CITY OF HEARNE FIRES POLICE OFFICER
The Hearne City Council has fired the police officer who shot and killed a 93-year-old woman.
Courtesy: KBTX
Saturday afternoon, the council unanimously voted to take disciplinary action against Officer Stephen Stem. It took them less than 30 minutes to reach the decision.
Tuesday the nephew of Pearlie Golden contacted police saying she’d threatened him with a .38 caliber revolver after he’d taken her car keys away. She was reportedly upset about not being allowed to drive after failing a driver’s license renewal test.
Officials say Stem ordered Golden to drop the gun, but Golden fired two shots gun into the ground. Robertson County DA Coty Seigert said Stem the fired four shots, hitting Golden twice. She died at a Bryan hospital a short time later.
Mayor Ruben Gomez said earlier that he would recommend termination. Saturday, city attorney Bryan Ross advised the council do to the same.
In a statement Friday, Stem's attorney Robert McCabe said he is “fully confident that Stem’s actions were necessary and legally justified.”
Stem joined the Hearne Police Department in July 2012. Six months later, he shot and killed 28-year-old Tederalle Satchell who was firing a gun from inside a vehicle in a parking lot. A Grand Jury did not indict Stem in that shooting.
It is very clear the City Of Hearne has bowed down to a group of race separatists that all they wanted to do is get their name and faces all over the media. I wonder if they would have protested and marched on Hearne if the officer was non-white. Hopefully the City of Hearne will be sued, the Chief of Police sued personally and each member of the Hearne city council sued personally. I believe this officer may have a very good case for defamation of character. Good luck Officer Stephen Stem.
This was an awful mistake made by the Hearne City Council, one I’m sure will be paid for dearly to benefit Officer Stern on the loss of his job and the blemish on his badge in the years to come. To think that the city council is stupid enough to act on this prior to the completion of the investigation, I sure hope some Hearne voters are listening and remove these fools from office as soon as possible. Maybe they should be fired before their term is up if the investigation shows in favor of Officer Stern, which I’m sure it will.
I smell a healthy payout for Officer Stem after the investigation is complete. The city of Hearne is definitely gonna pay for this mistake which has left allot of Officers wondering if the city of Hearne has a backbone at all.
This is sad on so many fronts. First you have senior citizen behaving in a dangerous and irrational way that potentially puts others in mortal danger. She reportedly fires two shots and the police officer who was called by a family member returns fire causing her to loose her life. If the family member was so afraid he felt he had to call the police, it seems reasonable this lady was dangerous, regardless of her age.
Instead of being reasonable and suspending the office with pay, or limiting him to desk duty as many departments would do until the investigation is complete the Mayor and his cronies on the council fire this young man. We are a nation that is supposed to believe in innocent until proven guilty. Where is the Chief of Police calling out a law or department policy that was broken? Were there any? What is the basis for the termination? They have now fired a young man very openly, likely destroying any future career plans in law enforcement without having the final results of the investigation. If the investigation rules that he acted reasonably you can bet he will hire a lawyer and the Citizens of Hearne better get their checkbook out. All because of a group of weak politicians who gave into the pressure by a group of people who abuse the race card to build their own power base within the community.
A person, regsrless of age, race or gender, threatens someone with a gun, actually fires two shots in response to an officer’s orders to drop the gun, and the officer is expected to do what? Reason with the person who’s already demonstrated a violent disregard for other’s lives and the officer’s commands? Ridiculous. Do you know how much time it takes to raise that revolver (still potentially holding 4 more rounds) and fire it at the officer or another innocent person? Less than a tenth of a second. Officer Stem had less than a second to make his decision, saw a threat to himself and others, and acted according to his training. The people who fired him have completely disrespected the entire police force with this decision. Dont expect the officers to act so quickly to save you if someone threatens you later on, Mayor. They’ll be to worried you’ll fire them
Pansies. They expect a guy to go out there and put his life on the line to defend theirs but then when he must actually do it they won’t stand behind him. I think they’ve kowtowed to the pressure of the leftist race-baiters far to quickly. The investigation is not even final yet and they’ve already fired him? I sure am glad I don’t work for the city of Hearne. Think of the message that sends to the rest of Hearne PD’s officers: “Don’t take any action that the community activists (who, mind you, probably had to find Hearne on a map before they could show up and pretend they cared) don’t agree with because we’ll fire you”. Hearne City Council should be ashamed of themselves for acting so prematurely.