[Scan-DC] Citizen comes to the aid of officer (Winchester)

[Alan Henney]

The Winchester Star (Virginia)

September 10, 2015 Thursday

Citizen comes to the aid of officer

BYLINE: Onofrio Castiglia ocastiglia at winchesterstar.com, THE WINCHESTER STAR

SECTION: AREA; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 586 words

WINCHESTER -- It may not have been the safest thing for him to do, but Shaun Martin was worried about more than his own safety when he went looking for a missing city police officer.

Cpl. Richard Lewis, of the Winchester Police Department, was involved in a car chase while on duty at about 11 p.m. on Aug. 23.

The car he was chasing eventually crashed on Athey Alley, on the city's north end, and the pursuit continued on foot, ending on Smithfield Avenue. 

It was about that time that Lewis realized his radio was malfunctioning.

"I was calling it out on the radio, the radio wasn't hearing what happened," Lewis said.

Alone and disconnected from his fellow officers, Lewis was a little on edge when Martin, a civilian, pulled up in his personal vehicle -- apparently looking for him.

"I didn't know how to take him as he came up," Lewis said, noting that Martin's good intentions soon became clear.

Martin -- who keeps a mobile police scanner in his home -- lives downtown, and was familiar enough with the area to figure out where Lewis was using the information he managed to send out through the radio before it malfunctioned.

"I heard the call, and I knew where he was, and I'm always eager to help, so I was off," Martin said.

He made a call to police to let them know where Lewis was so they could send backup.

After getting home several hours late, Lewis told his worried wife, Lesley, about what had happened.

He had little to describe the "angel" who had come to help him, except that he was a black man, possibly in his 30s.

Using social media, Lesley eventually found Martin and his wife, Casi. The four met for the first time Wednesday night at The Winchester Star.

"I've never, in 14 years of being a cop, never had somebody help me out like that," Lewis told Martin after they shook hands. "I'm thankful."

Lesley Lewis said she had recently lost her nephew, and that the thought of anything happening to another loved one can drive her to the edge.

"When I heard about what [Shaun] had done, I just wanted to hug him," she said.

Casi Martin and Lesley Lewis both commented on the national attention law enforcement officials have been getting following controversies between minorities and police in places like New York, Charleston, S.C., and Ferguson, Mo.

"The fact that Shaun is black and Officer Lewis is white; a lot of people will focus on that," Casi Martin said.

Martin said he's had run-ins with the law, and as a result had interacted with Lewis previous to their meeting on Wednesday.

"I don't blame [police]," Martin said of his previous run-ins with the law. "A lot of people give cops more problems than they need to."

"I don't see color when I talk to people," Lewis said. "To me that's just another human."

Both Martin, 30, and Lewis, 44, grew up in Winchester, attending Handley High School, and remain close with people throughout the community.

Lewis said his time growing up here helps him in his role as a police officer -- something Martin said he has aspired to be since his youth.

He said Wednesday that he keeps the scanner in his home to keep tabs on what is happening in his community, and has previously stalled burglars near his Fairview Avenue residence until police arrived.

"It's like [policing] is in his DNA," Casi Martin said. "This makes me so proud of him."

"Having a person who wants to help an officer in need, or is just putting in their two cents, sometimes that makes a difference," Lewis said, before thanking Martin one last time. -- Contact Onofrio Castiglia at