Seguin PD extends thanks, applauds bravery during officer involved shooting
(Seguin) — Seguin Police Chief Terry Nichols last week revisited the night when one of his officers was injured in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence call at a local home.
Chief Nichols’ purpose, however, was to not rehash the events of that terrible night, but to instead recognize those heroes who were left standing.
This includes not only his injured officer Sgt. Brad Flippin, but also the Seguin Fire Fighters and EMS crew members who also on that night put their lives at risk when they arrived to help pull him to safety.
But as luck would have it, seconds into the chief’s formal recognition of these firefighters in a crowded room of guests, a call over the radio sent this batch of honorees out the door – doing what they do best and that’s running to the public’s rescue and saving lives.
Despite their quick exit out the door, Chief Nichols was sure to recognize each of the firefighters for their bravery and selflessness during the officer involved shooting on Oct. 10.
They included Lt. Harrison Broadhurst; Firefighter/EMT P. Bryan Zuberbueler; Cody Boehm; Fire Apparatus Operator Shannon Billings and Firefighter/EMT Brett Starr.
Taking the group back to that day, Nichols provided more details better explaining why this recognition was so important.
He states, “At a residence in the 600 block of East Rosemary street, officers located an adult female and a young child who had both sustained gunshot wounds. In the course of assessing the injuries and trying to determine where the suspect may have fled, Officer Brittany Cimental observed a male subject in the distance moving in the shadows. She told Sgt. Brad Flippin what she had observed, and he quickly started moving towards that area. Sgt. Flippin was joined by Officers Brian Lopez, Robert Tureaud (tur-rod) and Cpl. Joe Brown. As they reached the area where the suspect was seen by Officer Cimental, gunfire quickly erupted in an ambush on the officers.”
Nichols says that’s when the suspect zeroed in on Sgt. Flippin with a shotgun and shot him once almost simultaneously as Flippin was firing in defense on his life.
He states,” the shotgun round to Brad struck his hands, arms, neck and body armor. It also disabled his handgun. About 6 seconds later, the suspect fired again, this time striking Brad in the head. By the Grace of God and divine intervention, Brad was looking down trying to get his handgun working again when shot the second time. By looking down, this prevented him from being shot in the face and instead, sustained most of the injuries from the second shot to the back and top of his head. This very likely saved his eyesight and significant injuries to his face.”
Recognizing his bravery that night, Nichols honored Sgt. Flippin with a Purple Heart. He says for many years now, their profession has adopted the Purple Heart in recognition of fellow police officers who have been wounded or killed in the line of duty.
“I hate having to do it ever. Obviously, that is not something that we want is to have one of our officers injured in the line of duty but the way this happened, this happens in our business and to see the recovery that Brad has made has been incredible and we are very thankful for it. But he is very deserving of it not just because of being injured in the line of duty but he’s a hero and the firemen here are as well. This is very powerful as you can see the number of people who showed up today in honor of Brad,” said Nichols.
Sgt. Flippin says he remains humbled with all the recognition and continued community support.
“This means the world to me. It’s not about getting the award. It’s about all these people in this room. When tragedy happens, this community comes together whether it be the fire department, the police department or the city. They’ve been overwhelmingly supportive of me and my family and I’ve had nothing but support from the PD and all my friends,” said Flippin.
Sgt. Flippin shared that although he was hurt, he was very grateful to see the Seguin Fire/EMS Department arrive on scene.
“I remember everything and as soon as I knew it was Harrison because me and Harrison, we’ve grown up in the city together basically working here and as soon as I saw him, the first words out of my mouth was ‘this is where I am hurt. I don’t know how bad it is,’ and then he asked me, ‘can you walk?’ ‘Yup, I can walk’ and we went to the back of the ambulance. You know, I was still working, listening to the radio while they were doing their thing and there were a few choice words there,” chuckles Flippin. “But, it was a relief. It was like I got in the middle of the street. I got on the radio and I went down on my knees and I put my gun away and I looked up and there were lights, just headlights and I see the headlights raise up, they came up, they blocked me and they threw me in the ambulance,” said Flippin.
Nichols says staged down the street were Seguin Fire Department’s Engine 3 and Medic 3 that responded to the original call.
He says as they monitored the police radio channel and heard that Sgt. Flippin had been shot and his location, they quickly moved up to his location in the middle of the street without regard for their own safety.
He says in police and fire terms, this was still a “hot zone” and the gunman was still on the loose in the area.
Chief Nichols says he’ll never forget the support that was provided that night.
“Thank you very much. Just thank you. Going out putting your life on the line to save one of us. We would do it for you and they know that and now, we know that they would do it for us without any hesitation,” said Nichols.
Proud of his men that night is Seguin Fire Chief Dale Skinner. Chief Skinner says his men did exactly what was expected of them.
“At first, you kind of have that fear like what were they doing, what were they thinking? But, to know that they risked their lives knowingly to help a fellow public safety official, makes me very proud. I had an opportunity to see some of the footage from the body cams and it just reinforced my feelings that they put themselves to risk to save fellow officers and I’m really proud of it,” said Skinner.
In addition to receiving a Purple Heart, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered that a flag be flown over the Texas State Capital in honor of Sgt. Flippin’s bravery.
This flag will be presented to him next year during a special ceremony.