Dallas Officer On Midland/Odessa Shootings - 'Police Work Is So Dangerous In America'
ODESSA/MIDLAND (CBSDFW.COM) — The first to be shot by a gunman in West Texas Saturday was a state trooper, who is in the hospital in serious but stable condition. Two other officers who were also hit are in stable condition as well.
In a matter of seconds, a traffic stop on I-20 turned violent this weekend when authorities said a gunman armed with an AR style weapon started firing multiple rounds at the state trooper who pulled him over, seriously injuring him.
Vice President of the Dallas Police Association Frederick Frazier has experienced this many times. He is a 24-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department and 15-year veteran of the U.S. Marshals Task Force
"It happens in a split second," Frazier said. "It happens like that and you just have to figure it out. That's police work and that's the reason why police work is so dangerous in America."
Frazier said law enforcement knows moments like Saturday's are always a possibility.
"We do a lot of situational training," he said. "We will do traffic stops and we will have a combative individuals. As they react, we react. We try to position ourselves, but sometimes you just can't... every situation changes."
He said with every situation, there's another opportunity to learn, react and adjust the training which is now what will happen within DPD and other departments across the country.
"This is not the first time it happened and it certainly won't be the last," Frazier said. "We'll look at this video. We'll look at the traffic stop. We'll see what could have been done, if anything."
