Two seconds

More details are emerging about Wednesday's shooting that left two Winston-Salem police officers wounded and the suspect dead. According to this piece in today's Winston-Salem Journal, when Sgt. Mickey Hutchens and Officer Daniel Clark chased Monte Denard Evans into a ravine off of Peters Creek Parkway, they thought Evans only had a knife... until he turned around and shot at them. Clark, himself shot twice, was able to fire back.

This is the kicker - the whole incident was over in two seconds. Two seconds. It took longer for you to read this paragraph.

Police had come to the Bonjangles' on Peters Creek in response to a call that Evans was threatening his ex-wife. One short chase and two seconds later, and their lives are changed forever.

It reminds us that law enforcement are called into situations every day that could turn ugly. Remember Sgt. Howard Plouff? He went out to break up a fight outside a club, and he never came home. By the way, Winston-Salem police officers' salaries start at $31,000.

I like to gripe about cops as much as anyone - mainly when I"m speeding. And yes, there are some serious institutional problems between law enforcement and the poor, chiefly poor minorities. But that doesn't change the fact that individual officers show incredible courage in the work they do to protect us every day, and I'm grateful for that.

Please keep the families of these officers - Sgt. Hutchens is still in critical condition - and the Evans family in your prayers.