Update from an Officer Down

I posted last week on the passing of Officer Derek Kotecki.

He was buried Monday.

Representatives from police departments across the country line the
street for the funeral of fallen Lower Burrell, Pa., police officer Derek Koteki.
Officer Kotecki was fatally shot whileattempting to arrest a fugitive. (AP Image)

October 17, 2011

Slain Pa. cop had arrested his killer before

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. — Lower Burrell Patrolman Derek Kotecki knew he was riding into danger when he and fellow officers were told by radio dispatchers that a man wanted for attempted homicide would be at the Dairy Queen.

Kotecki, a family man and 18-year veteran of the force, responded to the call shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday with his K-9 partner, Odin, knowing that the fugitive, Charlie Post, had warned officers to stay away because he had a gun and was ready to use it.

Witnesses said Post, who held a pistol, was in the rear of a white Jeep parked in the middle of the parking lot along Greensburg Road and shot and killed the officer as he and Odin got out of the police car.

Post, 33, tried to flee but was shot and killed during a confrontation with other officers minutes later. Authorities have not said if Post died by his own hand or as a result of shots fired by officers.

Kotecki, 40, was remembered Thursday as an active member of St. Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Church who loved his wife, his two sons and life.
...Post was charged for a variety of crimes over the years, mostly for minor offenses such as traffic violations, disorderly conduct, harassment and possession of drug paraphernalia. But there were some more serious charges such as aggravated assault, simple assault and drunken driving.

Kotecki had arrested Post on at least one of those occasions.

Post had been the subject of a manhunt since Oct. 2 when he fired gunshots at his boss, a contractor, outside of the Clarion Hotel in New Kensington. No one was injured.

A Lower Burrell detective called Post's cell phone and asked him to surrender peacefully. What he got instead were threats.

Kotecki and fellow officers went to the Dairy Queen on a tip that Post would arrive there inside a white Jeep.

"They expected him to arrive there in the white Jeep. They didn't know where he was in the Jeep," Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said.

Peck and Lower Burrell police Chief Tracy Lindo said that Post shot Kotecki and ran from the Jeep but couldn't scale a fence at the rear of the Dairy Queen property.

Post turned around and made it about 12 feet before he was confronted by at least five officers, some of whom were trying to help Kotecki.

At least two officers, guns drawn, ordered Post to drop his weapon.

Peck and Lindo said one or more officers fired several shots at Post. They also said Post shot himself at least once.

"We don't know yet if he died from an officer's bullet or the one he fired," Peck said.

One officer who fired at Post, New Kensington police Sgt. John Olearchick, was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting, New Kensington police Chief Ron Zellers said.

Odin was not injured and is being cared for in Beaver County by Marion police Chief Rudolph Harkins...