On Friday October 23rd, Paris Police Officer Lt. Doug Murphy and his family were returning home from a trip to San Antonio. The purpose of the trip was to attend a military ceremony which included Matthew Murphy SN-MA, graduating from Master at Arms Training for the US Navy.
While traveling through the city of Temple on Interstate 35, the Murphy’s vehicle was passed by a PT Cruiser traveling at a high rate of speed. The vehicle was changing lanes when it lost control and crashed into the center median close to the 307 Exit. Temple Police Department Units were arriving on the scene as they had been involved in a pursuit of the car. After crashing, the car caught fire and one person crawled out of the driver’s side window and fled.
The Temple officers were in foot pursuit of that suspect while Lt. Murphy stopped to check on anyone that might still be in the car. The crash had left the vehicle laying on the passenger side. At great risk to their personal safety, Lt. Murphy, sons Matthew 21 and Daniel 19, had to break out the sun roof of the vehicle to extract two rather large individuals from the car as the fire had already spread to the front interior dash area. Another Temple PD officer assisted them in the extrication.
The a 33 year suspect was taken into custody for possession of a controlled substance and other charges by Temple PD, the male and female passengers were transported to a Temple hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
We are very proud to have an officer of the caliber of Lt. Doug Murphy working for our agency. He and his sons demonstrate what it means to be a public guardian and to be there for someone when danger is just on the other side of the door. The Temple police department PIO that I talked with indicated there was more than a good chance that those people left in the burning car would have been seriously injured or killed had it not been for the efforts of the Murphy family.