March 26, 2009

Oakland Cop Shot By Parolee Is Taken Off Life Support!

Mercury News
Oakland cop shot by parolee is taken off life support
By Sean Maher
Bay Area News Group
March 24, 2009 08:13:06 AM PDT

Oakland police Officer John Hege, left clinging to life after Saturday gunfights that killed three other officers, was removed from a respirator Monday night after surgery to donate his organs to those in need of transplants.

Hege, 41, was reported brain-dead Sunday in the wake of shootings that claimed the lives of police Sgts. Mark Dunakin, Dan Sakai and Ervin Romans, as well as the only reported suspect, Lovelle Mixon.

Police reported Hege was taken off life support around 10:30 p.m. Monday, noting that "it is hopeful that the transplants will be successful and more information will follow about them."

The 41-year-old Concord resident's family had kept him alive so his organs could be donated, in keeping with his wishes, according to Andrea Breaux of Alameda County Medical Center.

Breaux said the process of harvesting Hege's organs started just after 8 p.m. Monday and was completed by 2 a.m. today.

According to police, Hege and a partner, Sgt. Mark Dunakin, were gunned down when they pulled over the parolee on Saturday.

A massive manhunt ensued and two more officers died when the city's SWAT team stormed an apartment where the suspected gunman, Mixon, was hiding. Mixon was fatally shot.

The two officers who were killed at the apartment were Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35. DNA found at the scene of the rape was a probable match to Mixon, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said Monday.

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