Incident With Darryl Satcher
This story takes place in the summer of 1995. It was a typical summer evening of police work; hot and busy. I was working my normal swing shift, which was always busy, but that was why I liked to work swing shift. I was about halfway through my shift and I was getting hungry. I checked out 7A, which was radio code for a meal break, but the dispatcher asked me to check a 911, Trouble Unknown call before I took my break. These calls were just what they sounded like, an unknown problem. They were usually nothing, maybe a misdial or a child playing on the phone and wanting to see if 911 really worked. However, they could also be very dangerous. For that reason, you have to think the worst and go in very cautious and alert for anything.
Of course, I took the call, figuring I would check it, then be on my way to my dinner break. When I arrived at the residence I saw a man, Darryl Satcher, standing in the front yard. Nothing seemed to be amiss, but when I exited my patrol car and asked Darryl if there was a problem. He answered there was and went on to say he and his” Old Lady” were fighting. I let radio know I was in the scene of a domestic and asked for another unit to respond. Domestics were always a two-car call because they can be so volatile. Many cops have been killed responding to domestics. One of my co-deputies and friend, Kent Mundell, was shot and killed handling a domestic.
I began to ask questions to Darryl, stalling, while waiting for a second deputy. Darryl told me he and his wife started arguing over the TV and what they were going to watch. The argument escalated until Darryl’s wife hit him. At that point Darryl exited the residence to get away from her. That was about the same time I arrived. I continued to stall with a few more questions until a second deputy arrived. After a few moments Deputy Willie Melhoff arrived. Due to the domestic violence laws of Washington State, I decided we would arrest Darryl’s wife for domestic assault. Darryl became a little agitated and asked us not to arrest her. I explained why we needed to arrest his wife, but Darryl continued to protest and even asked we arrest him instead. Darryl was becoming more and more agitated, so for our safety and so we could finish investigating, Darryl was placed into the back of Willie’s patrol car.
I went into the house where I found Darryl’s wife. She pretty much confirmed what Darryl had told me. I took her into custody and put her into the backseat of my patrol car. Darryl was becoming more and more agitated, and we could hear him yelling from inside Willie’s patrol car. Once I had Darryl’s wife secured, I decided to run Darryl for warrants. He came back with a warrant for his arrest for domestic violence.
Willie and I recontacted Darryl still in the backseat of Willie’s patrol car and explained we were arresting his wife for domestic assault and him on the arrest warrant. We asked him to turn away from us, and to put his hands behind his back, which would give us the opportunity to handcuff him. Instead of turning away from us, he turned towards us and laid across the backseat on his back, with his legs up to kick at us. Both Willie and I ordered him to sit up and turn away from us. He refused, and when we started to reach in and grab Darryl, he started to kick at us. Willie had a can of “riot control” pepper spray and was able to retrieve it. He nearly emptied the can of pepper spray on Darryl, but it had zero effect. I slammed the back door shut so Willie and I could re-group and decide how we wanted to proceed. I also called for additional units to respond to help subdue Darryl.
At this point Darryl kicked out the driver’s side rear door window of Willie’s patrol car with his feet. Willie was driving a brand-new patrol car, and the shield did not properly fit the car. It did not extend down around the transmission hump like it should have. Extenders had been ordered but had not yet been received and installed. Darryl was able to reach under the shield between the front seats and get Willie’s metal flashlight. Darryl came out of the broken window with the flashlight over his head and charged me. I drew my service weapon and aimed it at Darryl and ordered him to stop or I would kill him as I backed away. He continued to charge me as I backed away. This is known as “maximize the distance, minimize the threat”. I was going to shoot Darryl, and I think he knew it. He stopped and dropped the flashlight. I have to say at this point everything seemed in slow motion. To this day I can still feel the stiffness of the trigger pull and saw the hammer on my service weapon begin to slowly move back as I pulled on the trigger. I later learned from the dispatcher that the Comm Center was getting calls from neighbors who were watching. They were asking for units because they thought Willie and I were going to shoot Darryl.
By this time some of Darryl’s family had arrived, including his mother, who I later learned was on Dialysis. He grabbed her and held her in front of him as a human shield and dragged her across the front yard toward his front door, while throwing rocks at us. While dragging his mother, he had her by the hair. Suddenly, her hair came off and I saw she was nearly bald. Seeing her hair come off kind of shocked me until I realized she was wearing a wig. Additional units were beginning to arrive, to include my Sgt, Steve Kemmerer.
Once Darryl got inside his house, he broke out his living room window with his hands, severely lacerating his hands, wrists, and arms. This did not stop him, and he picked up an upright vacuum cleaner and began to swing it over his head to keep us away from him.
We, along with Darryl’s family, attempted to negotiate with him in an attempt get him to come out, but he refused to do so. He was bleeding severely from his arms and after about thirty minutes Sgt Kemmerer decided we needed to go in and get him. There were about six of us who went in. Darryl tried to run down a narrow hallway toward his bedroom, but we were able to catch him and force him to the ground. There were about five of us lying on Darryl attempting to get him under control to handcuff him. He continued to struggle with us, and I heard one of the deputies on the bottom of the pile yell for him to get his hand off his gun. Suddenly I heard a “snap” like the sound of a tree branch breaking. The snap was the sound of Darryls forearm breaking as the deputy put pressure on his arm because he refused to let go of his gun. Darryl continued to struggle with us, despite his broken arm, but we were finally able to get him under control and handcuffed. Darryl did not even realize his arm was broken. It was like he had superhuman strength.
Medical Aid had been called for Darryl’s lacerations and were standing by in the yard waiting for us to get Darryl under control. Once we did, they came in and placed Darryl securely on a backboard. Darryl was transported to a hospital, and I never saw him again. After Darryl and his wife were transported, we entered his house where we found several packets of what was believed to be methamphetamine, which explained his superhuman strength. I charged Darryl with the warrant, assault, and vandalism.
Several months later I ran Darryl through our records system since I never received a subpoena for court. Once he left the hospital, he was booked into the Pierce County Jail on my charges. I learned that at his arraignment he plead guilty to everything I charged him with.
Oh, and I never got my dinner break that evening.
