By Donna Westfall
On Sunday, July 19th around noon, Dave Egan of the infamous “Blackhawk Pistol” saga, had to make a choice. He knew he should call 911 after he and his dog were being threatened by two vicious dogs that were running loose on Cooper Avenue here in town.
However, Egan, says he was reluctant because he suffered at the hands of certain sheriff’s offices who had falsely accused him of being a felon and career criminal, but finally decided to make the call.
To his surprise, he was met with kind and professional conduct of Sheriff Deputy Henderson who responded to the call. Said, Egan, “He even apologized for taking too long, although it didn’t really take that long. And he was professional, respectful, and sympathetic about the incident with the dogs.”
Since 2011, just as a reminder, Dave continues to suffers PTSD from being beaten, hog-tied, handcuffed and thrown in jail on fabricated charges. This was understandably a milestone for Dave to make the call to 911 and then report that he was treated like a human being, a real citizen.
Dave attributes this positive shift in conduct to the recent changes made by Sheriff Erik Apperson’s efforts at improving public relations with the folks of our community.
DEPUTY HENDERSON IS NOT A CHANGE. SINCE 2006 WHEN I FIRST SPOKE TO HIM, HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE TYPE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WHO MOST PERSONS NEVER ENCOUNTER. HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN PROFESSIONAL, POLITE, RATIONAL, UNDERSTANDING AND HONEST. HE IS, HOWEVER, NOT SOME PUSHOVER.. IN THE LAST YEAR, WHEN SOMEONE WAS ILLEGALLY ENTERING MY HOME IN MY ABSENCES AND ABUSING MY DOG, OTHER DEPUTIES WOULD NOT RESPOND,LAUGH AT ME, OR FAIL TO FOLLOW UP ON REPORTS. I KEPT WISHING THAT HENDERSON WOULD ANSWER A CALL BUT I NEVER REACHED HIM SO MY DOG AND I SUFFERED WITHOUT ANY REAL HELP. NOW I HAVE ACCQUIRED AN OPINION THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, IT IS USELESS TOO EXPECT ANY RELIEF AND THAT WOMEN WHO LIVE BY THEMSELVES ARE NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY IN THEIR CONPLAINTS. WOULD THAT OTHER DEPUTIES COULD BE JUST AS CONCERNED AND FAIR AS HENDERSON.
I’m glad to hear about positive changes like this. Thank you Officer Henderson and Sheriff Apperson.