Fatal details: Officer's 7-shot fusillade detailed at hearing

Reports emerging from Culpeper paint a horrifying picture of the last moments in the life of unarmed Sunday school teacher Patricia A. Cook. The 54-year-old motorist was gunned down in her vehicle by a Culpeper Police officer in February.

Cook was first struck by a pair of non-fatal gunshot wounds but then by five more bullets fired from behind her Jeep, one of which hit her brain and another which severed her spinal cord before tearing into her heart and lungs, according to prosecutors, who detailed the grisly information in a filing.

The prosecution revealed that the officer, Daniel Harmon-Wright, eventually arrested and held on murder and firearms charges, had been placed on his department's "Brady List," a roster that law enforcement may keep to name officers known to have lied in their official duties.

The prosecution also revealed that Harmon-Wright joined the Culpeper force over the objections of a sergeant and lieutenant who conducted his background check.

The revelations got a public airing at a preliminary hearing for Harmon-Wright held Friday, June 8. There, he pleaded not guilty to all four charges: murder, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in a death, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The prosecutor's document revealed that Harmon-Wright had also self-reported some problems with alcohol and had been the subject of discipline over alcohol abuse in the U.S. Marine Corps.

The defense asserted that Cook– who was blamed in an early Virginia State Police press release for driving away with the officer's arm caught in her window– posed a threat both to the officer because she allegedly tried to kill him with her Jeep and to the public because she began driving while her forward view was obscured by a windshield-covering sunscreen.

"The suspect presented an obvious threat to public safety including a pedestrian who was present and more than one other vehicle coming up the road from the opposite direction, as well as any number of other persons threatened by the suspect's use of her vehicle as a weapon," reads the defense motion.

The defense motion further contended that the officer's fusillade was appropriate because Cook's alleged actions made her a felon.

"The officer assumed an 'isosceles' stance and carefully took aim and eliminated the threat as he had been trained to do," reads the motion, "and under the circumstances quite admirable in that his presence of mind all but eliminated the possibility of collateral damage."

But that's not how James Jennings views the facts. The citizen who collected over 1,000 online signatures on a petition urging officials to move forward in the case after months of inaction, Jennings contends that the defense is "disconnected from reality."

"Maybe she wasn't thinking clearly," concedes Jennings, "but maybe it's hard to think clearly when someone's shooting at you."

The prosecutor noted that about a month before the fatal incident, Harmon-Wright received a reprimand for entering a house with his gun drawn and forcing a teenager to the floor. It turned out he had the wrong teen.

"If they'd suspended him from the force then, then maybe none of this would have happened," says Jennings.

The prosecutor also noted that forensic evidence indicated that the five behind-the-Jeep bullets passed through the rear of the vehicle as well as through the back of the driver's seat and headrest, a fatal volley that appeared to undercut the notion of self-defense. The same might be said for the officer's "distraught" demeanor at the scene which including telling others "that he was going to 'lose his [f]-ing job.'"

Outrage over apparent inaction in the case culminated not only with the citizen petition but also with harsh words from the Sheriff of Albemarle County who uncovered malfeasance in an unrelated Culpeper case.

Harmon-Wright and his mother– charged only with record-tampering as the secretary to the former police chief who hired her son– were arrested May 29 after grand jury indictments. She was immediately released on unsecured bond; he was granted a $100,000 bond at the close of Friday's hearing.

“This community will be safer when he is out,” the Culpeper Star-Exponent quoted the defense lawyer of his client. “You couldn’t have a safer person out there.”

According to the Star-Exponent, Harmon-Wright was freed within a day or two of the hearing.

A month earlier, Patricia Cook's husband, Gary D. Cook, filed a lawsuit against against Harmon-Wright seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages.

"Culpeper might as well get their checkbook out," says Charlottesville-based former law enforcement official Steven W. Shifflett.

–above story edited for print publication at 10:49am Tuesday, June 12

Original online story:

Reports emerging from Culpeper paint a horrifying picture of the last moments in the life of unarmed Sunday school teacher Patricia A. Cook. The 54-year-old motorist was gunned down in her vehicle by a Culpeper Police officer in February.

Cook was first struck by a pair of non-fatal gunshot wounds but then by five more bullets fired from behind her Jeep, one of which hit her brain and another which severed her spinal cord, according to prosecutors, and as detailed in Tweets by NBC29 reporter Henry Graff.

Graff went on to note that the prosecution revealed that the officer, Daniel Harmon-Wright, eventually arrested and held on murder and firearms charges, had been placed on his department's "Brady List," a roster that law enforcement may keep to name officers known to have lied in their official duties.

Another news organization, WJLA television, reported that Harmon-Wright joined the Culpeper force over the objections of a sergeant and lieutenant who conducted his background check.

The revelations came at a preliminary hearing for Harmon-Wright held Friday, June 8. There, he pleaded not guilty to all four charges: murder, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in a death, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The news organizations reported that the prosecutor mentioned that Harmon-Wright had some problems with alcohol and had been the subject of a reprimand.

The defense asserted that Cook– who was blamed in an early Virginia State Police press release for driving away with the officer's arm caught in her window– posed a threat both to the officer and to the safety of the public, according to Graff.

In the account by the Culpeper Star-Exponent, the defense attorney claimed that Cook engaged in an accelerate-decelerate maneuver designed to harm the officer.

However, the prosecutor noted that the forensic evidence indicated that the five behind-the-Jeep bullets passed through the back of the Jeep as well as through the back of the driver's seat and headrest, a fatal volley that appeared to undercut the notion of self-defense.

Outrage over apparent inaction in the case culminated with an approximately 1,000-signature online petition and harsh words from the Charlottesville law official who uncovered malfeasance in an unrelated Culpeper case.

Harmon-Wright and his mother– charged only with record-tampering– were arrested May 29 after grand jury indictments. She was released on unsecured bond; he was granted a $100,000 bond at the close of Friday's hearing, according to WJLA.

“This community will be safer when he is out,” the Star-Exponent quoted the defense lawyer of his client. “You couldn’t have a safer person out there.”

–developing story; may be updated–-

Attached Documents: 

news-danielharmonwrightbondsupport.pdf

news-danielharmonwrightbondopposition.pdf