After getting shot by a suspect in Perry Hall, Baltimore County Cpl. David Garner remembers SWAT team commander Michael Howe gave him a specific order.
“He ordered me not to die,” Garner recalled Tuesday. “I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ I never wanted to disappoint that man.”
Baltimore County officers, like Garner, gathered at police headquarters in Towson to remember Howe, a 30-year veteran of the force who died of an apparent massive stroke Monday after responding to a murder-suicide in Randallstown.
Howe helped save Garner’s life the December, 2006 day Garner was shot, Garner said. Howe halted the pursuit of an armed suspect until Garner, a K-9 officer, was paired with a member of the SWAT team.
“He said, ‘You have those K-9 guys stop right where they are until I can get a [SWAT] guy with them.’ SWAT guys came up and paired up with the K-9 guys,” Garner said. “I was shot and I was unable to return fire. There was a SWAT guy there with me that returned fire and saved my life. It was directly related to Mike Howe
saying, ‘Do this,’ five minutes before it ever happened. I’ll always look at him as one of the people — and there were a lot that day — that saved my life. He always said that ‘you were put on this earth for a reason,’ and that might have been the reason he was put here.”
Howe, Baltimore County police’s tactical commander, collapsed after returning home from a Randallstown
crime scene Sunday. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he died Monday afternoon, police said.
Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson said Howe’s passing was considered a line-of-duty death.
“Lt. Michael Howe is a shining example of the best in American policing,” Johnson said. “He is a dedicated, conscientious policeman and a police commander. This is a significant loss to this agency, our police family and the citizens of Baltimore County.”
The incident that preceded Howe’s death unfolded in Sunday’s early morning hours, when the county’s SWAT team responded to the 4200 block of Mary Ridge Drive in Randallstown, after a man, Palmer White, 71, called 911 saying he had committed a murder.
“He indicated he had just killed his wife, Dianne,” Johnson said.
SWAT officers entered the house, where they discovered Palmer White dead as well.
Within hours of the apparent murder-suicide, Howe began to feel pains. He was rushed to Carroll County General Hospital, and later transferred to Johns Hopkins, where he died.
“Unlike a light switch, you just cannot turn these incidents off,” Johnson said. “It takes hours to calm down from these high stress situations.”
Howe held various positions throughout his 30 years with the county police, including his last 10 years as the commander of the tactical unit.
Howe showed a “genuine care for the agency” and was a trusted leader, Johnson said. “Knowing Mike was there brought peace to me.”
Officer Dave Sweren, a member of the SWAT team, said Howe’s officers performed their best, because of their commander.
“You didn’t want to disappoint him, because he was such a good person,” he said.
Sweren described Howe as a “very moral person” and “devout Catholic,” who contemplated becoming a priest before he chose police work.
Everyone seemed to remember Howe’s sense of humor.
“He was a very witty person,” Sweren said. “He truly tried to make everybody smile. He would walk into a room and he’d say something that would make people laugh.”
With Howe gone, many in the agency have lost a friend and a father figure, Sweren said.
“He cared about us like family,” the officer said. “It was an empty shell in [the office] today.
Garner said Howe could be seen joking around with fellow commanders or with new recruits.
“It didn’t matter what your rank was. It didn’t matter what your skin color was. It didn’t matter what you did for a living,” Garner said. “He had time for everybody. He always made you feel like you were special.”
To the members of the SWAT team, “it was like we were his sons,” Garner said.
“He never wavered in his role as our commander,” he said. “He never wavered in his role as our friend.”
Howe is survived by his wife, Debra, and his stepson, Jason Simons, who is also a county police officer.
His funeral information follows:
Viewing:
- Friday, August 15, 2008
- 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- Ruck Funeral Home
- 1050 York Road
- Towson, Maryland 21204
Funeral:
- Saturday, August 16, 2008
- 9:30 a.m.
- St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church
- 2930 Hanover Pike
- Manchester, Maryland 21102
Interment:
- Following the Ceremony
- Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens
- 200 Padonia Road
- Timonium, Maryland 21093
