Wounded Richmond police officer is person anyone could get to know, city resident says

WHIO Staff
·2 min read
17

Richmond, Indiana, resident Robert Mays said he was able to get to know police Officer Seara Burton informally as a person anyone could get to know because of her personable demeanor.

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Monday evening, in the city he describes as a small town where everyone knows everyone, he was staying in confident prayer for the 28-year-old, four-year veteran officer, who is to be taken off life support at Miami Valley Hospital later today -- 23 days after she was shot in the face by a man police were questioning during a traffic stop.

Police Chief Michael Britt gave the announcement about Burton Wednesday afternoon, in the latest update about the officer’s condition.

“I’m hopeful and I’m sad, and I’m going to pray for Seara tonight,” Mays told News Center 7′s Haley Kosik, because he believes Burton is a fighter.

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“Faith, prayer. . . . You hope that it doesn’t go the way that some people think it’ll go,” Mays said. “You have to always think positive.”

Mays said Burton used to gas up at a service station across from his home.

“It would be ‘hey, Robert!’” he recalled, noting that he would offer in return, “Hey Seara, how are you?”

The officer was cheerful and seemed like someone you could get to know, Mays recalled. Her big, bright smile was the first thing he noticed about her.

He remembers that the last time he saw her on duty was August 10, the night she and her partner, K-9 Brev, were part of a group of officers who detained Phillip Lee, of Richmond, on a traffic stop on 12th Street. Police said he pulled out a firearm, fired several times toward the officers and of those shots hit Burton.

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Mays said he remembers driving by that traffic stop and seeing Burton use a ball to work her K-9 partner briefly before putting the animal back in her police cruiser. Mays said five minutes probably hadn’t passed before “the shots rang out.”

Despite the latest turn involving Burton, Mays said something tells him not to give up hope -- not yet.

“So I’m prayerful that at some point miraculously, and I do believe in miracles, that she’ll pull through. But if she doesn’t. . . I believe that God knows best.”