Tactical Flight Officer Tries to Save Beaten Toddler

A 27-year-old man was stomping and kicking the boy along a California country road June 14, according to The San Jose Mercury News. An off-duty volunteer firefighter tried to stop him, as did several others, but everyone was chased back by the deranged man. A few minutes after the initial 911 call, a Stanislaus County Sheriff's helicopter flying in the area on another matter arrived at the scene. Patrol deputies on the ground were still several minutes away, so the helicopter crew landed in a nearby field. The helicopter's TFO, a Modesto police officer, was blocked from the child on the road by an electric and barbed-wire fence. The officer ordered the man to stop; he didn’t, and the officer shot and killed the man. The toddler was rushed to a hospital, where he pronounced dead shortly after arrival. For related news