Officer To Be Honored For Bravery Clad In Tux, Newlywed Nabs Killer
Police work was the last thing on Mell Taylor’s mind last August as he waited for the light to change at Garland and Division.
Taylor, an eight-year member of the Spokane Police Department, was thinking of brunch and a honeymoon with his bride, Trace.
The two were married the day before, and Taylor was still in his black tuxedo with dark-gray pinstripes about 11:30 a.m. He forgot to take a change of clothes to the hotel.
The Taylors, in separate cars, were on their way home so he could change clothes before meeting family at Swackhammer’s.
A murder got in the way. As it turns out, it also earned him one of the state’s highest honors for bravery.
As Taylor watched from his pickup truck, a teenager in a nearby alley pointed a sawed-off shotgun at 33-year-old Dennis Rose and squeezed the trigger.
Rose died at the scene.
Taylor, who had his gun with him, drove across a concrete traffic island, jumped out of his vehicle and tackled the shooter - 18-year-old Jerome Grant.
He had no backup.
“I didn’t even think about it, I just reacted,” Taylor said Wednesday. “I just kind of focused on the bad guy.”
Grant, who said he was strung out on methamphetamine at the time, shot Rose as he and a friend were trying to collect a debt from the man.
Last January, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Next week, Gov. Mike Lowry and state Attorney General Christine Gregoire will present Taylor with a Washington State Law Enforcement Medal of Honor.
The citation is given to officers who exhibit “exceptional meritorious conduct” or are seriously injured in the line of duty. It also is awarded posthumously to officers killed in the line of duty.
Taylor and his wife will travel to Olympia next Friday for the ceremony in the Capitol rotunda. Eighteen other officers will be honored.
Taylor downplayed his actions on Aug. 6, 1995.
“Ninety-nine percent of the people I work with would have done the same thing,” he said.
He praised his wife, whom he didn’t realize was at the scene until later. “The radio guys made a tape of her 911 call. It really blew me away how calm she was.”
Taylor’s colleagues sometimes kid him, calling him James Bond because he was wearing a tux when he made the bust. He laughs along with them.
But sadness is also associated with that day.
“Somebody was killed,” Taylor said. “And the way I understand it, he died for no reason.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo