Many people might find it difficult to maintain their composure while involved in a high-speed pursuit with your quarry firing at you. That really wasn’t a problem for Montezuma County Sheriff Deputy Jason Williams during just that scenario last week.
“I was in Iraq for 13 months,” Williams said. “I’ve been shot at by much bigger guns.”
In an exclusive interview with the Cortez Journal, Williams attributed his combat experience for the remarkable calm he maintained during last week’s high-speed police chase. During the near 45-minute pursuit on May 11, he never raised his voice while communicating with dispatchers. He received about a dozen rounds of gunfire. One bullet even hit the hood of his patrol unit.
“If I was freaking out on the radio, I knew it would only amp up the officers that were coming to help me,” he said.
The clash was the first for Williams during his eight-year law-enforcement career. Responding to a “gas skip,” he initially tried to pull a vehicle over just north of County Road C.1. on U.S. Highway 491. The suspects had other plans. In less than 2 minutes, the first shots were fired.
“I was obviously in an elevated emotional state,” Williams continued, “but I was trying to remain calm. I didn’t want to get overly excited and make a mistake. ... If I had been hit, then I probably would have been screaming like a little girl.”
Facing the life-or-death situation, his wife and children flashed before his eyes during the earliest portions of the pursuit. Because of his training and experience, he managed to remain in focus.
“Our job is to protect and help people,” he said. “I had to be professional.”
Married since 2005 and father of two girls, 8 and 4, he said his family was unaware of the peril until he called to inform his wife. He simply explained that he had survived a shooting and would be late for dinner.
“She just said, ‘Be safe, and I’ll see you when you get home,’” he said.
With an acceptance that anything could happen in the line of duty, Williams and his wife have discussed the dangers associated with the job.
“She doesn’t like people shooting at me, but she understands that I enjoy helping and protecting people,” he said.
Days later, he said he found himself continuously replaying the chase in his mind.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I could have done anything differently that would have changed the outcome,” he said.
Although he didn’t know that the 14-year-old girl was a runaway from Florida and the driver, the girl’s uncle – both of whom died – was wanted in connection to a stolen firearm when launching the pursuit, Williams speculated that the suspects might have concluded that he was aware of the duo’s history.
“I think they panicked,” he said.
He said he was sickened that he was unable to do more to alter the outcome: “The one regret that I have was that we weren’t able to save the girl. ... She had her whole life ahead of her.”
Williams, a native of Montana, served in the Army from 2001 to 2005, including as a combat medic with the 25th Infantry Division in Iraq. After his military service, Williams worked as an EMT in Vero Beach, Florida, where he became acquainted with several police officers. He soon gravitated to law enforcement, serving in Florida and Telluride before landing with the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office in October.
“It’s a job that’s bigger than myself,” he said. “That’s what drew me to law enforcement.”
