By Tim Sheehan
The Fresno Bee
VISALIA, Calif. — A volunteer firefighter is among a handful of unnamed rescuers who tried to save the life of a sheriff’s detective who was fatally wounded this week north of Ivanhoe.
In a statement this week, Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman praised several passers-by “who put themselves in harm’s way” in an attempt save detective Kent Haws, a 10-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department who was shot Monday afternoon on Road 156 north of Avenue 344, north of Ivanhoe. Haws, 38, died less than two hours later at Kaweah Delta Hospital.
Sheriff’s officials reported Tuesday that a firefighter, a nurse and a California Highway Patrol sergeant were among the first people to try to help Haws after witnesses called in using cell phones to report that an officer had been shot.
But Sgt. Chris Douglass, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said Thursday that the department cannot reveal the names of those rescuers because they are considered witnesses in the ongoing investigation.
Joe Garcia, a division chief with the Tulare County Fire Department, identified the firefighter as Alex Reynoso, a volunteer from Woodlake. Garcia said Reynoso did not wish to speak to reporters but did allow his name to be released and related his account of the rescue effort to Fire Department officials.
Garcia said Reynoso, who works for High Sierra Lumber & Supply in Woodlake, was returning from making a lumber delivery and heading south on Road 156 when he saw a CHP car and a sheriff’s patrol car stopped at the roadside.
“He saw the CHP officer doing CPR on a person who was down,” Garcia said. “He stopped and asked if he could help.”
The CHP officer handed Reynoso a breathing mask used for CPR; Reynoso began breathing for Haws as the officer continued doing chest compressions.
As other deputies and emergency crews arrived, deputies took over for the CHP officer on the chest compressions as Reynoso began using a larger ventilator to help Haws breathe.
Garcia said that as ambulance and fire crews took over Haws’ care, the wounded detective had a pulse but was still not breathing as he was put into an ambulance. Crews continued ventilating Haws as the ambulance rushed to Kaweah Delta Hospital until his care was turned over to doctors in the emergency room.
The rescuers, Wittman said Tuesday, “did the best they could, but obviously the results weren’t what we wanted them to be.”
A funeral for Haws begins at 10 a.m. today at the Visalia First Assembly of God, 3737 S. Akers St. at Caldwell Avenue in southwest Visalia. Hundreds of law-enforcement officers from across the Valley and state are likely to attend -- a tradition when an officer dies in the line of duty.
After the service, a procession will make its way through downtown Exeter, where Haws lived with his wife and three sons, on its way to a graveside ceremony at Exeter Cemetery, on Highway 65 and Marinette Avenue, north of Exeter.
No new details about the shooting were made available Thursday by investigators.
A suspect in the slaying, 20-year-old Jorge Gomez Banda of Ivanhoe, was arrested shortly after the shooting as he walked north on Road 156 and remains in jail without bail on suspicion of murder.
Banda allegedly shot Haws as the detective was investigating a report of suspicious circumstances in the area.
In Tulare County Superior Court on Wednesday, Banda pleaded not guilty to murdering Haws.
The murder charge is accompanied by special allegations of killing a peace officer, gang involvement and other enhancements that could result in the death penalty through lethal injection, or life in prison without the possibility of parole, if Banda is convicted.
Copyright 2007 The Fresno Bee
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