Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409220051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
State Trooper Eddie Bowen ate dinner with Griffith at Country Kitchen last Thursday. Griffith insisted on picking up the bill.
"I said, 'I'll buy yours next time,''' Bowen recalled. "I can't get it out of my mind ... how easy we take things for granted."
Robert Fleet, a Montgomery County sheriff's investigator, said he regrets that he and Griffith never acted on their many vows to going fishing together, a passion they shared.
Griffith, 37, was praised Monday as both a police officer and a family man. He was married and had five children, the youngest only 2 months old. Next month, he would have marked his 15-year service anniversary as a patrol officer. He started as a dispatcher in 1977.
Sharon Hagy, a waitress at Country Kitchen, said Griffith was fond of showing off pictures of his young son and other children as he waited to have his order taken and food delivered.
Like many police officers, Griffith often ate at the Radford Street restaurant. Monday, though, the officers sitting at their usual tables were abnormally quiet, talking in hushed tones. Waitresses and other customers picked up on the mood and followed suit, occasionally stopping by to offer some kind words.
Hagy noticed that several officers who had gathered for the noon meal were only ordering beverages and not eating. Among them was Deputy Billy Saunders, one of two officers who fired at the shoplifter, Samuel Jerome Patterson, who tried to flee when deputies surrounded him.
Police are shielding Saunders and Tony Haga - the other officer involved in Patterson's shooting - from interviews until an investigation is complete. Sgt. Billy Wiatt, the sheriff's deputy who was shot in the cheek just before Griffith was shot, also was not available for comment, but his supervisors said he was holding up well and his wound was superficial.
Wiatt and Griffith had responded to a shoplifting call at Hills Department Store off Roanoke Street. The shoplifter, who was suspected of taking a carton of cigarettes, wrestled Griffith's gun from him and used it to shoot him and Wiatt.
"Terry was a good guy. He would have gladly bought those cigarettes for him," Deputy Steve Lowe said of Patterson. Lowe worked with Griffith for about 21/2 years before Lowe joined the sheriff's office.
Darlene Castor, Griffith's sister-in-law, was answering the phone at the Griffith residence Monday while her sister, Diane Griffith, was making funeral arrangements.
Terry Griffith had a family picture "he always carried in his shirt pocket, next to his heart," Castor said.
The Griffiths have five children: John, 2 months old; Victoria Griffith, 2; Robbie and Adam Trout, 13 and 12, Diane Griffith's children from a previous marriage; and Ashley Griffith, 10, Terry Griffith's daughter from a previous marriage.
The family attends Moore's Chapel Baptist Church on Bradshaw Road.
Griffith is the first Christiansburg officer killed in the line of duty in any active officer's memory, Chief Ron Lemons said.
"Terry can't be replaced here ... He was one of the most aggressive patrol officers we had - in getting the job done, taking the calls and not stopping until he got his man," Lemons said.
Lemons said it was not unusual for Griffith, once completing his work at a traffic or crime scene, to take a moment to say a prayer with the people involved.
"That's an example of going the extra mile. It's a testament to the type of man he was," Lemons said. "He loved his job, and we loved having him."
Griffith's funeral will be 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Christiansburg. Burial will follow at Sunset Cemetery. Visitation is 6-8 p.m. today at Richardson-Horne Funeral Home.
A Terry Griffith Memorial Youth Center Fund has been established. Donations may be mailed in care of First National Bank, P.O. Box 600, Christiansburg, Va. 24073.
by CNB