If you've ever met Sgt. Rackow you know he's an open and engaging individual who is proud of his work as a Sergeant and Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team leader in the Midland, Texas, Police Department.
The entire city was stunned yesterday to learn of the explosion and the injuries he received at the MPD shooting range and training facility. From Mywesttexas.com:
Rackow was injured just after 11 a.m. Thursday [6/24/2010] when he was removing aluminum casing from an explosive in preparation for a future training activity, [MPD Training Division Lt. Bernie] Kraft said. He remained in critical but stable condition late Thursday at University Medical Center in Lubbock, officials said.
Sgt. Rackow had a reputation for caution around explosives, so news of this incident is doubly shocking. And it drives home the point that bomb squad work is a high risk endeavor.
When the shock wore off, Midlanders no doubt reached deeply into their pockets to donate to the Brian Rackow Benefit Fund that the police officer's union set up at Community National Bank.
We'll have to wait for police and ATF reports to find out exactly what caused the explosion.
Stepping aside for a moment, here's a random observation. From a statistical standpoint the most dangerous place for a law enforcement officer to be in Midland County would seem to be the MPD shooting range and training facility.
Today just happened to be the day for my wife and I to do our bi-monthly blood donations. I asked about Sgt. Rackow and found they'd already established a blood bank account for him, so we were able to direct our donations to his account. I hope others will think to do the same, if they aren't already supporting someone else.
Posted by: Eric | June 25, 2010 at 06:10 PM
Good for you and your wife, Eric! That's a wonderful thing you two did.
Posted by: Geo | June 26, 2010 at 06:01 AM