Police work pays off

May 14, 2005

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Police work pays off

Arrests in officer's murder 'bittersweet'

Judi Villa
The Arizona Republic
May. 14, 2005 12:00 AM

Donald Delahanty, scared and surrounded by police, hunkered in a hole underneath a mobile home and dialed 911.

"I want to surrender," he told Phoenix police Detective Jack Ballentine.

"I want my dad. I want to hug him, and then we'll talk and I'll tell you everything."

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Delahanty, 18, one of two men wanted in Tuesday's shooting death of Phoenix police Officer David Uribe, was afraid police would hurt him. Ballentine, miles away in a conference room on the third floor of police headquarters, assured him the officers wouldn't.

For about an hour, Ballentine tried to coax out a man who said he wanted police to kill him and even lied that he was on a bus headed to a church. Then he struck a deal: Delahanty would give up and let police take him downtown for questioning. "When we finish talking," Ballentine said, "I'll let you sit down with your dad and you can hug your dad."

Delahanty emerged from the hole without a fight. Minutes later, Christopher Dale Wilson, 27, walked out of the trailer, ending a two-day hunt for the suspected killers.

Also arrested Thursday was David York, a state Department of Corrections officer, who police say picked up Delahanty and Wilson after the shooting, hid a gun and gave them new clothes.

Lt. Rob Handy, who helped manage the manhunt, called the arrests "bittersweet."

"We lost a police officer," Handy said. "We lost a man who's given his entire career to protecting the community. He leaves behind a wife and children, and that's what we need to focus on."

Uribe was shot in the head and neck during a traffic stop late Tuesday morning at Cactus Road and 34th Avenue. Starting with a restaurant receipt found in the suspects' abandoned car, hundreds of officers spent the next two days fielding tips and following leads with virtually no sleep.

When restaurant surveillance photos of Wilson and Delahanty circulated in the media and information poured in, the two men "couldn't budge" and "we start closing in on their world," Ballentine said.

On Wednesday, police got a tip pointing them to a mobile-home park near 67th Avenue and Van Buren Street, where a friend of Delahanty's lived.

That night, detectives staked out the trailer. "There was no activity, no lights on in that trailer," Ballentine said. "But they were there."

"We felt like we were so close that if we could stick with it, we were going to get them."

Delahanty finally walked outside Thursday evening. Police chased him on foot but lost him. Then came Delahanty's call to 911.

"I knew we got to him," Ballentine said. "And then all of us became very focused on making sure we could lure him out."

At the police station during interviews with Wilson and Delahanty, the details of Uribe's killing began to emerge. Police said the men had been making daily drug runs to Tucson, mostly for methamphetamine. Delahanty told police he had drugs in his pocket when Uribe pulled them over. Their car had a stolen plate on it. Both he and Wilson, the driver, had guns, police said.

Ballentine said Wilson told him Delahanty talked constantly about wanting to kill an officer. When he would see an officer drive by, Delahanty would go "Bang! See how easy that is?" Ballentine said.

Still, Wilson told police he handed his gun to Delahanty, telling him to "hide it or get rid of it." Then he put his hands out the window.

"Wilson said he did not plan to kill him, but he knew Delahanty had wanted to kill a police officer," Ballentine said. "And he still handed him his gun."

Wilson was booked on suspicion of second-degree murder. Delahanty is facing a first-degree murder charge. Delahanty denied pulling the trigger, but Wilson and a witness who was in the car's back seat fingered Delahanty as the shooter, police said. The witness turned himself in and was not arrested.

After the shooting, police found the men's car about a mile away.

Delahanty reportedly tried to blow it up by shooting at the gas tank.

As he and Wilson ran, Delahanty dismantled the gun and dumped it piece by piece into yards and bushes, police said.

Early Friday, in darkness, detectives searched on hands and knees until they recovered every piece of the suspected murder weapon.

Later, Ballentine said he never had any doubt the two men would be found. But coupled with the excitement and the relief was the pain of Uribe's death and the loss that had been pushed aside during the manhunt.

"This was a great, great guy, somebody that every one of us can really be proud of," Ballentine said.

"We did right by his family."

John Severson/The Arizona Republic
Christopher Dale Wilson, 27, makes a court appearance on Friday. He could face charges of second-degree murder.



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