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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2017
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Sgt. Jason Goodding’s memorial service last year at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. Scores of law enforcement officers and state and community people attended.
Chief Ham: ‘Offi cers did what they were trained to do’
Continued from Page 1A
Q: What were you feeling
at that time?
A: It was a certain amount
of disbelief. Very scared, very
much concerned for David-
son. My fi rst contact was
actually with Offi cer David-
son to try to make sure he
knew we were there for him.
Q: He hadn’t been
struck?
A: No. That’s when I
started to make my way over
and saw the many medics
attending to Jason.
Q: You had Ferry there,
too.
A: Yes.
Q: Were you angry?
A: Well, you know, that’s
one of those things. Over
this whole thing … I haven’t
been angry. My biggest con-
cern was for my friend and
co-worker Jason.
Q: Did you go to the
hospital?
A: Once he got transported,
I went and picked up Amy
(Goodding) and the kids and
brought them to the hospital.
Q: Who made that call?
A: I did.
Q: What did you say?
A: What do you say? I just
let her know that there had
been … that Jason had been
hurt and we needed to get to
the hospital. Trying to do it
quietly without the girls hear-
ing exactly what was going on
but … just brought them to the
hospital.
Q: What was Amy’s
reaction?
A: Again concerned,
scared, kept her composure
pretty well. We didn’t know
the severity — I didn’t even
know the severity of it. I knew
they were working on him. I
knew it was very serious, but
we didn’t know at that point
he had passed away.
Q: How did you react
when you learned of his
death?
A: It hit very close to
home. We were all grieving
and it was all very raw — and
is to this day, to be quite hon-
est with you. I was close fam-
ily friends with the Gooddings
and still am, so there was a
very personal side to this.
It was very diffi cult to try to
separate.
Q: Did you sleep that
night? Did you go home?
A: I don’t think I slept. I
went home and probably the
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside Police Chief Dave Ham points to a donated plaque
in memory of fallen Seaside Police Sgt. Jason Goodding
that hangs on a wall at the station.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside Police Chief Dave Ham looks at a wall full of gifts from the community in remem-
brance of Sgt. Jason Goodding at the Seaside Police Station.
next morning laid down for
a couple of hours, but it was
well into the next morning.
Q: And what was hap-
pening overnight?
A: It’s hard to say or recall.
Those next 12 hours were very
… I don’t know how to really
even answer that one. It’s just,
to a certain degree things kind
of stopped. We had offi cers
from other agencies that were
fi lling in — taking our calls
for service, and it’s just …
Q: Did you call a
meeting?
A: We did. We had a
department meeting within a
couple of days where spouses
were invited. It was a time to
get everybody together and
give them the rundown of
everything that we knew up
to that point, whether it was
the criminal investigation,
what was happening with our
shifts, what we’re responsible
for. It was a face-to-face time
for them to console each other
and know the city was with
us, and we had the support of
really anybody whether we
reached out to them or they
reached out to us.
Q: Were you surprised
by the avalanche of support
that came from the country?
A: To a certain degree, yes.
The community support, and I
mean Clatsop County, Seaside
— it doesn’t surprise me, but
it was overwhelming to see it.
I’ve got a box right here
fi lled with cards, letters, trin-
kets, notes. It is from families,
nationally and even interna-
tionally who have no reason
to know we’re on the map.
It is from families who have
lost offi cers before. It is from
agencies that have never lost
an offi cer in the line-of-duty; it
is from agencies that have lost
offi cers in the line-of-duty.
It is amazing how much
has come in, the overwhelm-
ing support that I didn’t really
expect in a situation like this.
Q: What has this meant
for you as a department?
A: I think as a department
it’s just really nice to see that
so many people are out there.
You’re supported; you’re
loved.
For me it has been
very emotional, grieving a
co-worker, grieving a very
close personal friend. And so
the thing about coming up on
the one-year anniversary for
this interview, it dredges up
so many emotions. Everybody
here has been affected by that.
We’re very close knit and it’s
been very emotional to say the
least.
Q: Let me shift gears
here. In terms of policing,
did this provide any lessons?
A: Yes. From the time offi -
cers come on they’re taught a
sense of offi cer safety. You’re
taught certain skills and ways
to handle people, to talk to
people and to ask for cer-
tain things that may include
“we need to see your hands.”
Unfortunately hands are what
kill people oftentimes in our
line of work and in this par-
ticular case, the lesson reaf-
fi rmed and reinforced just
that.
The offi cers did what they
were trained to do. They did
what they could do to keep
this safe for everyone. It’s just
an example of even when you
do the right thing, bad things
can still happen.
Q: How can we prevent
this kind of incident from
happening again?
A: In this particular situ-
ation and with this murder-
er’s background, I think he
should have been in custody
and not released from previ-
ous charges leaving him to
be on the streets to make his
decisions that led to the death
of and the murder of Sgt.
Goodding.
Q: How are Amy and her
daughters doing now?
A: They are doing pretty
good. They seem to be adjust-
ing and they’re very resilient.
They have good family sup-
port. The girls are doing well
in school. Amy is doing well,
as far as I can tell.
Q: Sherwood, where
Jason Goodding attended
high school, named a fi eld
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after him. What are some of
the highlights of the tributes
that have come in?
A: One of the things we’re
all very proud of is the local
Seaside High School scholar-
ship program that got started
up in Jason’s name. That was
kicked off last June. There’s
a benefi t concert coming up
on the 11th at the Elks Lodge
and their funds are going
toward the Oregon Fallen
Badge Foundation. On May
2, Offi cer Davidson, Sgt. Nof-
ield and myself will be repre-
senting the department at the
Oregon Fallen Law Enforce-
ment Memorial Ceremony in
Salem.
Then we’ll be going
to Washington, D.C., for
National Police Week the
week of May 15.
This community is very
good about donating to many
different things and this has
been no different, and at the
very least, if anything goes out
from my lips, it is a thank you
to them, to this community.
This community is amazing.
Q: Anything else you
want to add?
A: The tone of the depart-
ment is positive, people are
upbeat. We had some vacan-
cies in this last year and we’re
settling down. We’ve got bod-
ies hired, but we’re still wait-
ing for them to get through the
police academies and trained.
We’re starting to get to the
point where we can keep our
head above water, so to speak.
From what I can tell the
morale of the department is
good and we’re excited about
the future. We just never want
to forget our friend.
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Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Seaside Police Chief Dave Ham hugs Sgt. Jason Good-
ding’s wife, Amy, at Goodding’s memorial service last year.
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