Mobile police officer killed; teen charged
Thursday, June 04, 2009
By JILLIAN KRAMER
Staff Reporter
Mobile policeman Brandon Sigler was breaking up a fight between two young women late Tuesday night when one of the girl's boyfriends — a teenager — fired a single shot, hitting the off-duty officer in the chest and killing him, police said Wednesday.

The handgun used in the killing, Deputy Chief James Barber said, was reported stolen last year from a Mobile County sheriff deputy's personal vehicle.

Eighteen-year-old Richard Joseph Hollingsworth has been charged with capital murder, third-degree receiving stolen property, possession of an altered firearm and second-degree possession of marijuana, according to police.

The teenager apologized to Sigler's family as he was walked from police headquarters to the car that would take him to the Baldwin County Corrections Center.

"I showed up to save my girlfriend," Hollingsworth said. "(A) guy told us to leave with a gun on his hip. I got scared, and I pulled a pistol out and shot him."

Assistant District Attorney Nikki Patterson said that even though Sigler was plain-clothed and off-duty, he was still "fulfilling part of his obligations, and it is not a requirement that the shooter be aware of the identity of the officer" to be charged with capital murder, making Hollingsworth eligible for the death penalty.

"When he (Sigler) got himself up out of bed in the middle of the night after working all day and went out to try to restore order in the parking lot ... he was acting as a police officer," Patterson said.

Police said Sigler was acting as a courtesy officer — a police officer who provides security for an apartment complex in exchange for reduced rent or other perks — at the Tyler Ridge Apartments off Thomas Road, where he lived.

The 26-year-old officer had separated two females who were shouting and hitting one another at about 11:30 p.m., and was trying to send them home when a teenager pulled into the parking lot in his truck, police said.

A neighbor, who watched the fight from her balcony, said that Sigler was standing between two women and two young men and instructed one couple to leave. The neighbor, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, said that the pair got into the truck with the teenager.

But instead of leaving, the neighbor said, the truck stopped near where Sigler and the other couple still stood, and the driver started yelling at the woman on the sidewalk.

"The officer started walking toward the truck," she said, "and I ran into the other room to check on my baby, and when I came back to the window, he was falling down."

Barber said that Sigler was walking toward the passenger's side of the truck when he was shot. The driver, he said, was standing outside the truck and had reached through the cab of the car, across the female, to fire the shot.

"The officer and the shooter never actually made contact," he said. "I don't think he ever saw what was coming. And if he did, he saw it too late."

Sigler's weapon was still holstered when police arrived, Barber said.

Said the neighbor: "I went down and looked at him (Sigler), and he was still breathing, so I got my neighbor to help me do CPR. He took one deep breath, but that was it."

Loraine Washington said she performed mouth-to-mouth on Sigler as her neighbor pushed down on his chest. "He was just laying there with his arm out," Washington said. "We knew he was gone after the first round, but we just kept doing it."

When officers arrived at the scene, they took over and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived, Barber said. Sigler was pronounced dead at Providence Hospital.

Patrol officers saw a truck that matched the description of the shooter's vehicle about midnight, Barber said, but when they attempted to pull it over, the driver fled. After a short chase, the driver "lost control of the vehicle; he couldn't make the turn," Barber said, and he crashed at McFarland and Dawes roads.

The officers took the driver, who was later identified as Hollingsworth, and the other man in the truck into custody, Barber said. The second man was released after questioning.

The female in the truck was taken by helicopter to the University of South Alabama Medical Center for what turned out to be minor injuries, police spokesman Officer Christopher Levy said.

Hollingsworth lives in a home on Hamilton Creek Road that he shares with several other young roommates, police said. He was taken to Baldwin County's jail because Sigler's mother works at Mobile County Metro Jail.

The last Mobile police officer killed in the line of duty was Cpl. Matt Thompson, who died in 2003 when he was hit by a car.

"This was a young officer who was engaged to be married and was closing on a house either today or tomorrow," Barber said of Sigler. "It's an incredible tragedy not just for the Police Department, but for the entire country and for the community as a whole."

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Good job on the citizens trying to save the officer.

Friends remember fallen officer
Thursday, June 04, 2009
By KATHERINE SAYRE
Staff Reporter
In the wake of Brandon Sigler's shooting death, friends and former classmates of the slain Mobile police officer on Wednesday remembered him as a kind man and hardworking athlete who cared about the well-being of others.

"He always had a smile on his face, always cheerful," said Capt. Philip McCrary, who said he picked Sigler to work in the First Precinct after he joined the force. "He just wanted to make a difference in people's lives. He genuinely cared about everybody. He was always polite and courteous."

Sigler, 26, was shot and killed late Tuesday night while working as an off-duty security officer at Tyler Ridge Apartments on Thomas Road in west Mobile, where he also lived, authorities said. He joined the Mobile Police Department in October 2007, police said.

He was engaged to be married later this year.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever been through," McCrary said of Sigler's death. "He was just one of those people. He made everyone around him better. He was one of a kind."

Sigler was a 2001 graduate of Murphy High School who played football and competed in track and field events. A yearbook shows that his classmates picked him as one of the senior class favorites.

Principal Doug Estle said Sigler was a "natural leader among his peers" and a good student who was always smiling. He said Sigler enjoyed attending sports events like basketball games even if he wasn't playing — to support the other student athletes.

"He set an example, lived an example, and others followed it," Estle said. "He was that special to his entire class and to his school."

About a year ago, Estle said he bumped into Sigler while he was on duty.

"I said, 'Look at you in the uniform,'" Estle recalled. "We talked for a while. He was the same guy, the same warm spirit, always more concerned about others than he ever was concerned about himself. Being a police officer didn't shock me that that would be something he would do."

After graduating from Murphy, Sigler played football as a linebacker at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., until 2004, school officials said.

"He was a very hard worker, very dedicated," said Travis Mikel, who played on the football team with Sigler. "He had a lot of passion for the game of football as well as the people he played with ... just a really loving person, he would go over and beyond what was expected of him."

Sigler transferred to Faulkner University, where he earned a bachelor's in criminal justice in 2006, school officials said.

A public viewing has been scheduled for Friday from noon until 5 p.m. at Radney Funeral Home, 3155 Dauphin St.

Visitation also will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. until noon at St. Mary Catholic Church, 1453 Old Shell Road, followed by a funeral service at noon.

(Staff Reporter Jillian Kramer contributed to this report.)

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Attorney says teenager didn't mean to kill policeman
Friday, June 05, 2009
By JILLIAN KRAMER
Staff Reporter
Richard Joseph "Joey" Hollingsworth never intended to kill Mobile police Officer Brandon Sigler when the teenager fired a stolen pistol at him, Hollingsworth's attorney said Thursday.

The 18-year-old didn't know Sigler was an off-duty police officer and fired the fatal round Tuesday night because he was scared, attorney James Sears said.

"He saw this man running up to him and ... there had just been a fight and he really didn't know what was going on," Sears said.

"It was never his intention to kill Officer Sigler, and had Officer Sigler said he was a police officer, that would have been the end of it," Sears said. "I'm not saying it's Officer Sigler's fault at all, but there was a chain of events that led to this."

Sigler, 26, was working as a courtesy officer at the Tyler Ridge Apartments in west Mobile when a fight erupted late Tuesday night between two young women, police said. He broke up the fight and tried to send the women home.

But Hollingsworth, who was driving one of the women through the parking lot, stopped his truck and started yelling at the other woman, police said.

When Sigler started to walk toward the truck, police said, Hollingsworth fired at him, hitting him once in the chest. Sigler was pronounced dead at Providence Hospital shortly after 11:30 p.m.

Hollingsworth is charged with capital murder and could face the death penalty. Sears said he expects bail will be denied this morning when Hollingsworth appears before Mobile County District Judge George Hardesty.

"Joey is extremely sorry that this happened. He would give anything in the world if he could turn time around and undo it," Sears said. "He is a good kid, and this is a horrible mistake that happened in his life."

On his MySpace Internet page, Hollingsworth wrote that he returned to Mobile last year and was trying to get his life back together.

Though officials have indicated that Hollingsworth has a juvenile record, only one traffic ticket out of Conecuh County is listed under his name in online court records. Hollingsworth received the ticket when he was 16 years old, according to the record.

Sears said that Hollingsworth was sent to live with his father in the Birmingham area at age 15.

Hollingsworth wrote online that he was pursuing a music career, and had posted videos of himself singing and playing guitar. He also posted several pictures of himself and others, commenting that he was high or drunk in several of them.

Hollingsworth turned 18 in April. In Alabama, you must be 21 in order to get a permit to carry a concealed gun.

The .380-caliber handgun used in Sigler's shooting and two other weapons were reported stolen last year from a Mobile County sheriff's deputy's personal and marked vehicles, police said.

The two other weapons — another .380 handgun and a .45-caliber Glock — were stolen from the same cars, both parked in the 500 block of Lakeview Drive, Mobile police Capt. John Barber said.

Barber said that there were no signs of forced entry to either of the vehicles, though the deputy told investigators that he had locked both cars. The guns stolen were the deputy's personal weapons, Barber said.

Including the .380 pistol, two of the three guns have been recovered. The other was found in May inside an apartment off Azalea Road.

In addition to capital murder, Hollingsworth has been charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and third-degree receiving stolen property in connection with the gun used to shoot Sigler.

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Hundreds gather for funeral of slain Mobile police officer
Sunday, June 07, 2009
By JILLIAN KRAMER
Staff Reporter
Brandon Sigler was only 26 years old, with less than two years on the Mobile police force.

But for those who knew him, and for thousands of others who have seen his photograph since he was fatally shot last week, Sigler's smile is easy to remember.

"In his short years, he meant a lot to a lot of people. And every one of them talked about his smile," Chief Phillip Garrett told hundreds gathered Saturday for Sigler's funeral at St. Mary's Catholic Church.

Sigler had a "bright, big smile," Mayor Sam Jones said, "as if to say, 'I got this.' Every time I encountered him, he had the same smile."

It was the same smile Sigler flashed for the service picture, the one that "captured his essence," The Rev. Paul Zoghby said. "I think I may have saw Brandon every day he was at St. Mary's ... and not once did I ever see him without a smile on his face."

The patrol officer was shot and killed Tuesday night trying to break up a fight. He was off-duty and plain clothed when 18-year-old Richard Joseph Hollingsworth shot him once in the chest, police said, killing Sigler outside his west Mobile apartment where he also worked as a security officer. Hollingsworth has been charged with capital murder.

Sigler joined the Police Department in late 2007 and was engaged to be married this year. He was a graduate of Murphy High School.

"You're supposed to hurt when you lose someone you care about," Garrett said, standing at the podium, facing a sanctuary overflowing with people, their bodies mashed together in pews and spilling out through the doors.

"So this one hurts. But if Brandon could speak to you now, he would tell his fellow officers to stand up straight, hold your head high. Cry if you want to, but hold your head up high."

At Mobile Memorial Gardens, where Sigler was to be buried, rows of meticulously dressed officers stood still, a sea of black, as a single bagpipe announced the arrival of Sigler's pale blue casket. Their faces were strong, but gripped with sadness, as eight officers carried Sigler's coffin past a line of American flags, through two green tents, to where it would rest in front of his family.

Hundreds of civilians, too, gathered at the gravesite. In fact, the procession to Sigler's burial service was so long, so filled with people, that it took the attendees more than an hour to drive the 11-mile stretch from St. Mary's in Midtown to the cemetery along Three Notch Road.

On the way, people gathered along roadways. Many waved flags; others held a hand over their hearts.

One woman, who stood on Government Street, bowed to each car that passed and smiled empathetically at its driver.

At the cemetery, a row of officers fired a three-volley salute. Two members of a police honor guard then removed the American flag covering Sigler's casket and folded it.

They folded it slowly into a tight triangle and handed it to Garrett, who presented it to Sigler's mother. She held it in her lap the rest of the burial service, rubbing the edge of its fold.

At last, one by one the eight officers who carried Sigler's casket approached. It took them each exactly five paces to walk from the edge of the tent to the middle of the coffin. They stood and slowly saluted their fellow officer, then tugged off their white dress gloves and laid them on the coffin.

They returned to the sea of black, and the service was done.

"God sometimes requires of us to give our best," Jones had reminded the group during the mass. "With the death of this man, we have given our best. I am encouraged by the life of this young man."


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Deputy chief calls slaying of Mobile officer an 'ambush'
Saturday, June 06, 2009
By JILLIAN KRAMER
Staff Reporter
Mobile police Deputy Chief James Barber on Friday described this week's fatal shooting of a fellow officer as an "ambush."

Barber offered new details gleaned by police about the shooting of Officer Brandon Sigler, and disputed comments from Richard Hollingsworth's lawyer that the 18-year-old fired the stolen pistol because he was scared.

"It was an ambush," Barber said. "There was no threat. There was never any contact between Hollingsworth and Officer Sigler."

Hollingsworth on Friday pleaded not guilty to capital murder before Mobile County District Judge George Hardesty, who denied bail for the defendant.

Sigler, 26, was working as a courtesy officer at the Tyler Ridge Apartments in west Mobile when a fight erupted late Tuesday night between two young women, one of them Hollingsworth's girlfriend, according to police.

The girlfriend left when Sigler ordered her from the area, Barber said. But Hollingsworth "picked up and loaded a stolen pistol, got in his truck and drove to these apartments to confront the girl who jumped his girlfriend," the deputy chief said.

At some point, Hollingsworth's girlfriend returned, and Sigler told both her and Hollingsworth to leave, according to Barber. The two got into Hollingsworth's truck and started to drive off, but stopped once they spotted the other young woman.

Hollingsworth "gets out and starts yelling, and as the officer was approaching the passenger's side to tell them to leave, he concealed himself (outside of the truck) on the driver's side where the officer could not see him," Barber said.

Barber said evidence will show that Hollingsworth "cocked his pistol, and stepped back into the driver's side, reached through the cab, across his girlfriend, and shot the officer in the chest."

The only way Hollingsworth knew that Sigler had reached the truck, Barber said, was because "he hears his girlfriend warn him."

"At some point, he definitely knew he shot a policeman," Barber said. "Exactly when he knew he shot a policeman, I don't know."

Hollingsworth's lawyer, James Sears, suggested Thursday that his client was unaware that Sigler was a police officer.

Sigler was off duty and in plain clothes while working that night at the apartments. His pistol was still holstered on his hip when emergency personnel arrived, police said.

Hollingsworth, his girlfriend and another young man fled the apartments in the truck, police said. When police located Hollingsworth about 30 minutes later at his home on Hamilton Creek Road, he had "loaded the truck with his belongings and the same .380 pistol," Barber said.

Hollingsworth fled in the truck, but wrecked at the intersection of McFarland and Dawes roads while being chased, according to police.

Police are looking into possible charges against Hollingsworth's girlfriend and others, according to Capt. John Barber.

At his Friday bail hearing, Hollingsworth's family sat behind him in the gallery, clinging to each other, some crying quietly.

Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich told Hardesty that Hollingsworth had an extensive juvenile record, causing his own family much stress and strain. The prosecutor did not go into specifics.
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Outside court, Rich said that Hollingsworth hid the semiautomatic pistol between the slats of a fence after the shooting, then retrieved it. The pistol had been stolen last year from the vehicle of a Mobile County sheriff's deputy.

Sears told Hardesty that Hollingsworth fled the shooting scene because he was frightened and was "looking for some time to sort things out."