In the pre-dawn hours of October 12, 1995, a 31-year-old White / Caucasian male named Tony Ray Patterson was part of a team of Topeka Police Department officers conducting a drug raid on a house near Washburn University. As the designated "ram man" for the operation, it was his duty to breach the suspect's door. During his attempt to force entry, a panel of the door broke away, creating an opening.
It was through this hole that a single, fatal shot was fired from inside the residence.
The bullet struck Patterson, a six-year veteran of the force, in a vulnerable spot. Although he was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, the shot entered under his left arm, an area left unprotected, and traveled through his side. His fellow officers and paramedics at the scene made valiant but unsuccessful efforts to revive him. In the immediate aftermath, another officer returned fire, injuring the suspect inside the house in the leg.
The man inside the apartment, Stephen Medford Shively, was apprehended at the scene. He was subsequently put on trial for the death of the officer. During the legal proceedings, Shively's defense argued that he was acting in defense of his dwelling, awakened at three in the morning by the violent entry of the officers. A jury ultimately acquitted him of the murder charge related to Officer Patterson's death.
While he was cleared of the homicide, Shively did not escape all charges. He was found guilty of several drug-related offenses and of battery against a law enforcement officer for aiming his weapon at Patterson's partner during the raid. Despite these convictions, the man responsible for firing the fatal shot never served any prison time for the death of Patrolman Tony Ray Patterson.
