Print
Sep 8, 2005 7:32 am US/Central
Authorities Investigate Crash That Killed Officer
Minneapolis (AP) ―
-
-
Officer Shawn Silvera
CBS
A day after a Lino Lakes police officer was killed in a high speed crash, state officials said it was still not clear whether the suspect had intended to hit the official or not.
Officer Shawn Silvera, 32, was killed Tuesday evening on Interstate 35W in Lino Lakes. He had been placing tire-deflation devices on the highway and was standing next to a police car when he was struck by a vehicle involved in a high-speed chase.
Anoka County Sheriff Bruce Andersohn said Wednesday it's not known whether the suspect who was fleeing police, Steven D. Stanke, 26, meant to hit Silvera. Andersohn said trauma to Silvera's lower left torso indicated he was probably running away from the oncoming car.
Mark Silvera, the officer's older brother, said he won't let Shawn's two children -- a 11/2-year-old boy and a 5-month-old girl -- forget their father.
"I will tell them everything I know about their father, how much he loved them, and how important they were to him," Mark Silvera said. "His wife and children were the reason he did everything."
The nine-minute chase started shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday when a Chisago County deputy tried to stop Stanke near Stacy. Stanke, a convicted felon, was driving a stolen car and is wanted in Sioux Falls, S.D., on charges of aggravated assault with a knife and drug sales, South Dakota authorities said.
State officials said Wednesday that the safest way to chase suspects is by air. A State Patrol helicopter was dispatched to Tuesday's pursuit within five minutes, but it didn't reach Lino Lakes until after the crash.
The State Patrol experimented last year with having aircraft monitor traffic during rush hours and to track drivers fleeing police. The costs are high, and unless an aircraft is already airborne, it usually can't reach chases in time, said patrol Chief Mark Dunaski. He said helicopters, which can fly 120 miles an hour, cost more than $400 an hour to operate.
Air tracking "is certainly the most safe," said Dunaski. "You've removed the threat of 3,000 pounds of metal screaming down the highway and provided a reasonable opportunity to apprehend the violator."
Dunaski said the patrol helicopters are constantly available to any Twin Cities-area agency that requests help, and a third chopper in Brainerd serves northern Minnesota. The Twin Cities choppers are in the air every night for two to four hours at times when most chases occur, said patrol spokesman Kevin Smith.
Dunaski said patrol helicopters assisted with 40 chases through July of this year. Chisago County Sheriff Todd Rivard said his deputies often call for a patrol helicopter for chases because "it's the safest way."
Rivard and patrol Capt. Jay Swanson said their officers followed their pursuit policies in Tuesday's chase.
But on Wednesday, family members were remembering Silvera, who enjoyed music, photography and serving others.
"He put so much zest into his job," Lino Lakes Police Sgt. Bill Hammes. He said that as a D.A.R.E. officer, Silvera didn't just teach the curriculum and go home.
"He ate lunch with the kids and then he went out to recess with them to play football and basketball. He knew that's how you make connections with kids."
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
