Officer Down in Houston
09/24/2006
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It has never been easy to be a cop, but the presence today of millions of illegal aliens makes the job enormously more difficult and dangerous. That hazard is multiplied for police who work in a sanctuary city, where they are prevented from asking about immigration status, knowledge which should be part of every officer's toolbox. In such places, the criminal is given an edge and law enforcement suffers.

Houston Officer Rodney Johnson We don't know whether Houston's sanctuary policy had a direct connection with the murder of Officer Rodney Johnson on Thursday, for example by making the city a more attractive place for the accused killer, illegal alien Juan Leonardo Quintero, to settle. We do know that the accused was previously deported in 1999 for sexual indecency with a child, so he may have wanted all the advantage he could get.

Officer Johnson had stopped Quintero for speeding, found he didn't have a license, then cuffed him and put him in the back of the squad car. Quintero somehow was able to draw a weapon which Johnson had missed, and then shot and killed the officer as he sat in the driver's seat. Quintero was quickly caught and was arraigned Friday.

Rodney Johnson truly was one of Houston's Finest and had been recognized more than once for his heroic actions in the line of duty.

As a member of the department’s Southeast Gang Task Force, Johnson earned two Lifesaving Awards and one Medal of Valor from the state of Texas.

According to HPD, he rescued a physically challenged driver trapped in rising floodwaters in January 1998.

That same year he rescued mentally challenged people trapped inside of a burning house, HPD said. [HPD: Suspect in officer's murder in U.S. illegally, KHOU 9/22/06]

Johnson served in the U.S. Army as a military police officer from 1984 to 1990 when he was honorably discharged. He then worked in corrections and graduated from the Houston police academy in 1994.

He is survived by his wife, Joslyn Johnson, an officer with the Houston police, and the couple's five children.

The loss of Officer Rodney Johnson is another American tragedy caused by Washington's refusal to defend the nation's borders and deal appropriately with criminal aliens.

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