Gloucester News
Newport News Officer Killed in the Line-of-Duty Largely Impacts Community
Reporter Alice Bishop
On January 23, 2020, Newport News suffered the sudden loss of Officer Katherine "Katie" M. Thyne. Thyne was 24 years old, and only recently placed on independent patrol earlier this summer.
Officer Thyne was hired and placed into the police academy in 2018, and later graduated and became a field trainee in 2019. On top of this, Thyne was a Navy veteran and remained in the naval reserve as a civilian.
”Her peers described [her] as extremely caring, dedicated, and professional,” recounts Captain John W. Schick Jr. of the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office. Officer Thyne was known to be an old soul who highly valued community policing and was “[t]he epitome of the contemporary law enforcement officer,” according to Captain Schick Jr. She was the first Newport News officer to pass in the line-of-duty in 25 years.
The tragedy took place at Monitor Merrimac Overlook Park off 16th Street when Officer Thyne conducted a criminal investigation under the suspicion of illegal narcotic activity called in by a local citizen. While investigating the suspects of the vehicle, both Officer Thyne and her partner asked the suspects to exit the car, and while the passenger complied, the driver did not. The driver, 38-year-old Vernon Evander Green II, had had previous altercations with law enforcement and a criminal record dating back 15 years. Green has been convicted for bank robbery, criminal possession of firearms, specifically having a firearm while in possession of narcotics and while being a convicted felony, and the distribution of Schedule I and II narcotics. “The suspect in the murder of Officer Thyne was on long term state probation related to the latter charges, which resulted in convictions. If Green had been arrested for narcotics-related charges following the investigation by officers, he would have been in jeopardy of being sent back to prison for several years of confinement,” elaborated Captain Schick Jr, “Green was also out of jail on a $250,000 related to the armed bank robbery charge bond issued by a United States Magistrate Judge.”
Following Green’s refusal to exit the vehicle, he proceeded to speed off from the scene, which lead to Officer Thyne becoming caught in the open driver-side door and the vehicle’s front fender and being dragged roughly 600 feet. It is determined Green sped over a curb and collided with a nearby tree, where Officer Thyne was dreadfully pinned between the car and tree and obtained life-threatening blunt force trauma. Thyne was reported to cling to life during the emergency transport to Sentera Norfolk Level-I Trauma Hospital, but unfortunately passed during treatment. Two days after this misfortune, a massive procession was held with a large variety of police officers and vehicles from differing departments.
This procession traveled from the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Norfolk to a funeral home in Newport News. Officer Thyne’s hearse stopped for a moment of silence outside the South Precinct Station on Jefferson Avenue, where hundreds of civilians lined the streets in tears or with their hands over their hearts. On the following Monday, a smaller procession was held as Thyne’s casket was transported from Altmeyer Funeral Home to the Norfolk International Airport, Boston’s Logan International Aiport, and finally Morse Bayliss Funeral Home in Lowell, Massachusetts. “Katie Thyne leaves behind a two-year-old daughter, Raegan, her mother, Tracy Maher, brothers Tim, Jon, and Braedyn Thyne, and a large family in the Lowell and Nashua, N.H. area,” states Nicole Defeudis in her eulogy for the Daily Press, “Her name will be mentioned forever.” The tragedy follows Thyne's recent engagement to fellow Newport News Police Officer Brittany Lewis the weekend prior.
“The death of another officer, especially locally, is truly a humbling experience...” vocalized Captain Schick, “..The tragedy reminds cops that bad things really do happen on this job and that they are one-call away from facing evil and their own mortality. This, of course, is exacerbated when you reflect that law enforcement officers are indeed human, they are likely to have spouses and children, who depend on them greatly, so the need to survive similar incidents, which occur routinely in this profession, becomes the focal point of each citizen contact.”
Officer Thyne served not only as an inspiration to the Newport News community, but to ours as well. In memory of Officer Thyne, her family established the Officer Thyne Memorial Fund. The money donated allows the Newport News police departments to have access to new technologies, resources, and more to keep Newport News a safer place. People can donate online at https://www.nnpolicefoundation.org/, or the Newport News Police Foundation; P.O. Box 120496, Newport News, VA, 23612.