Slain Officer’s Final Act of Kindness
NBC Nightly News
Transcript corrected by Nicholas Stix.
August 16, 2011
Brian Williams: We are back with a story about a simple act of kindness, one that might have gone unnoticed, had it not been for what happened immediately afterwards. It involves a San Diego police officer, a Marine combat veteran who had done several tours of duty overseas. As it turned out, it was far more dangerous to be back at home. But nobody knew that when the officer met a young man at a local McDonald's. That's where our own Lee Cowan picks up this story.
Reporter Lee Cowan: Rarely do surveillance cameras capture the good in people. But on this day at this San Diego McDonald's, for that police officer, they caught a life's final decent act.
911 Dispatcher: There is an officer shot, there's an officer shot!
Lee Cowan: Just after leaving that McDonald’s, Officer Jeremy Henwood was gunned down just sitting in his patrol car, a crime made even more incomprehensible, compounded by the fact he just returned from Afghanistan, and served two tours in Iraq as a U.S. Marine.
Emily Henwood, sister of the fallen: I think it goes without saying that Jeremy was a great man, and a hero to our country.
Cowan: Thousands turned out for his memorial service, where there were tales of his bravery and chivalry, but it was the last thing that he ever did that summed up the way he lived.
Robbie Henwood, brother of the fallen: Three minutes before he was killed, he was buying lunch for some little kid he didn't even know.
Cowan: That little kid was 13-year-old Daveon Tinsley, standing behind Officer Henwood in line at that McDonald's. Short, by comparison, and also a little short on change.
Daveon Tinsley: I asked him for ten cents, and he said, “What is the ten cents for,” and I said, “Three cookies,” and he said, “Well, I could buy the three cookies for you.”
Cowan: He opened his wallet and his heart to a kid he'd never met.
Daveon Tinsley: He said, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And I said, “NBA star.” He said, “Well, you got to work hard for that,” and I said, “Thank you.”
Cowan: With that, Officer Henwood walked out. It was the last conversation he ever had. That brief encounter has changed the way Daveon now looks at life.
Tinsley: Somebody I met that was a good guy, and then, two seconds later, he dies. It's just crazy.
Cowan: Without knowing it, Officer Henwood had taught a sobering lesson to a boy and the rest of us: Kindness can go a long way, but life isn't always fair.
Lee Cowan, NBC News, Los Angeles.
[A tip ‘o the combat helmet to Nivius Vir.]
3 comments:
The officer was "gunned down", they tell us. Somebody must have pulled the trigger! Guns don't fire themselves.
Why didn't we hear from witnesses to the officer's murder, at least? Any suspects? Anyone in custody? Why not show a picture of the cold-blooded murderer? Tell us the whole story or don't report it at all.
I guess NBC didn't want to ruin their otherwise "heartwarming" story by revealing the ugly truth(wouldn't want to offend anyone). So we are just supposed to focus on the nice kid who now has a 'new outlook on life' and feel all warm inside? "Life isn't always fair." Disgusting.
You won't see this leading off the news nightly until the arrest, if ever, of the person who murdered this American hero.
Well, they DO know who the killer was; he was found and shot to death by police the same day this happened, just minutes later. His name is Dejon Marquee White.
The NBC report chose not to mention this fact for political reasons. That is why it is so disgusting. They give us the part of the story and we have to search online if we want to know the whole story...the truth..
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