Ambush Attacks Of Police In Patrol Vehicles

By Jim Weiss and Mickey Davis

Geauga County, Ohio is known for its Amish culture and horse drawn buggies. However, on March 10, 2013 during a traffic stop, two police officers from the village of Middlefield came under gunfire in a surprise attack by 42-year-old James L. Gilkerson.

Some reports stated that the two officers were fired upon while they were in their police car. That’s incorrect.

Field Training Officer (FTO) Brandon Savage was a five-year veteran of the Middlefield Police Department and behind the wheel of the cruiser. (A Field Training Officer is a selected officer who trains newly hired police officers who have usually been through—or will soon be going through—a police academy.)

His female partner, Police Officer Erin Thomas, had previous police experience. She was teamed with FTO Savage to further learn and review policing, police tactics, and Middlefield P.D. policing methods, all part of continuing law enforcement study and learning processes. She was in the passenger seat of their cruiser.

Around 6:00 PM near the Middlefield Municipal Center, they saw a green sedan make a traffic violation and pulled it over.Officer Thomas got out of the passenger side of the cruiser, walked back around the trunk area to the cruiser’s driver side, and made a tactical approach to the green sedan on the driver’s side. FTO Savage remained seated in his vehicle, observing.

Officer Thomas noticed something irregular in the conduct of the green sedan’s driver....