Police Officer / Storm Spotter Dies from Injuries

[Joey Ketcham]

Sad to report that the police officer in Greensburg that was storm spotting has died from injuries he recieved after the patrol car he was in was hit by the tornado. He was a storm spotter and was among those that were out that night wathing the storms.

GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) -- A police officer who was critically injured in the tornado that tore apart Greensburg was removed from life support early Tuesday, a few hours after his daughter was married at his bedside. His death raised the tornado's toll to 10.

Robert Tim Buckman, a 46-year-old officer from nearby Macksville, suffered a head injury in Friday's storm that killed nine others in Greensburg, officials said. He died early Tuesday at a Wichita hospital, his son Derick Buckman told The Associated Press.
"He died being a hero," Derick Buckman said. "He was sworn to protect people, and that's what he was doing the night he got picked up by a tornado."

During his final hours, Robert Buckman symbolically gave away his 18-year-old daughter in a marriage ceremony at his bedside, his son said. The family's hometown preacher officiated at the ceremony for Kylee Buckman and her boyfriend, Josh Mondello, 22, Derick's best friend. "He was there with his daughter to give her away," said Derick Buckman, a 25-year-old firefighter.

Search and rescue operations were continuing Tuesday in Greensburg, where emergency responders have struggled to determined if any of its 1,600 residents are missing because so many are staying with friends or relatives rather than in shelters.

 

[Jeff Miller]

My condolences to the family - it''s always sad to hear when a fellow Storm Observer/Spotter/Chaser is fatally wounded by the very thing he is protecting others from. Another true hero of the Greenburg tragedy.

 

[Willie Dines]

My condolences to the family - it''s always sad to hear when a fellow Storm Observer/Spotter/Chaser is fatally wounded by the very thing he is protecting others from. Another true hero of the Greenburg tragedy.

I second that wholeheartedly, my thoughts and prayers go to his family at this time.

Willie

 

[rdale]

I think this needs to be linked to the nighttime spotting thing... Not a good idea during these type of events.

 

[Van DeWald]

Unfortunately, law enforcement officials can't just stand down when nightfall hits and tornadoes are still raging. This is very sad to hear, but at the same time, makes me very proud of the dedication of these hard working folks who have to put their lives on the line everyday in the name of protecting citizens of their counties. My condolences and the prayers to the family of this officer, as well as everyone who have experienced loss in this tragedy.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Very sad news - thoughts and condolences with his loved ones...he died protecting his local community, and that shows true heroism.

 

[Jesse Risley]

This is indeed a tragedy that hits home, coming from someone who almost suffered a similar fate back in May 2003 here in IL.

Is this the first spotter/chaser death in the field, due directly to injuries sustained in a storm? I recall an NWS spotter training seminar about five years ago where the local NWS personnel specifically stated that there had never been a report of a spotter killed in the "line of duty" as of that time.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Unfortunately, law enforcement officials can't just stand down when nightfall hits and tornadoes are still raging. This is very sad to hear, but at the same time, makes me very proud of the dedication of these hard working folks who have to put their lives on the line everyday in the name of protecting citizens of their counties. My condolences and the prayers to the family of this officer, as well as everyone who have experienced loss in this tragedy.

Very sad story here. Surely even law enforcement should eventually take shelter. I mean this shows they aren't supermen immune to weather. It's a great service they perform, but they shouldn't have to give up their life to warn others in such circumstances. My guess is he probably didn't know he had no time. Maybe it just ran out on him.

My condolences too.

 

[Bill Tabor]

This is indeed a tragedy that hits home, coming from someone who almost suffered a similar fate back in May 2003 here in IL.

Is this the first spotter/chaser death in the field, due directly to injuries sustained in a storm? I recall an NWS spotter training seminar about five years ago where the local NWS personnel specifically stated that there had never been a report of a spotter killed in the "line of duty" as of that time.

No, Gene Moore told me there were two chasers (possibly local) that were killed near Abilene years ago.

I believe I heard there were also a couple killed on IH35 near Oklahoma City that drove into a violent tornado when they had no visibility. Seems it was north of OKC, and I believe may have been during May 3rd '99.

Of course, last year or so there was the chaser killed on the way back from a chase I believe as his vehicle hydroplaned and he swerved into oncoming traffic.

I think most people don't pay attention to these things so no one remembers when they happen. Plus if the person isn't plugged into the 'community' we may never hear of it.

There have now been numerous chasers who have been in tornadoes. Heck I suppose I've almost qualified for that once or twice, but usually those are weak and I am on the edge. As chasers / spotters get more bold / complacent thinking they can regularly get 40 yards from a tornado with no ill effects it is a fact that eventually more will die. This is kind of like the certainty of Earth getting hit with an asteroid. It may take awhile but it will happen. Consider tornadoes that are regularly 100 to 200 yards wide and are very, very long extending far into the parent cloud. Very strong tornadoes (think about Jarrell) can start very small, but there is nothing (particularly on very strong dynamics days) to force them to remain that way. That 200 yard wide tornado may quickly turn into a half mile wide tornado right on top of you if you are 40 yards away. It can also snake a bit a the bottom moving out to catch you quickly, or it can move around an arc orbiting with the meso. There is also the danger of unnoticed satellite tornadoes and last 6 years or so I've heard at least a few reports of chasers saying satellites formed without their knowledge behind them, or they got trapped with a satellite approaching.

Tornadoes at night can be very difficult to deal with. It is possible they can be almost invisible unless illuminated by a lightning flash or hit a transformer providing a power flash. As we see from the Greensburg storm, it was very dynamic and it's movement and formation along it's tornadic flank was unconventional in my opinion. It was headed northeast, but then arced up to the north and then briefly northwest before resuming a northeasterly heading again. Additionally storm mergers can certainly complicate things in the dark where you may think you have clearance between two cells, and then they decide to merge above you. This can be tough during the day time, much less at night.

 

[Shane Adams]

Of course I feel bad for the family. But I keep wondering how the hell it happened? You'd think he would be in contact with other people/spotters and know the location of the tornado. Just seems odd he would've been in harm's way, unless he was driving the streets with sirens blaring trying to warn - a noble thing indeed if true - but there has to be some kind of cutoff when it's time to get the hell out.

But why would a Macksville police officer be in Greensburg trying to warn? Seems if he had enough info to be there in the first place, he should've known the location of the tornado. Doesn't add up.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Just seems odd he would've been in harm's way, unless he was driving the streets with sirens blaring trying to warn - a noble thing indeed if true - but there has to be some kind of cutoff when it's time to get the hell out.

Along the lines of Tabor's post...

Hard to be critical when we've had multiple CHASERS get stuck in tornadic circulations (even with this storm) this year. If we call this guy out (who gave his life in the process), you better call out the others. Unfortunately, we'll never know the details of how this guy got the short end of the stick. For all we know he could of been driving farmstead to farmstead warning citizens. Considering the size of the tornado, I'd imagine you might not pick it out immedietely when it is nearly on top of you.

 

[Shane Adams]

But chasers aren't on communication nets during severe weather, they act alone.

The entire point of spotter nets is to keep everyone linked and updated on the situation, particularly WHERE THE TORNADO IS. I'm not criticizing the police officer at all, I'm questioning why he had no idea he was in trouble; was he not linked via radio to other spotters? And why was an out-of-town officer there in the first place? He had to have known SOMETHING was coming to even be there in the first place, as Macksville is something like 15-18 miles northeast of Greensburg.

Don't for one instant think my post was meant to "call out" the officer, I'm simply asking questions that need to be asked. When a chaser dies in a tornado, we'll all know WHY it happened, WHY he was there. But when a spotter/public servant dies, with their sole-objective being to warn (and you gotta know where the danger is to effectively warn), you have to ask: how did he/she not realize they were in trouble? You had numerous spotter/chaser reports of this tornado sevenral minutes before it got to Greensburg. Anyone monitoring any type of radio, you'd think they would know where it was.

Now - as I mentioned before (and no one commented on THAT portion of my post), perhaps he was simply risking his life to drive the streets and warn people, and just cut it too close. I guess we'll never know.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

One of the things his wife mentioned on the Today show this morning was that he came home (I thought she said about 10:00?) to get her out of the house. She was getting ready for bed and he told her to get dressed and get up to the north where she'd be safer. It may be that something like this just put him out of position. She said he was on the road talking to his son and he told him that he didn't think he could 'make it out of this one' before his cell phone went dead. No matter what the reason, it's just a sad thing and people down there need a little time to grieve their losses.

 

[Scott Taylor]

Very saddening to read this. I especially feel for the family and the way they had to go about the end. My condolences to them and their friends.

Regarding how it happened - I can certainly see one possibility as being that he could be spotting, and by the time he made his decision to bail, not having any escape options from a nearly 2 mile wide tornado. I don't know if any of the communications prior to the impact contained how big of a monster this tornado was. How fast was this storm moving btw? I've not had a chance yet to read any of those details yet, besides the stories of the tragedy itself.

Scott

 

[Jason Bolt]

I would like to clarify a couple things. Tim was a Macksville police officer and a fire/ems volunteer for me. He was NOT in Greesnburg as the media has portrayed. I called him when DDC relayed the storm was tracking toward Macksville. They had no power and no storm sirens. He had tried to warn people in town and I passed him on the highway at Dillwyn. He was headed east and asked me where I was going on the radio. He told me he was going east to look back toward town and stay east of the storm. The last info I had was "its two miles south of Macksville, headed straight north". This would have put Tim well out of harms way. I'm not real sure on the track yet, but it seems Tim had zero visibility and the storm jogged to the east hitting him head on. We already had calls of people trapped in a house south of Macksville, but ordered personnel not to respond and to seek shelter until the storm passed. Apparently, Tim felt he was safe where he was. We'll never know for sure.