# Officer is home, with 'God's blessing and luck'



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Dallas: Recovering from gunshot wounds, he's eager to return to work 


*By HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News *

Propping himself up on a hospital bed, his gunshot wounds heavily bandaged, Officer Mark Rickerman looked a lot like his best friend did two years ago. When his partner, Officer Eddie Coffey, took a bullet to his forearm while bursting into a hostage situation, Officer Rickerman stood by his side every night he was in the hospital.

"After that happened, Eddie was kind of like my hero," Officer Rickerman said.

Last week, the roles were reversed. Officer Rickerman was shot three times during an undercover investigation by a teenager who robbed him at gunpoint. This time, Officer Coffey has been the one at his bedside every night for the past week. Officer Rickerman was released Friday.

He narrowly avoided being the third area officer killed in the line of duty in less than three weeks.

Officer Rickerman says he was no better at his job the frigid morning of Dec. 4 than Dallas Officer Brian Jackson and Fort Worth Officer Hank Nava Jr., who were fatally wounded last month.

"Skill? No. It was God's blessing and luck," Officer Rickerman said. "Mostly God's blessing. There was no skill involved in that."

A 30-second encounter

About 12:30 a.m., Officer Rickerman and several others were undercover on Sunset Avenue in north Oak Cliff investigating vehicle burglaries. While most of the officers worked out of their cars, Officer Rickerman left his unmarked vehicle to peer around the corner for suspects. That's when a teenage boy emerged from a car and pointed a gun toward him.

The encounter lasted less than 30 seconds. As Officer Rickerman was drawing his gun, the robber fired a round through his right forearm, shattering the humerus. The assailant fired another round into the side of his torso. As Officer Rickerman slumped to the cold pavement, the robber ran away before turning around one more time and shooting him in the foot.

As an ambulance rushed to the scene, two officers stayed with Officer Rickerman, and two others chased the suspect. After a brief foot chase, police arrested 17-year-old Keliam Rudd. The driver of the car, 20-year-old Rorey Doss, was arrested later that night, police said.

When Angela Rickerman was awakened with her husband's calm words - "I've been shot" - she didn't believe him.

"I had to talk to Eddie to make sure," Mrs. Rickerman said. "Then I came to the hospital."

The partnership

The Coffey-Rickerman partnership resembles a marriage of sorts.

For two years, the tag-teaming duo has bonded professionally and personally. Both have 10-year-old sons and 6-year-old daughters. Both say they see more of each other than their wives. And now, both have taken care of each other after shootings.

"You don't worry about it when it's happening to you, but when it happens to your close partner, it's a big deal," Officer Coffey said.

In November 2003, Officer Coffey, Senior Cpl. Michael Patino and Sgt. Michael Flusche responded to a hostage situation at a southwest Dallas apartment. Inside a bedroom, a suicidal man was threatening to kill his three young daughters while holding their mother hostage. Officer Coffey kicked in the bedroom door.

Immediately after entry, the gunman, 32-year-old Francisco Fuentes, began firing. Sgt. Flusche was shot in the arm, Cpl. Patino was struck in the hand, and Officer Coffey was shot in the right forearm - the same injury his partner would receive two years later. Mr. Fuentes died at the scene.

Officer Rickerman, who was off that night, was at Methodist Dallas Medical Center every day until his partner was released. But once Officer Coffey was able to get back on the streets about four months later, the pair used the incident - and humor - to pick up where they left off.

"A few months after he got back, we ended up having to kick in a door," Officer Rickerman said. "We're standing at the door, and I was like, 'I'm kicking this one in. I know how your last one went.' "

And the jokes haven't stopped since.

"Eddie's like the big corn-fed guy that I can hide behind a little bit," Officer Rickerman said.

"And Mark's the Dr. Phil here," Officer Coffey said.

"Well, I have to talk people down, whereas Eddie, at like 6-4, whatever he weighs this week, can pretty much tell people what to do," the compact Officer Rickerman said.

Jackson Fulgham, an outspoken Dallas police supporter who works in Deep Ellum as an insurance adjuster, said he thinks Officers Rickerman and Coffey are among the best police officers any city can find.

"They are one of the best one-two punches that the DPD has - Mark, with his philosopher kind of wisdom in talking with the bad guys, and big Eddie, standing right behind him, backing him up," Mr. Fulgham said.

Officer Rickerman, who now faces months of rehabilitation, said his bullet wounds aren't enough to prevent him from getting back on the streets.

"I mean, look what we do for a living," Officer Rickerman said. "If we worried about ourselves every night when we go to work, nobody would come to work."

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