Officer Richard Steed - EOW 11/29/78

In memoriam of San Clemente Officer Richard Thomas Steed.  Killed in the line of duty 11/29/78. Take me from the cache near where I died across country to visit memorials to peace officers. Please upload pictures of the TB as it travels so we know the TB is actually traveling and # isn't being passed around. 

Steed was 30 years old and had been on the San Clemente police force for close to three years. Everyone knew him as a good cop, very bright, very mature and a good sense of humor. He and his wife, Kathy, had not had a chance to start a family.

On Nov. 29, 1978, Steed responded to a call about a man injured in an alley behind a downtown hotel. The man was James R. Hoffer, a 23-year-old transient. Hoffer had walked into the nearby Sun-Post newspaper office and said he'd cut himself and needed help. He ducked into the alley after that with a towel wrapped around his hand. Inside it he had hidden a loaded .38 caliber gun.
It was a medical aid call, the kind that police officers make every day. When Steed got out of his squad car to offer assistance, Hoffer suddenly opened fire.

The first bullet struck Steed in the chest. It somehow went through the top of the bulletproof vest Steed was wearing and pierced his heart. Hoffer fired a second shot as he fled, hitting the officer in the arm.
 
An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated only seven minutes on Aug 10, 1988  before finding that a man who admitted killing Officer Steed  while suffering from "delusions of paranoia".  He is still too dangerous to be released from a state mental hospital. The jury's verdict came after a three-day sanity hearing in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Hoffer had sought the hearing to prove that he is no longer a threat to society and should now be released from prison,

Although Hoffer has admitted suffering from paranoid delusions and even believed that "Russians and demons" had implanted a soul-destroying device inside his body, he testifiedthat he has not experienced any such delusions for at least two years, Prickett said. Hoffer did, however, tell the jury that he has become a white supremacist while in the state hospital system and that he now supported racial segregation policies such as South Africa's apartheid because he is convinced that minorities are the downfall of America. The jury also heard testimony from a court-appointed psychologist that Hoffer was no longer dangerous. The D.A.  however, presented three doctors who all testified that Hoffer remained a threat to society.  Additionally, staff members at Patton State Hospital testified that Hoffer continues to suffer from delusions, Prickett said.

Hoffer, who reacted without emotion to the jury's verdict, is entitled to petition the court for another sanity hearing. 

San Clemente has properly honored him with the Richard T. Steed Memorial Park in the hills east of downtown.  It is a beautiful 40-acre sports complex at 240 Ave. La Pata . A plaque at the entrance, from the San Clemente Peace Officers Assn., explains who "Rick" Steed was. At dedication ceremonies in 1989, Steed's father, Henry C. Steed, said: "Rick would have loved this." At the entrance to the complex is a bronze plaque explaining that Steed was killed while on duty on Nov. 29, 1978. "Blessed are the peacemakers," it says.

"Even though Rick was the first peace officer to die in the history of San Clemente, let's pray he's the last," said the slain officer's father, Henry C. Steed, a retired engineer from Whispering Pines, Va. Still, the senior Steed was delighted over the testimonial to his son. "He would have loved this," Steed said. "He loved ball. He liked to play baseball" and even hurried through his wedding so he could get to a game.

Kathleen Steed, the officer's widow, called the dedication "wonderful. He would have wanted to be the first one to hit a ball," she said. Later, she strode out to the pitcher's mound and formally opened the park with a ceremonial first pitch.

In 1992 the Orange County Sheriff Department was contracted by the city to provide police services to the city.  They still continue to honor Rick Steed to this day. There is also a memorial to him at the San Clemente pier in Semper Fi Park.  Rick Steed was a combat veteran in Vietnam with the USMC (Staff Sgt.).
 
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-08-11/local/me-95_1_san-clemente

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-11-30/local/me-4410_1_police-officer

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-07-10/local/me-2677_1_san-clemente