Shortly
after 8:00 p.m. on September 8, 2002 Lt. James Koch of the Hamburg Police
Dept. responded the call of a strong arm robbery at the McKinley Mall. He
encountered the suspect a short distance from the mall after he had dragged
a security guard 100 feet and then struck another vehicle while fleeing the
scene. The suspect jumped out of his vehicle and into another vehicle
at the crash scene. Lt. Koch, seeing a young male still seated in the
passenger seat of the second vehicle, dove into the vehicle through the open
door giving the 14 year old passenger time to escape before the suspect took
off the stolen vehicle. Lt. Koch repeatedly ordered the suspect to stop
to no avail. With half of his body outside the vehicle's window and
the other half trapped behind the suspect's back Koch struggled to gain control
of the vehicle. At speeds of up to 85m.p.h. the suspect swerved into
oncoming traffic and struck several vehicles. Lt. Koch finally managed
to get free and pulled himself into the back seat and again ordered the suspect
to stop. When the suspect refused Koch pulled out his service revolver
and again ordered the suspect to stop. The suspect merely turned an
smiled at the officer who was left with no other option than to shoot the
suspect in order to stop the out of control vehicle.
The 100 Club of Buffalo & Western New York
recognize Lieutenant James Koch for his heroic actions of September 8, 2003.
