutely. And to be very clear out there, Crystal Sepulveda is no relation to Joey Sepulveda, our field rep Joey's going to try and claim that it's like an identical twin.
Speaker 3:Hey man, you see that beautiful sister on the blue grip Like no, hell. No, this is not his sister.
Speaker 1:No relation to Joey. I've got family spread out everywhere.
Speaker 3:Or his wife. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you are happily married. What's your husband's name, marco, marco, yeah, your husband's name is not Joey. You don't have a brother named Joey. We're trying to clarify everything, so not to start any rumors.
Speaker 2:So we have a field rep. His name is Joey Sepulveda. Okay, that's, we have a field rep that's barely in the state of Texas, and that's how he says it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I just wanted to clarify something. Well, that's better. They were saying crystal spatula, Like they just throw it off.
Speaker 3:That's good to know. Well, we typically like to start off each podcast by talking about where you grew up, what sparked your interest in law enforcement, and then we'll kind of dive into your career who the heck is?
Speaker 4:Crystal? Yeah, where law enforcement, and then we'll kind of dive into your career. Who the heck is crystal? Yeah, where do I start, though? Where were you born? Where'd you go?
Speaker 1:I was born in houston, grew up in different parts of houston, so I've lived in cypress. I've lived in missouri city way back way before I even applied there. Uh, richmond, I've just kind of been all over all around the Houston area all around Houston, but Houston yeah, sure have um. What sparked my interest in all this?
Speaker 3:yeah, what, what, well, what? What high school did you go to?
Speaker 1:I went to Travis High School in Richmond.
Speaker 3:In Richmond.
Speaker 1:In Richmond.
Speaker 3:How much has Houston changed? Growing up there and looking back and then being a cop, I've always found it fascinating for guys when I was growing up in Irving guys that Nick Daughtry, great example. He lived in Irving and then was a cop in Grand Prairie. You were a cop in Garland but then grew up in Plano. When you're a cop you see the darkest people, I mean the darkest of people. And so when you growing up in the city that you grew up in, you think it's just a beautiful town, I mean some, some parts but what was it like being a cop? Uh, and we'll, we'll kind of go back to where your high school was, but what was it like the transition between that?
Speaker 1:oh, it was like night and day. Yeah, because in my world it was like a day-to-day la, la, la, la-la-la-la, no bad no, you know nothing can harm me. Not that I felt invincible, but it was just nothing. Bad was happening. And then you become a cop and you're thinking you're going to get all the bad guys and like we're talking about criminal criminals, right? And then you get into the job and it's like Barking dog call.
Speaker 1:Firework, ordinance and you know just stuff like that. So then you really see, like people that are sometimes just being petty.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's just, you know, they just want to report something just because. And then you have the real, real bad stuff.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 1:It's like it takes a second for your mind to process that this actually exists, like this is actually what's going on in the world, but you've been living in la la la la land that you. You've never been exposed to it, you know.
Speaker 3:So it was night and day well, comparison to most city for those that don't know kind of that, we're familiar with the houston area and comparison where missouri cities is, where is richmond, uh, and kind of lay out houston and kind of where those parts are so, richmond, how far would you say that it kind of goes out even towards past 59, right Like 762 and 59 going towards Rosenberg.
Speaker 4:Home of Relentless Defender.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:So Richmond is actually a very small town. They have a very small city, but the ETJ is like ridiculous. It's kind of like Katy. Katy is a little small town but the area of Katie is huge. What is the ETJ? I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 3:What is it?
Speaker 2:Extra-territorial jurisdiction.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's not in the city limits For those from East Texas. Come on man, You've got to speak dumb down to shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Richmond is the county seat of Fort Bend County. That's kind of the mecca of Fort Bend. Everything that goes on in the criminal justice world.
Speaker 3:I can pronounce that I knew, but that's it For those who don't know her. That's it. He can pronounce E-T-J.
Speaker 4:I didn't know what the hell you were talking about Growing up any family in law enforcement or going through school. Was there something that inspired you to have an interest in law enforcement? Sro no.
Speaker 1:No one in the family law enforcement. Grandparents were military, but they passed before I was even born. I think where the seed was planted and I didn't realize it obviously until years later was when I was 11. I was turning 11. My dad was murdered and it was just uh, he was barbecuing in the front yard and he just said I'm gonna go to the corner store, maybe to go pick up beer, cigarettes. I'm not too sure. I was 10 and um, he didn't come back home that night. We, I think, going out yeah, am I too far?
Speaker 1:no, you're good, go ahead better um he had gone to the store and I was woken up the next morning by some family members and how I remember it exactly is that I was walked into the restroom and my older sister was sitting there and she was crying. My mom was crying, family was already there, everybody's just kind of crying and then she told me that you know, my dad had passed away and it was an unbelievable type of thing. Like at 10 years old you don't process that correctly. You're like wait, I just saw my dad and then you know he never came back from the store.
Speaker 1:It one of those um, and then the young man that had killed him was a 19 year old. Apparently he had been on like a shooting spree for I don't know a few months. He had shot four other people. My dad was just one of the ones that was um murdered and his case actually went cold for almost to the 10th year anniversary. And about a year prior to that we received some information from the detectives in Houston. They reached out to my other sister and kind of told her hey, we might have something on this case, and it turned out that a girl that was involved in the shooting had got hemmed up on something. So she's like I can tell you about a shooting that took place, and so she was trying to you know work her case.
Speaker 1:And so they started working. They reopened the case and they closed it Right, I want to say right around his 10 year anniversary. They closed it. So they found the guy that did it.
Speaker 1:I think he was already in jail Somewhere in another state because of this I could be wrong, but that's just the information that I had got on it. So you're about 20 at this point. Yeah, I'm about 20 years old when this all goes down, and then it takes some time, obviously, for the trial. So add on another two, three years when it actually starts, you know, the guy gets convicted of it.
Speaker 4:So at 20, when you hear the news that they finally may have someone identified, what is 20-year-old Crystal? What's going on in your life?
Speaker 1:Where are you at at that point? It was weird. It was something that it happened when I was younger, so it not that it was easier to process, but I didn't know really like how bad it was or how like deep it goes you know I just know that my dad passed away and I struggled with that for a long time because I was the little girl that grew up with no dad and you graduate.
Speaker 4:You graduated, I guess, 17 or 18, so you've been out of high school a couple years. You're working right and then been out of high school a couple of years, you're working.
Speaker 1:Right, I'm just living life, and then?
Speaker 4:just out of the blue suddenly, hey, we found somebody that may have killed your dad, Right Wow?
Speaker 1:And then we're working the case again, we're reopening it and then the trial starts. Like I said, this information, this is pre-law enforcement for me, right? So I'm just like looking at the trial, looking at what they have, all the evidence, and it was hard. It was hard to really see what actually transpired that night because I only had a little snippet of information. I was 10 years old. They didn't give me the full, full story. I just knew a little bit and then….
Speaker 4:Were you getting to interact with law enforcement during the trial and stuff, interacting with the detectives?
Speaker 1:and no, I didn't have it, it was like the weirdest thing, and, and so I I would say that like the seed for that was planted a little bit after that, because I was still going through life trying to figure out like what do I really want to do, like what's really going to go on, you know.
Speaker 1:And then just one day, um, I just like it just sparked in me. I was like I really want to get the really really bad guys off the street, like that's where my heart wants to take me, like that's where it's at, you know. And so, uh, I got information on an Academy. I had just had my son he was six months old at the time when I started the academy and I just went for it.
Speaker 4:Wow, the killer of your father was convicted he was. And I guess time added to his sentence he was already serving.
Speaker 1:That life in prison.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 3:I wasn't. It wasn't. Was it Harris County? I'm assuming they're in Houston.
Speaker 1:It was in Houston, so we were at the time we were living right on West Park and Highway 6. You probably know the area. I do yeah, so it's not the greatest of areas.
Speaker 3:It's like the Hayleaf area, right yeah, and this was just a random act of violence and it wasn't like so the story that I got is that they were fighting over a parking spot.
Speaker 1:Wow, a parking spot. Parking spot. Um, I think the guy wanted to park there, but my dad was already parking there. Um, my dad gets out, walks into the store. Some words were exchanged. Uh, my dad gets out of the store, gets back in the car, so, where the store is, there was a street. Think of like the letter. J went like this and we lived in an apartment complex right here.
Speaker 4:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:So where that street curved, so my dad comes out and the suspect, the guy and his buddies are all in the car. So it's two females and another guy. They get behind my dad, they follow him and so my dad's driving down, they're driving next to him, and so my dad's driving down, they're driving next to him and they shoot into the car and they come from the passenger side. So I want to say the one thing that I do remember. I don't know how many times my dad was shot, but one of them did come in on his side.
Speaker 1:And that's what I believe they thought is the one that did it. Well, they did it right before that curve. So my dad and the vehicle just keep going straight and crashes into what used to be an AT&T building the fence right there and that's where. And so, where your hand is, this is where I am and this is where his incident took place, right down the street. Not even a quarter mile, wow, not even a quarter. Open up your door and see it right outside.
Speaker 3:That's horrible. Well, so the suspect in this is convicted of life. It sparks your interest. What drew you? Because I have heard just a little bit of stories about the background investigator when you applied at Mo City. Yeah, was Mo City the only place that you applied at?
Speaker 1:I did so while I was in the academy. My instructor, sergeant Smith, that was there. I kind of just asked him. I said, look, just help guide me. I don't want to end up in the wrong place, I want to end up in a good agency. And so where I lived at the time, he was like well, you have Stafford, sugar Land and Missouri City. He said they're all great, they're all great agencies. So he was like it's kind of like your choice what you want to do. So I was like, ok, missouri City came out, started recruiting with us Two of my other buddies were in the class with me and we all just decided to go for it and then we got through the process together.
Speaker 3:So and then you're back.
Speaker 4:Let's talk about your background investigator oh, that guy, that guy jay mac, he, he was.
Speaker 1:He was a little intimidating you know again, I'm coming from the la la la world like I don't do wrong.
Speaker 1:I I don't even think, honestly, I don't even think I had a ticket on my record, I don't. And so, uh, I get a call. This is jay. Uh, he wants to do my background if I can come in on this day. I was like, yes, sir, I'm already nervous, right. So I'm thinking I'm just coming in and maybe signing paperwork absolutely not. So I walk in and I meet this guy and he's like well, come on over, he's very serious, like he's, you know, he's the biggest teddy. And he's very serious, like he's, you know, he's the biggest teddy bear. Like he's so sweet, so nice. But in that moment he was like, let's go, okay. So he walks me into the conference room and we just start talking. He pulls out this binder and he's slipping through pages and I see my picture there and I see all kinds of stuff and he was like so tell me about this and tell me about that, very straightforward, right? Okay. So no chit chatting.
Speaker 4:Okay, you thought it was an interview.
Speaker 1:You didn't realize it was an interrogation no I thought, maybe it was just like a little like a little chit chat, like let's just get to know you a little bit, and what it was it was so where were you Thursday at five o'clock?
Speaker 1:man, and so he was like so who is this person? I was like that is my sister. He's like all right, and this person, that is my sister's husband, okay, um, and I and one of the funniest ones and I won't say his name but a few years prior to that I was in a very abusive relationship and I don't think my family knows about that, but I was in a very abusive relationship. Horrible. He would literally beat me right, and one night we were in downtown we had gone to I don't think we went to a national, I think we did go to a national game and he leaves me stranded. He is, I mean, belligerent. He is so drunk and when he would get this way he would just get nasty and mean I mean he's calling me every word under the sun for absolutely no reason. I mean we're walking out, absolutely no reason, right. And so we had parked I couldn't tell you on what street we had parked down the way. So I was like, ok, well, he takes off walking on me. And I'm like, well, he's going to end up back at his truck because he's going to try to go home. So I was like, let me just go to his truck.
Speaker 1:I think I stood by his truck two hours, I'm not joking. I had a hpd officer roll up on me and he was like, are you okay? And I was like, yeah, I'm just waiting for my boyfriend. At the time I was like, um, he, uh, he, he's walking around here somewhere I don't know, and I had been calling him where you ever, yet no answer. Well then, like two hours go by I'm not joking. When that cop rolls up, two gunshots go off, like on the other street, and he just burns off. So I'm like, oh, my goodness. So then I go to the front of the truck and I'm like I'm just gonna sit here. Well then I finally get a hold of him, the ex-boyfriend. He's at home getting into bed.
Speaker 1:He had taken an uber right, how responsible, how responsible what an ass so I get in an uber and at that time we were not living together kind of living together. It was like I had some stuff there but we it wasn't, you know whatever. So I go over there and I knock on the door, he opens the door and he's already just. I mean, you know, when somebody's just in that phase of just drunkness they're just the lights are on but nobody's's home. It's like that, right and so.
Speaker 4:Too much. Miller 64.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you don't have to worry about that shit.
Speaker 1:And so I walk in and then he just I'm like why did you leave me? And he goes what are you talking about? So then he goes and he just pushes me. So my feet I had just bought some Converse pushes me.
Speaker 4:So my feet I had just bought some Converse.
Speaker 1:This is funny, right, it's not funny, but it's just like. So I had just bought some Converse. They weren't broken in, they were hurting the crap out of my feet so I had taken them off. When I got to the apartment to walk upstairs, I had them in my hand. So he starts pushing me and shoving me and I just chunk my shoe at him. Well, it hits him in the nose and he just starts bleeding profusely and I'm like, oh my God, I mean like who's really bleeding that much on a bloody nose, right? Well, then he comes out. I like see what just happened. And I'm just like, oh shit.
Speaker 1:So I run to the restroom, lock the door. He comes in. He's like kicking it down, punching it down, the knob is all messed up, all that right. So he walks in and I'm in the closet, I'm like trying to put stuff in a bag, um, and he like grabs me by the back of my head, like my hair, literally throws me into the restroom. I hit my head on the toilet.
Speaker 1:I'm now on the floor, he drags me into the bedroom and just starts kicking me, like in the ribs. He's just going crazy, right. And he's like where's my phone. Where's my phone? I'm like what are you talking? Like he thinks that I take his phone at some point in that altercation, when I'm on the ground. And because I want to go through his phone. Mind you, he had been cheating on me with X amount of people. I find that out later, whatever, right.
Speaker 1:Well, the cops show up and I can't. Oh, I call the cops because I'm like he's not letting me leave. I'm trying to, like my bags are now at the door. I'm trying to leave it. He's not letting me because he thinks I have his phone, like I don't have it. Well, then the cops show up and lo and behold, they take both of us, cause he's had been bleeding profusely. They didn't know. Blah, blah, blah, whatever. Right. So he obviously has this information in my beautiful binder. He's like so if I call and his voice I felt like I was getting in trouble. If I called so-and-so, what is he going to say? I'm like I don't know. I haven't talked to him in years. I don't know. And I mean like he had probation officer permission.
Speaker 4:She beat me up with a converse.
Speaker 1:It was just a one good throw. Honestly, I didn't know it was going to hit him in the face.
Speaker 3:Coming from an Astros game, it's like you learned a lot.
Speaker 1:They should they should put me on the ball right, the pitching ball.
Speaker 4:They can use some help this year.
Speaker 3:And what year was that that you were hired at Mo City? I don't want to ask you because you're retired now, so you forget dates that I applied at Missouri. State.
Speaker 1:That you were hired 2019.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's right 2019 so most city roughly at that point. How many officers have now? Uh, I think there's well, they're authorized 110 I believe and explain their fto process, because you were heavily involved with that as well, with for new trainees uh, yeah, so, um, typically it's 16 weeks.
Speaker 2:So, um, the field training program, six. You get them hired. Um, depending on how many people are hired at the same time. I don't know if you did a mini academy or not. I did, okay. So, yeah, if we hire a group of people, we usually put on a mini academy to kind of basics, you know, taser and uses of force and baton and all that stuff, oc spray, and then, yeah, they ride for 16 weeks, usually four phases, so there's a traffic phase and a night shift phase and an evening shift. At the guess of the time you're probably evening shift and day shift, so you have to ride on each of the shifts, shifts, and they're usually about four weeks in length. Um, yeah, and then, once you're complete the program and put you on, put you on a car by yourself, throw you the beat and there you go.
Speaker 3:So how long did you work at? You had an incident, a critical incident um there at most city. How long did you work there until after you were hired?
Speaker 1:That happened in 22 and I started in 19.
Speaker 4:So you've been on a bit.
Speaker 1:Right. Evenings I was on nights.
Speaker 4:Nights, the whole time after getting hired.
Speaker 1:No. So my first year after getting hired I was on days, and then after that seniority they kind of just put me where they needed me for the time being until shift had rolled around, and then shift had came, and of course they bumped me all the way to the bottom and I ended up on nights.
Speaker 3:I ended up on. Two years on, you're actually probably you're out of that rookie phase where you're not having to call everybody for everything and you're starting to kind of get some I don't want to say cockiness, but you're starting to get some confidence of like hell yeah, I know what I'm doing now.
Speaker 1:I got this a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So let's talk about that day. You're getting ready for work, it's a normal day and kind of walk us through the process of what all took place.
Speaker 1:So that, yeah, I was on nights. So the night before I get home that morning, take my son to school, get home, take a shower, go to sleep, wake up, go get him, we have dinner, I take him a bath, getting ready to put him to bed. That's how I left him every night before I went tonight. So we'd have dinner, take him a bath and I'd put him off to bed. My mom was living with me when I got put on nights, just because I was single at the time and obviously I needed somebody to watch my son. So my mom came to live with me and she was there. Um, so I left them, went, went to work, roll call, you know, business as usual, we would try to go grab something to eat before evenings left and every restaurant and everybody closed. Um, that night, I would say was kind of like a calm night, even though we don't like to use those words.
Speaker 3:Right, it was. It was don't use the cute quiet. Yeah, and it was.
Speaker 1:And so one of my buddies that I went to the academy with that we graduated, went through the process with missouri city, with uh, he worked with me. He's now a canine officer, officer Landry. So me and him we're best friends right. So we worked the shift together. We kind of go to every call together. It's just one of those where if I'm not doing anything, you're not doing anything, let's just you got a call, let's go Like why not right?
Speaker 1:And so him and I had this every night we'd go to Stripes, we'd get some snacks, we would door up and we would just talk. Well, that night we had gone to Stripes and he said, hey, let's go to dispatch, let's go see what the dispatchers are doing. I said, okay. So we're in there, we're sitting at like a circular table, they're chit-chatting with us, we're eating snacks and then they get a call. I'm sorry. They get the uh notification. There's a flock hit. So one of the dispatchers she goes to the computer, she starts working it up and it's not an even remotely close to us, it's on the other side of the city for, for our non-le listeners, a flock kid.
Speaker 4:Flock is a camera system that records plates that roll by and they are actively reading those plates as you roll by. So known offender, stolen vehicle, person in vehicle as a robbery warrant or things of that nature, vehicle used in a homicide. That flock camera, when it hits that plate, immediately notifies dispatch, who immediately notifies either all officers or officers that are in that area of hey, at this intersection a car just went through Houston, a homicide two nights ago.
Speaker 3:As an example, just explain what a Flock kit is, and what was the Flock kit that night?
Speaker 1:So this one was for a vehicle that was involved in an aggravated robbery earlier, so this call came in about 2 o'clock, so the day prior that's when it took place. So it was an aggravated robbery within that 24-hour period. Out of what agency?
Speaker 2:HP, that's when it took place, so it was an aggravated robbery within that 24-hour period.
Speaker 4:Out of what agency? Hpv, okay, houston, and at that time, in most city. What would your shift have been Like? 7 to 7? Or what was the night shift at?
Speaker 1:most city at the time that night 2, 4, 6, 8. This was on a Saturday night, so I'm pretty sure we were at minimums. No, they were right.
Speaker 2:The shift would have been 9P to 7A.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:I thought you asked how many people were on, so that was probably about five officers on duty, five or six officers when you're counting the sergeant. We don't count sergeants.
Speaker 1:It was a calm night so we were eating snacks, we were talking with dispatch and this call drops. So let's just say dispatch, and where we're at at the PD, we're here. Well, this call is going down over here like almost in Houston's jurisdiction we have a small portion of that Missouri city. So, Landry being a canine officer, usually routine goes right, guys. Like you get the flock hit, you find it, you light it up, it's going to take off. You get into a receipt Like this is all like the textbook stuff right.
Speaker 1:This is what happens a thousand times.
Speaker 3:The fun shit yeah. The stuff, yeah, the reason why we do this shit right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So Landry is always at the forefront. K9, they take off. You know K9's ready to go. So, landry we going, he goes, let's go. So we start walking out. Um, we go. So my now my fiance, but at the time he was my boyfriend, we had only been dating, talking, seeing each other ish, I want to say three ish months. Okay, I had already met his family, he had just met my family, and so we were very fresh. Well, I want to say, the night before, two nights prior, he had just gone to miami, so he had called me while I'm in route to this call, and so we're talking real quick and I was like, yeah, I'm on my way to this flock. He's like, okay, well, we just got back. We're, you know, we're gonna go to sleep already. This is, I want to say, like two o'clock he is not law enforcement he is not law enforcement.
Speaker 1:his father was not law enforcement, His father was. He just retired from HPD in November, but he is not. He does something completely different. So I'm like, okay, well, I'll call you. We weren't at the I love you's yet or anything like that, right? So we were like, okay, well, I told him I'll call you tomorrow. Okay, hang up. Well then, Landry and I are starting to roll up to the scene.
Speaker 2:So one of the other officers he and her be partner.
Speaker 1:Can I use names? No, maybe not.
Speaker 2:I would say okay, it's up to you Really.
Speaker 1:I don't want to out somebody that doesn't want to be, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean okay, so the two, the two officers that were in that we know, I know that we that were in, that we had found a vehicle at a Texaco, but what they had seen is that he wasn't the sole occupant of that vehicle, and then another vehicle had came, so there was multiple people. So there was just two of them, multiple of them, so they didn't want to make contact just yet. Ok, well, me and Landry were on our way. Well, if the Texaco is here, landry and I are coming down this way, well, as soon as I'm about to make that turn into it, the car bolts out. So the car bolts out and one of the officers that were there, she, goes right behind it. So I pop you, landry pops you, and the pursuit ensues. Right, so we're going.
Speaker 1:She's primary, I'm secondary, so I'm calling all of it right Running the red lights, traffic violations, speed, weather, traffic conditions, all this stuff, right. And then at some point somehow I become primary. So now I'm the first officer, and then Landry's a secondary, and then he starts calling it. Well, I remember thinking at one point I'm like, damn, this honda, elandra is booking it, like I did not know that they could go that fast and we're. I mean, do you know maybe how fast we were going, like do you know at all? I want to say, at one point I was looking down we're like 110 we're in a crown vic no, I heard that those were like coffins coffins in a bot, like yeah, they're not.
Speaker 4:is Is that true? Well, and I was wondering, because you said you couldn't keep up with the Hyundai.
Speaker 3:You definitely weren't a Chevy Caprice.
Speaker 1:We also had Explorers and like either you press, you could floor it, and it took a second for it to you got to wind them up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it took a second A little mouse.
Speaker 1:Yeah you got to feed that hamster hey we were just eating snacks and now we're like going, so I mean it's trying to keep up with me, right? So?
Speaker 3:and I remember thinking I was like man.
Speaker 1:This honda, elantra, is going I was like that's a fast little car, so anyway. So at some point through the pursuit we end up in a residential area and I remember that because landry's saying, yeah, I can hear I'm kind of keeping up, but at this point I know we just hit this residential area. You either know it or you know somebody around here. I already know that the foot pursuit is now going to come out of this. I already know it's coming. So I mean he's going and Landry comes out and he was like speeds of like 80-something in this residential. And I'm talking there's cars parked on the sides of the street. Well, the car, the Elantrara, cuts it to the left and I can't see what's on that other side. So I'm just like I don't want to take this corner with this explorer and hit a car. This I'm like it's going to be pointless. So I slow down. Well, when I round that corner, I see that it's pulled into a driveway and I'm like this is where I'm thinking, this is where he lives, right. So I pull up. I'm thinking he's already out. Nope, he had just. He had just gotten out of the car. Well then he falls.
Speaker 1:I get excited because there was like this joke with me and Landry is like I'm gonna run, like I'm gonna be right next to you, kinda I'm not a fast runner like I'm, but I'm gonna be there, like if you're running, I'm gonna be either right next to you, right behind you, but I'm coming with you, right. So I was excited because I thought, like he fell, like he's gonna be right here, I'm gonna get it, like I'm gonna get this guy by myself, right, well, he falls. I get excited and I'm just like I got him, I got him. Well, no, he gets up, takes off and he comes to the side of the house where you know like your side gate is and like you can open and close it. Well, this gate did not open and close like that. This was. It had like a metal gate and it was. So this is the house and this is where the gate meets. It was kind of broken off like this, so it didn't swing open or anything. Well, this guy, just he wiggles his way through it.
Speaker 1:Well, I have my gear on, I'm a little bulky and I kind of see around the corner. I'm just like I can see that he is now climbing the fence on the other side of the house to hop back over to the front. So I'm like don't hop that fence, Like get down. So then, mind you, it is pitch black back there. There's no backyard lights, there's no street lights that are giving me any type of visibility. There's nothing, Absolutely nothing. So I see his silhouette because I can see like a little bit of the light coming from the front of the house.
Speaker 4:Backlighting him.
Speaker 1:So all I saw was a silhouette. But then he jumps down and he jumps into, like this pocket of blackness, like darkness. I can't see anything and I want to say I'm probably standing in that backyard. Five seconds, six seconds, and then boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I never saw a gun, I never saw his hands, I never saw his face, I never saw his clothes.
Speaker 1:I never saw anything other than his silhouette when he was climbing that fence on the other side on the next episode of blue grid podcast well then, we get there and I think that, like HPD, had blocked off some streets and we had gotten into, I guess, wherever the trauma center is so that we could just straight shot through. We get there and I think that, like HPD, had blocked off some streets and we had gotten into, I guess, wherever the trauma center is so that we could just straight shot through. We get to the hospital. The door opens and I feel like 30 pair of hands just grabbed me, like everybody just grabbed me. They carry me in. Maybe you brought that up because I would say after the incident, like post incident, things have settled, calm down, I would say within the last year. That's the only thing. It's not a haunting, it's that what, if, what, if, what, if? That's the only thing I constantly think about. Thank you, I'll see you next time.