Ohio’s Lorrain Brent Payne had to watch Phillip Wagner leave the hospital while propped up in a chair.
Payne accompanied other law enforcement officials on Thursday in transporting Wagner’s remains from MetroHealth Medical Center to the Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office. Wagner, 35, a three-year member of the Lorain police department, passed away on Wednesday due to wounds he sustained in an assault.
Additionally, Payne and officer Peter Gale were shot in the Colorado Avenue Industrial Park on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Michael Failing, Lorain’s interim police chief, when a cop passes away, other policemen from all around the county arrive and line the hospital’s walls as the flag-draped trolley emerges. Officer Payne insisted on coming down there, propped up in a chair, to watch Officer Wagner pass by after undergoing many hours of surgery.
Failing gave a tearful report on the condition of the wounded policemen during a vigil on Thursday night. According to him, Gale will be on leave as he recovers from multiple broken bones after being shot in the hand during the attack on his cruiser with Wagner.
He is grateful for your prayers. Failing stated.
Payne had a long operation Thursday morning after being shot several times when he came to the scene to assist, according to Failing. Doctors predict that he will require five or six surgeries just on his hand, so he has a long journey ahead of him.
Lorain resident Michael Parker, 28, started shooting at the officers. When cops fired back, he was slain.
