Wednesday marks 2 years since shooting death of El Paso County Deputy Micah Flick
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- It was two years ago Wednesday that two lives ended and countless others changed during a violent confrontation between authorities and a suspect at a Colorado Springs apartment complex.
El Paso County Dep. Micah Flick was killed by gunfire between authorities and an auto-theft suspect, Manuel Zetina, at the Murray Hill Apartments near the intersection of Galley Road and Murray Boulevard.
Injured in the shooting were two other deputies, Scott Stone and Sgt. Jake Abendschan, and a Colorado Springs police detective, Marcus Yanez.
Also injured was a bystander, Thomas Villanueva, who was hit in the crossfire and is now paralyzed below the waist. A year ago, he filed a lawsuit against the participating agencies and individuals.
Zetina was a suspect being pursued by a local auto theft task force when officers approached him in the Murray Hill Apartments parking lot.
According to a subsequent police investigation, task force members did not wear insignia identifying themselves as law enforcement officers, and didn't verbally announce themselves as officers to Zetina before trying to apprehend him.
Those findings fueled Villanueva's civil suit. A judge is considering whether the case should move forward, as the defendants filed a motion to dismiss last summer.
"I've been in and out of the hospital every month since I finished rehab," he told KRDO NewsChannel 13 in a Facebook message Wednesday. "I have no way of paying for therapy. Victims' compensation gave me only so much. I'm in constant, chronic pain. Fortunately, my family has supported me and helped me through every step."
Flick's widow, Rachael Flick, raises the couple's 9-year-old twins, does motivational speaking and is writing a book about dealing with tragedy and grief.
"Just a few hours before I learned about my husband, I was watching a TV show (in which) the characters faced a similar tragedy," she said. "That helped me deal with what was to come. Otherwise, I had no idea what to do and how to tell my kids."
Rachael said she handled the loss of her husband better than she expected.
"But then, I'm the wife of a law enforcement officer," she said. "We had many conversations about line-of-duty deaths and what could happen. I dealt with it by keeping it out of my mind."
As for the lawsuit, Racheal said she has sympathy for Villanueva.
"It's painful and difficult to see your children named in a lawsuit that killed their father," she said. "A lawsuit isn't going to bring my husband back or restore Villanueva's body. Revenge isn't the answer here. But I wish there was more compensation available for law enforcement officers and victims."
Rachael said she and her kids spent Wednesday's somber anniversary skiing.
"Thats what we loved to do as a family," she said.
