Injured Officer's Mother Worried For Daughter Following Overnight Shooting
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- For 13 years Michelle Auge has worn the badge of the Pittsburgh Police, and every night before she hits the streets, she talks to her mom.
"Goodbye, not goodnight, goodbye," said Joan Mills, Auge's mom. "I try to talk to her on her way to work just for five minutes every night because I'm not sure I'm going to talk to her again."
Last night, the call came in the early morning hours, Auge telling her mom her partner was shot and she was hurt. Her mom broke down.
"Mother's don't change how they feel about their children regardless of how old they are, regardless of what they do for a living. You're still a mother to them," said Mills. "Whether they have a badge or a gun, those officers all have a mother out there that worries about them, every one of them."
Auge is a good cop, described as a tough cop. At six-foot-two, she played professional football for the Pittsburgh Passion, No. 66.
But she's also been through a lot in Zone 5 where three officers were killed in 2009. One of them was her partner, Stephen Mayhle. She was on maternity leave at the time.
"I think that whole department and that whole zone in particular has been through a lot, and it's been overlooked," Mills said. "I think it's time to recognize that and respond."
Last night's shooting may have been it for mom. The incident has Mills asking her daughter, the mother of a 10- and 3-year-old, to walk away from law enforcement.
"I think we're in a crisis situation in that area," said Mills. "My opinion is the opinion of a mother. I think they're under siege there and they have been."
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