Sweet Home Police Sgt. George Dominy and Emergency Dispatcher Lisa Davis both received the Medal of Valor for their actions in the attempted murder of a police officer, Vic Clodfelter, by Michael Peverieri.
“It means a lot,” Sgt. Dominy said. “I’ve been here the last 13 years. I’ve never seen awards like these two given out.”
When Officer Clodfelter first received the call to Peverieri’s house on 54th Avenue, Sgt. Dominy was exchanging a prisoner with Eugene Police Department at Highway 228 and Interstate 5. He had just cleared and was headed back to Sweet Home.
“As soon as I heard there was a gun involved, I couldn’t get there fast enough,” Sgt. Dominy said. The drive back was frustrating, with cars not getting out of the way, listening to Davis give updates to Clodfelter and the situation “escalating quick.”
Sgt. Dominy was in the 4600 block of Highway 20 when the shots were fired, he said. He had his patrol vehicle pushed to its limit, but “it wasn’t fast enough.”
Beyond concerns for his officer, situations where a person is willing to shoot at an officers are dangerous for the public, Sgt. Dominy said. With that in mind, there’s know way to know what a person would do to a member of the public.
When Sgt. Dominy pulled onto 54th, he could see Officer Clodfelter leaning against his car. He couldn’t tell how badly he was hurt. His first impression was that he had to get him out of there fast and get him help.
“I wasn’t sure where Peverieri was at the time,” Sgt. Dominy said. “Someone as unstable as that, you just don’t know what he’s going to do.”
That’s where Davis and other dispatchers come into emergencies.
“My only worry wasn’t just for Vic,” Davis said. Peverieri had threatened to kill himself and anyone else in the area. Her goal was to keep Peverieri on the line and stabilize the situation and keep Peverieri, the officers and members of the public alive while Sgt. Dominy evacuated Officer Clodfelter.
“The thing that kind of complicated it too was that he had a scanner,” Davis said. She had to be careful what she said because she didn’t want to “fuzz him up” before the officer arrived.
When Peverieri started a countdown from five, threatening to shoot the officer at zero, Davis said, “If I could have reached through that radio and grabbed Vic, I would’ve got him out of there.”
Peverieri counted down with “an eerie calm,” Davis said. “He was going to kill him if he was given the opportunity. I wanted to get Vic out of there. He was telling me, ‘I can’t leave.’ I just couldn’t come up with anything to make (Peverieri) stop. That was one of the most helpless feelings.”
Then she heard the shots.
“It was almost like this can’t be real,” Davis said. During this she was talking to Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Sgt. Dominy and the police chief, and Sgt. Dominy was putting himself in the line of fire. “It wasn’t until after it was over I realized how intense it was.
“I didn’t expect to be rewarded for it because that’s why I was hired.”
In negotiations training, “everyone goes home,” Davis said. “It’s not an option that you can’t. You have to.”
Sgt. Dominy applauded her performance that night.
“I just hope I never get another (call like that),” Davis said. “They send you to training, and you hear tapes like this. I don’t think you’re ever prepared for when it happens. I don’t think there’s a class you could ever take to prepare you for it.”
Officer survival classes help prepare officers mentally, Sgt. Dominy said. They’re good classes, but not everything, such as the adrenaline, can be recreated in class.
In the incident, Sgt. Dominy wanted to extend special thanks to “a few members of the community in that area that night that were very helpful,” he said. He appreciated their cooperation that night. Particularly, he wanted to thank Donny Melson and his family as well as a woman who lived straight across the street, though he didn’t know her name.
Sgt. Dominy wanted to thank the other agencies who responded. Among them were Lebanon Police Department with two units, Linn County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police. A Lebanon officer, John King, was in the Fern Ridge area doing followup when the shots were fired. He responded immediately to the incident without hesitation.
Other agencies were the same, Sgt. Dominy said. “There wasn’t even hesitation. They heard it, and they were going.”
A Linn County dispatcher contacted Davis during the incident and offered to stay on the line with her for support, Davis said. While too busy to maintain that contact, Davis appreciated that offer.
“I think it was an experience everybody learned from,” Davis said. “You’re not invincible no matter who you are, and not everybody respects law enforcement.”