PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Clark County is still reeling after a series of events Saturday night that led to a Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputy shooting a Vancouver police officer who died from his injuries.
Mental health experts say the impact of this event will likely weigh heavily on law enforcement and first responders throughout the county, but the community as a whole can also be shaken by a tragedy like this.
“Any police shooting has a significant impact on the officers, on the organization, on the officer’s family or the deputy’s family, as well as the community, and so it has some very wide-ranging ripple effects,” said Mike Cobb, a teaching consultant for the Behind the Badge Foundation, which provides to support to Washington state law enforcement agencies and families after an officer dies or suffers serious injury in the line of duty.
Justin Farrell, a certified first responder counselor and social worker at Real Life Counseling, said he’s had a heavy heart this week as more details emerge about what happened. He said the convenience store that was robbed before the shooting occurred is just a couple blocks from his house.
He said he can only imagine what the first responders involved in the call are going through, not just the ones at the scene, but the ones behind the scenes as well.
“We also have to keep an eye on our 911 dispatchers,” Farrell said. “[They’re] listening through this whole thing and being somewhat at a distance, but still right there in the moment. That person, whoever was taking that call, obviously this type of thing is going to impact them as well.”
Farrell received his certification as a first responder counselor a little over a year ago and since then, he’s had a variety of clients. One thing he’s noticed about first responders is because of the nature of their work, they sometimes avoid talking about what they encounter on the job.
Saturday’s horrific events may have left some people traumatized or in mourning. While Farrell doesn’t think counseling should ever be mandated or forced on someone, he does think it could be helpful to some people involved.
“Anybody could benefit from therapy regardless of what the scenario is,” he said. “No amount of training can kind of prepare you for that type of a situation, and then certainly the aftermath.”
On Saturday night, Donald Sahota, an off-duty Vancouver police officer, was shot by a Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputy after investigators say a robbery suspect stabbed him multiple times. Sahota died at the scene.
According to court documents, investigators say 20-year-old Julio Cesar Segura robbed a convenience store in the Orchards Neighborhood in Vancouver at around 8 p.m. He fled the scene and ended up on Sahota’s property. Deputies arrived at the scene and said there was a struggle between Cesar Segura and Sahota. During the struggle, they said Sahota was stabbed several times.
During Segura’s court appearance, prosecutors said that it appears a Clark County deputy mistook officer Sahota for the suspect and fired his rifle, also causing additional injury to Sahota.
Farrell said there are different types of therapy that could be appropriate for the various people involved in the situation, from the convenience store clerk to the deputies at the scene.
He said he’ll make space in his schedule to meet with any first responder or someone connected to a first responder.
“My priority is to get somebody the help that they’re looking for and I hope that is something that I’m able to help provide, but I also know if I’m not, I want to get somebody where they can get what they’re looking for,” he said.
Mike Cobb from Behind the Badge said it’s important to remember that police officers and sheriff’s office deputies are people too and have emotions like anyone else.
“Law enforcement officers, whatever type of insignia they wear, are much more than the badge, the shield or the uniform. We are human beings just like everyone else. We are husbands, we’re wives, we’re brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. We have families,” he said.
Behind the Badge says it will be assisting Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Vancouver Police Department after this incident. The foundation can help set officers up with counseling services.
Farrell also invites anyone impacted to reach out to him at Real Life Counseling.
The Western Washington Trauma Recovery Network says it is also reaching out to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Vancouver Police Department to offer their services.