Close to Home: The promotion of Erick Gelhaus must stand Close to Home: The promotion of Erick Gelhaus must stand

Reading Greg Sarris’ “Close to Home” column, it was hard for the friends and supporters of StandWithErick.org to conclude anything but that Sarris lives in a different world (“Dismayed by promotion of deputy in Andy Lopez shooting,” Sunday).

In Mr. Sarris’ world, a man like Erick Gelhaus is guilty even after being found innocent by two independent investigations.

In Sarris’ world, utterly baseless allegations by money-lusting plaintiffs’ attorneys are sound foundation for denying an honestly earned promotion to a man who served his country and community for a quarter-century.

In Sarris’ world, you call a man a racist extremist without even a scrap of evidence, even if his career is otherwise admirably decorated with awards like the Medal of Valor for saving a suspect from a burning car.

Of course, Sarris may be ignorant of that fact, inasmuch as The Press Democrat has rarely reported it, according to a search of its archives.

However, it is no surprise that Sarris lives in a world of fictions, unacquainted with facts, fairness or logic.

We definitely know Erick Gelhaus. We served alongside him, followed him and led him during a year of bloody combat in Iraq. We have fought for our lives with him and cried with him over the fallen.

Sarris clearly didn’t bother to read the district attorney’s report on the tragic death of Andy Lopez. Sarris claims there is no evidence that Lopez pointed an object believed to be a weapon at Gelhaus and his partner. Apparently the pictures of the “object” in the report, the deputies’ statements, the statements of numerous law enforcement officers who were there, the statements of pedestrians in the area and the statements Lopez’s own friends who cautioned him about the rifle aren’t evidence. Those pictures and statements pepper the report, yet Sarris is plainly ignorant of them.

The events of that October afternoon were an absolutely awful thing. Erick Gelhaus was in a terrible situation because he refused to ignore trouble. In an era in which people take rifles into schools, theaters and nightclubs to inflict horrifying carnage, we cannot expect law enforcement to roll past folks carrying weapons without a word. It is not Gelhaus’ fault that Andy Lopez was possibly too high on marijuana to follow basic instructions (another thing Sarris ignores from the DA’s report).

But if we want our cops to confront people with weapons on the street, we need to either accept that tragedies like the one that killed Andy are going to happen, or we tell cops they can’t fire until fired upon. That will undoubtedly save a couple of reckless, drug-addled souls - and a lot of violent criminals - at the cost of innumerable officers’ lives.

Sarris was right about one thing: effective community policing is built on trust. It helps if alleged community leaders don’t work to undermine that trust with lies and baseless allegations against cops who’ve served nobly for decades.

Erick Gelhaus has been repeatedly cleared by thorough, objective investigations. The promotion he earned in a competitive process should stand.

Chris Chebahtah and Robert Parry are combat veterans and the founders of StandWithErick.org, which describes itself as committed to “tell the truth” about Gelhaus and the events of Oct. 22, 2013.

Reading Greg Sarris’ “Close to Home” column, it was hard for the friends and supporters of StandWithErick.org to conclude anything but that Sarris lives in a different world (“Dismayed by promotion of deputy in Andy Lopez shooting,” Sunday).

In Mr. Sarris’ world, a man like Erick Gelhaus is guilty even after being found innocent by two independent investigations.

In Sarris’ world, utterly baseless allegations by money-lusting plaintiffs’ attorneys are sound foundation for denying an honestly earned promotion to a man who served his country and community for a quarter century.

In Sarris’ world, you call a man a racist extremist without even a scrap of evidence, even if his career is otherwise admirably decorated with awards like the Medal of Valor for saving a suspect from a burning car. Of course, Sarris may be ignorant of that fact, inasmuch as The Press Democrat has never reported it, according to a search of its archives.

However, it is no surprise that Sarris lives in a world of fictions, unacquainted with facts, fairness or logic.

We definitely know Erick Gelhaus. We served alongside him, followed him and led him during a year of bloody combat in Iraq. We have fought for our lives with him and cried with him over the fallen.

Sarris clearly didn’t bother to read the district attorney’s report on the tragic death of Andy Lopez. Sarris claims there is no evidence that Lopez pointed an object believed to be a weapon at Gelhaus and his partner. Apparently the pictures of the “object” in the report, the deputies’ statements, the statements of numerous law enforcement officers who were there, the statements of pedestrians in the area and the statements Lopez’s own friends who cautioned him about the rifle aren’t evidence.

Those pictures and statements pepper the report, yet Sarris is plainly ignorant of them.

The events of that October afternoon were an absolutely awful thing. Erick Gelhaus was in a terrible situation because he refused to ignore trouble. In an era in which people take rifles into schools, theaters and nightclubs to inflict horrifying carnage, we cannot expect law enforcement to roll past folks carrying weapons without a word. It is not Erick’s fault that Andy Lopez was possibly too high on marijuana to follow basic instructions (another thing Sarris ignores from the DA’s report).

But if we want our cops to confront people with weapons on the street, we need to either accept that tragedies like the one that killed Andy are going to happen, or we tell cops they can’t fire until fired upon. That will undoubtedly save a couple of reckless, drug-addled souls - and a lot of violent criminals - at the cost of innumerable officers’ lives.

Sarris was right about one thing: effective community policing is built on trust. It helps if alleged community leaders don’t work to undermine that trust with lies and baseless allegations against cops who’ve served nobly for decades.

Erick Gelhaus has been repeatedly cleared by thorough, objective investigations. The promotion he earned in a competitive process should stand.

Chris Chebahtah and Robert Parry are combat veterans and the founders of StandWithErick.org, which is dedicated to telling the truth about Erick Gelhaus and the events of Oct. 22, 2013.