Pubdate: Sat, 15 Sep 2001
Source: News & Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2001 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: Oren Dorrell, Bonnie Rochman

DRUG SUSPECT RAN OVER LIEUTENANT BEFORE BEING SHOT, AUTHORITIES REPORT

Police officer killed in Clayton

CLAYTON -- A suspected drug dealer backed his car over a Clayton police 
officer Friday morning, fatally wounding her as he dragged her 40 feet, 
before being shot to death by other officers, authorities said.

Lt. Monica Carey, commander of the investigative division, died after a 
drug raid outside a Bojangles restaurant at U.S. 70 and Shotwell Road, 
police said.

The State Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the investigation, 
identified the driver as Omar Garcia Fernandez, 27. The agency did not 
release a hometown for Fernandez, SBI spokesman John Bason said. Clayton 
police said Fernandez had $1,000 worth of heroin in a white Ford Taurus 
station wagon.

Carey, who came to Clayton 2 1/2 years ago, is the first woman in the 
Clayton Police Department to die in the line of duty and its first officer 
killed in 19 years. Carey, who records show is 36, was taken to WakeMed, 
where she died Friday afternoon.

The incident played out at 10:10 a.m. as customers in the glass-walled 
Bojangles ate their breakfasts.

Officers from the Clayton and Morehead City police departments and the Wake 
County Sheriff's Office converged at the fast-food restaurant after a tip 
from Morehead City police that a drug deal would take place there. Clayton 
Police Chief Gary Ragland said he pulled his car in front of Fernandez's 
station wagon only to see him shift into reverse and run over Carey, 
dragging her under his car. Officers tried to stop the car and fired at 
Fernandez, killing him.

"The suspect would not stop the vehicle," Ragland said. "He still had the 
officer under his car. That's a deadly weapon. That's an authorized shooting."

In the aftermath, the car rested on a grassy median between the restaurant 
and the highway, its doors open, its windows shot out, a child-safety seat 
buckled in the back. Five bullet holes punctured the driver's side door, 
front fender and windshield. Fernandez was the only person in the car, 
police said.

Darrell Sauls, 49, of Clayton was waiting in the restaurant's drive-through 
lane and watched the incident unfold. He said he saw two police officers 
running across the parking lot, shooting as they went. Sauls said he heard 
six to 10 shots.

Bason said he had no further information about the suspect and did not know 
details of the drug bust. "There is very little I can say at this point," 
he said.

SBI special agent Greg Tart was one of the first officers to respond after 
Carey, Clayton's only female lieutenant, was struck. He said Carey was a 
fairly new detective when she arrived in Clayton from Carolina Beach, where 
she spent seven years and began her career as a police officer. The two had 
worked together closely in the past and Tart was impressed with Carey's 
zeal for her job.

At one point, Tart said they were developing a lead in a murder case. "She 
was ready to go bust in his door and go talk to the suspect and I had to 
say let's get our ducks in a row first," he said. "She was always gung-ho, 
ready to go, and sometimes I'd have to grab her by the reins and say 'hold 
on.' "

Bill Newsome, a Clayton narcotics agent, called her the best supervisor 
he'd had in 34 years on the job.

"She bent over backwards to help us," he said. "If we had a problem, she 
wanted to solve it."

Carey's husband, a detective in the Wilmington police department, did not 
want to talk about his wife Friday. They have two children, a boy and a girl.

Maj. W.M. Still, assistant chief at Carolina Beach Police Department, said 
Carey, his former boss, was fearless. "She was not afraid to go out there 
and do the job and stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the guys," 
he said.

In Clayton, Carey implemented a narcotics abatement program, 
community-oriented policing and improved detective training, Ragland said.

Clayton police officers participated in a counseling session Friday.

"This is a bad time for the country and for the town of Clayton and the 
Clayton Police Department," Ragland said. "As you remember the people who 
died in New York and in Washington, D.C., I hope you remember Monica Carey."

A fund for Carey's children has been set up by the local Chamber of 
Commerce. Donations may be sent to Bank of America, 11601 U.S. Highway 70 
West, Clayton, N.C., 27520.

News researcher Toby Lyles contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens