Merced, CA
February 28, 2015
Around 2:30am a gun battle between Merced Police, and a traffic stop suspect erupted on the 2100 block of H Street. The details are shadowy but it appears that during a traffic stop, an unknown police officer was shot. Thankfully he is expected to survive.
One suspect shot the officer, and multiple officers returned fire, striking the suspect multiple times. The car sped off, and was found abandoned in an alleyway a few blocks away.
Merced S.W.A.T. conducted house to house searches in the neighborhood, checking properties dressed in camouflage, and carrying military style weapons. A CHP helicopter spotted a suspect suffering from gunshot wounds in a backyard, and he was taken to the hospital to be treated for his wounds. He is expected to recover. The other suspect was found hiding in a house.
Jaime Caudillo, 30, and Steven Rincon, 24, — were taken into custody Saturday following a search in a Merced neighborhood. Caudillo and Rincon were booked into jail for attempted murder, felon in possession of a gun and gang enhancement.
Although this is an example of the potential dangers that a police officer potentially might deal with, Police officer is not a top ten most dangerous profession. Here are some statistics from the MPD, detailing the dangers of policing a city with a population of just over 81,000.
It has been 11 years since a cop was shot in Merced, and it had been nearly 10 months since a cop has been shot at. There were 22 cases in 2014 of Merced police officers being assaulted. In 2013, there were 31 cases where officers were assaulted and 32 cases in 2012. The department reported 23 cases in 2011 and 24 in 2010.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/crime/article11427395.html
