In the late hours of a June night in Reading, Pennsylvania, a dedicated police officer's life was tragically cut short in a hail of gunfire, not from a suspect, but from a fellow officer's weapon. Michael Harry Wise II, a 32-year-old male officer with the Reading Police Department, died on Saturday, June 5, 2004, from a wound sustained during a chaotic shootout. The events of that fateful night unfolded in the 700 block of Schuylkill Avenue, where Officer Wise and two other undercover officers were searching for a suspect involved in an earlier shooting.
The situation escalated rapidly when a man exited a car brandishing a handgun and immediately opened fire on the plainclothes officers. Officer Wise and another officer got out of their vehicle and returned fire. As the gun battle raged, another uniformed officer, James M. Palange, arrived at the scene. Mistaking the undercover officers for the suspects, he ordered one of the officers, who was still in the car, to drop his weapon. When the undercover officer continued to engage the suspect, Officer Palange fired four rounds. One of these bullets tragically deflected off the undercover car and struck Officer Wise in the head.
Despite being rushed to a local hospital and then airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Officer Wise succumbed to his wound. He had served with the Reading Police Department for two years and was survived by his wife and daughter. The original suspect who initiated the shootout was apprehended shortly after by the other undercover officer and was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter, receiving a sentence of 13.5 to 27 years in prison.
In the aftermath of the tragic incident, Officer James M. Palange was suspended and later dismissed from the Reading Police Department for his role in Officer Wise's death. An investigation determined it was a case of mistaken identity. The widow of Officer Wise later settled a civil suit against the city.
