Submitted by Fox First at Ten on June 21st
SPOKANE, Wash. - Neighbors in the area of Newport Highway and Elm don't consider themselves heroes. Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich would disagree, saying Wednesday that his deputies would not be alive if not for some good Samaritans.
Krista Crawford and her fiancé were just getting home Tuesday afternoon when they heard what they thought were fireworks. Walking out their front door, they say a car speed through their neighborhood and noticed two Spokane County Sheriff's vehicles stopped in the middle of the road. That is when they saw two wounded deputies on the ground.
Putting their own safety aside, they rushed to the aid of 45-year-old Sheriff Deputy Matt Spink and 42-year-old Deputy Mike Northway. The deputies had just pulled over 41 year old Charles Wallace for a routine traffic stop when Wallace opened fire and sped off.
Krista, her fiancé and another neighbor Rick Jacks, quickly ran to the deputies and began to apply pressure to their wounds. Deputy Spink took one bullet to the leg. Deputy Northway was shot four times, in each arm and leg. The three did everything they could to control the bleeding until first responders arrived. Crawford says they all reacted like anyone would in this kind of situation.
"I wasn't really thinking about the severity of the situation," Crawford said. "There's a couple guys who have been shot, officers, and you can see the bullet holes in each one of their arms, and so it was like, okay, we have to stop the bleeding. I didn't feel panicked or anything. It was just kind of like autopilot kicked in."
Krista and her fiancé are set to get married June 30th.
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