Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410220076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Samuel Jerome Patterson, 34, of West Virginia was shot dead Sept. 18 after he shot Officer Terry Griffith with his own service revolver. Griffith was attempting to detain Patterson, who had shoplifted a carton of cigarettes from Hill's Department Store.
Patterson had a blood-alcohol content of 0.09 percent, just above the 0.08 limit at which a driver is presumed to be guilty of drunken driving, said O.P Ramsey, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office evidence technician who received the toxicology results from the medical examiner's office last week.
Patterson could have consumed as few as two or three beers in an hour to reach the 0.09 blood-alcohol level, Ramsey said.
Patterson was shot dead by county deputies after a cross-town pursuit. Patterson left the Hill's shopping center on Roanoke Street, first stealing Deputy Sgt. Billy Wiatt's patrol car, then carjacking another vehicle from a man he flagged down at the Christiansburg Livestock Market. Patterson was shot dead after he jumped out of that car in downtown Christiansburg and jumped into another deputy's car, ignoring commands to drop Griffith's gun and surrender.
Wiatt had responded to a call to help Griffith at the shopping center. Wiatt was shot first as both officers struggled with Patterson. The shot grazed his face near an eye, but he did not require medical treatment. Griffith was shot once in the face and died later at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Patterson was shot 11 times, Ramsey said. According to an autopsy report filed by the Western Virginia's medical examiners office in Roanoke, two of the shots - one to the head and another to the chest - killed him immediately.
Wiatt - who fired at Patterson as he fled in his patrol car - and the two officers who shot Patterson dead were placed on administrative leave after the shootings but returned to work the following weekend after an investigation showed that their use of force was justified.
Patterson, whose first run-ins with the law began when he was 15, had an extensive criminal record in Bluefield and Mercer County, W.Va., for shoplifting, resisting arrest and assaulting police officers. He also faced felony charges, which included malicious assault and armed robbery. But court and state corrections records showed he served very little jail time and no prison time.
Officers who dealt with him recall that he always tried to run from authorities and earned a negative reputation among police officers who were familiar with him.
"He would always run ... he resisted violently ... Every time, he would violently resist. It's plain. There's a pattern to it," said Bluefield Police Lt. Kelly Walls, who twice arrested Patterson.
There's no explanation why Patterson's shoplifting pattern led him to shooting Griffith, said Bluefield Police Lt. Kelly Walls, who twice arrested Patterson.
"It's simply that any routine call can explode into violence at any time. Tragically, this underscores that statement," Walls said.
Griffith, 37, was a 17-year veteran of the Christiansburg Police Department and was its first officer to die in the line of duty. He is survived by his wife and their five children.
The community has donated $27,681 to three funds established at First National Bank of Christiansburg to support the family and help complete a church youth center, which will be named after him.
Staff writer Robert Freis contributed to this report.
by CNB