{"id":112397,"date":"2015-05-18T18:30:55","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T00:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/deputy-in-car-chase-speaks-out\/"},"modified":"2015-05-18T18:30:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T00:30:55","slug":"deputy-in-car-chase-speaks-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/deputy-in-car-chase-speaks-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Deputy in car chase speaks out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Montezuma
Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s deputy Jason Williams puts his finger where the bullet hit his vehicle while he was pursuing suspects Monday south of Cortez on U.S. 491.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI was in Iraq for 13 months,\u201d said Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s deputy Jason Williams. \u201cI\u2019ve been shot at by much bigger guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with The Cortez Journal, Williams attributed his combat experience for being able to remain remarkably calm during a high-speed police chase last week. During the near 45-minute pursuit on Monday, May 11, Williams never raised his voice while communicating with dispatchers. He received about a dozen rounds of gunfire. One bullet even hit the hood of his patrol unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was freaking out on the radio. I knew it would only amp up the officers that were coming to help me,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

The clash was the first for Williams during his eight-year law enforcement career. Responding to a \u201cgas skip,\u201d Williams initially tried to pull a vehicle over just north of County Road C.1. on U.S. 491. The suspects had other plans. In less than two minutes, the first shots were fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was obviously in an elevated emotional state,\u201d Williams continued, \u201cbut I was trying to remain calm. I didn\u2019t want to get overly excited and make a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had been hit, then I probably would have been screaming like a little girl,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Facing the life or death situation, his wife and children flashed before his eyes during the earliest portions of the pursuit. Because of his training and experience, Williams managed to remain focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is to protect and help people,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to be professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Married since 2005 and father of two girls, 8 and 4, Williams said his family was unaware of the peril until he called to inform his wife. He simply explained that he had survived a shooting and would be late for dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just said, \u2018Be safe, and I\u2019ll see you when you get home,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With an acceptance that anything could happen in the line of duty, Williams and his wife have discussed the dangers associated with the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t like people shooting at me, but she understands that I enjoy helping and protecting people,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

Days later, Williams said he found himself continuously replaying the chase in his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t know if I could have done anything differently that would have changed the outcome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reader questions<\/p>\n

Several readers submitted online queries for Williams, including one person who wanted to know how the pursuit was able to make its way through the highly congested construction zones along U.S. 491 between Towaoc and the New Mexico state line.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the credit goes to the construction crews,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

The most dangerous aspect was approaching the first of three construction sites, Williams said. The only warning through the first construction zone was his patrol lights, sirens and a thumper device, which creates a deep growl that can be physically felt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was alternating between my three sirens and the thumper to warn the construction crew,\u201d said Williams. \u201cThat was the scariest moment, because they had no prior warning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams said he simply followed the suspects\u2019 path, weaving in and out of lanes. Crews from that first construction site subsequently radioed to warn remaining workers, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe others already had traffic stopped, and were hiding behind bulldozers when we came through,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

Another reader asked who was shooting at him \u2013 the driver or the passenger?<\/p>\n

\u201cI know for a fact that the passenger, the 14-year-old girl, was shooting at me,\u201d said Williams. \u201cBut (the driver) also rolled his window down and shot at a Navajo officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police conspiracy<\/p>\n

Williams emphatically dismissed speculation that authorities have attempted to cover up a police-initiated shooting after reports that both suspects died as the result of suicide. To his knowledge, no federal, state or local law enforcement officer ever fired on the suspects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the rationale that there was a police conspiracy, but that\u2019s because all of the information wasn\u2019t there and the initial reports were confusing,\u201d said Williams. \u201cThere was nothing to cover up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he didn\u2019t know that the teen was a runaway from Florida and the driver, the girl\u2019s uncle, was wanted in connection to a stolen firearm when launching the pursuit, Williams speculated that the suspects might have concluded that he was aware of the duo\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they panicked,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

He said he was sickened that he was unable to do more to alter the outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one regret that I have was that we weren\u2019t able to save the girl,\u201d Williams said. \u201cShe had her whole life ahead of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, a native of Montana, served in the Army from 2001 to 2005, including as a combat medic with the 25th Infantry Division in Iraq. After his military service, Williams worked as an EMT in Vero Beach, Fla., where he became acquainted with several police officers. He soon gravitated to law enforcement, serving in Florida and Telluride before landing with the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a job that\u2019s bigger than myself,\u201d said Williams. \u201cThat\u2019s what drew me to law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

veteran Williams talks about high-speed pursuit and shooting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13,60,51,74],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-112397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-county","tag-police","tag-theft"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112397"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=112397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}