Tuesday, November 02, 1999
Officer recounts shooting
State agency begins official probe of Loveland events
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Loveland Police Detective Tim Amburgey speaks with reporters Monday afternoon at University Hospital. His wife, Debbie, is at left.
(Glenn Hartong photos)
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Loveland Detective Tim Amburgey learned the difference one or two degrees of angle can make.
On Monday, two days after his shootout with domestic dispute suspect William Martin, he spoke for the first time publicly about the thin threadbetween being lucky and dead, an occupational hazard of police work.
“One or two degrees over and I'd have been in for a really crummy day,” he said at University Hospital, where he remains in fair condition. He laughed. Shotgun pellets caused extensive tissue damage to his left arm, but he feels lucky to be alive and grateful for the community's support.
One shotgun pellet pierced the detective's chest, but he didn't realize it until he arrived at the hospital. His arm will require reconstructive surgery. He touched his right hand to his left Monday and said he couldn't feel it. But he's hopeful.
Meanwhile, investigators for the state's Bureau of Investigations and Identification (BCII)became the official lead agency into the shootout early Saturday, and will continue interviewing officers today from Loveland, Miami Township, Union Township, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Clermont County Sheriff's Department.
Detective Amburgey's gun had two rounds missing from a full magazine of 12, and fellow Loveland officer James Brown's weapon had five rounds missing from a capacity of 10. But how many were fired at Mr. Martin remains under investigation, Loveland Sgt. Scott Ackman said Monday. The BCII is not expected to release information until at least Wednesday.
“We like to bring in outside people, in part, to make sure there's no hint of impropriety,” Sgt. Ackman said. Had another Loveland officer been shot, the likely initial investigator would have been Detective Amburgey.
Two key questions remain: which officer shot Mr. Martin and which one inadvertently fired through the window of 74-year-old neighbor Gladys Burns, who was cut by broken glass. Ms. Burns declined comment Monday.
Police recovered three spent shotgun casings near Mr. Martin, who also was in fair condition at University Hospital. He is charged with one count of felonious assault on a police officer and faces additional charges.
Moments before the shootout, Mr. Martin returned to the Loveland home of his estranged wife, Shelly, who along with her three children had already been removed from the home by police. Mr. Martin, police said, had made threats there earlier that morning.
Detective Amburgey expressed a willingness to speak with Mr. Martin and a sympathy for his family.
“Martin controlled the scene,” Sgt. Ackman said. “In the end, the bad guy is always faster. The cop has to stop and evaluate the legality of it. We have to react to his action, and by then, he's already made his reaction. Things happen in a millisecond.”
“I can't imagine any kind of work except the one I do,” Detective Amburgey said Monday.
The shooting reminded Detective Amburgey that a police officer's getting shot is always possible but never likely, especially in relatively quiet corners like Ruth Avenue in Loveland.
The detective said Monday that changed when he saw Mr. Martin outside his wife's home, raise a shotgun and look right at him. They exchanged gunfire. Other officers fired at Mr. Martin, too, but investigators are still unsure which officers fired how many shots.
At 4 a.m., Loveland police knocked on Debbie Amburgey's door and told her, “Tim's been shot, he's OK, get dressed.”
She recalled Monday that as she went back to her bedroom, “I'm thinking, "OK, am I going to wake up?'”
She and her daughters had told Detective Amburgey in the past to wear his bullet-proof vest.
He said Monday they won't have to ask him that anymore.
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