Monday, January 13, 2014

PGPD Remembers Fallen Officer Sergeant Harry Kinikin, Jr.


Let us pause to remember our fallen hero Sergeant Harry L. Kinikin, Jr., lost this day in 1990 as a result of injuries he suffered three years earlier while investigating a theft.

Sergeant Kinikin was born in 1951 and raised in Temple Hills. He attended Potomac High School.  After graduation, he worked briefly in the banking industry before joining the Prince George's County Police Department on June 25, 1973.  He was assigned to the Seat Pleasant station.

On October 17, 1986, Sergeant Kinikin was on routine patrol when he stopped at a convenience store in the 7100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Highway.  The manager informed Sergeant Kinikin that he had just spotted a woman who he suspected of shoplifting from his store the week before.  Sergeant Kinikin located the suspect in the parking lot of a nearby gas station and initiated contact with her.  As he tried to notify Public Safety Communications of his status and position, the suspect suddenly pulled a knife from her purse and stabbed Sergeant Kinikin in his side.  He drew and discharged his service weapon, wounding the suspect in the abdomen.  The suspect then stabbed Sergeant Kinikin a second time, piercing his left ventricle.  Sergeant Kinikin made a final radio transmission advising the dispatcher that both he and the suspect had been wounded.  Responding units arrived on scene moments later and found Sergeant Kinikin unresponsive.  They began CPR and rushed him to a hospital.  Sergeant Kinikin never regained consciousness.  He succumbed to his injuries on January 13, 1990, at the Presidential Woods Health Care Center in Adelphi.

Sergeant Kinikin served the Prince George's County Police Department for 13 years and was the 17th member of this agency to make the ultimate sacrifice.  He was the 28th law enforcement officer to give his life in service to this profession within Prince George's County.

At the time of his death, Sergeant Kinikin was 38 years old and survived by his wife, son, and daughter.


No comments:

Blog Archive