Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Monday, May 14, 2007

Police to honor officers, citizens Tuesday

By DAN SPRINGER / La Crosse Tribune

Ask La Crosse Police Chief Ed Kondracki for his community-oriented policing philosophy, and he’ll likely say the public is the eyes and ears of the police department, often playing a crucial role in nabbing suspects.

There is perhaps no better example of the role the public can play in solving crimes than the help La Crosse and La Crescent, Minn., police received in apprehending an Onalaska, Wis., man suspected of killing a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student in January.

A mere couple of hours after the death of 23-year-old Danielle Gorectke, Irvin Ramirez, who has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, was caught thanks to a tip from a La Crosse cab driver, a clerk at a La Crescent convenience store and the former

La Crescent police officer who made the arrest.

To thank them for their efforts, La Crosse police will award special commendations Tuesday to Heather Cline, manager and fill-in driver for CTS Taxi, Charles Hansen, a La Crescent Kwik Trip store clerk, and Scott Yeiter, now chief deputy for the Houston County Sheriff’s Department.

The key to arresting Ramirez started sometime after 3 a.m. when Ramirez passed Cline on the Cass Street Bridge as Cline was on her way to La Crescent to gas up her car.

Ramirez cut past Cline and four other cars on the Cass Street Bridge, and then ripped across the pike, cutting in and out of traffic, Cline said. Cline grew concerned about the way Ramirez was driving, so she called police. She did not have a non-emergency police number for Houston County law enforcement, so she decided to wait to find an officer in La Crescent to report the incident.

“You just don’t see someone driving this fast and that erratically with other vehicles around at 3:30 or 3:45 in the morning,” Cline said.

“That’s the time of day, if they are impaired, they drive extra careful. In this case he wasn’t, which is why I thought he was such a great danger to himself or others.”

As she drove into La Crescent, Cline said she couldn’t find an officer but saw Ramirez trying to pump gas at Kwik Trip.

She went inside and told Hansen to call police, reporting what she thought was a drunken driver.

A dispatcher told Hansen it would be a while before an officer could respond, but, for whatever reason, Ramirez stayed at the Kwik Trip, Cline said. Ramirez ran into a number of problems operating the pump, paying for gas and buying cigarettes, Cline said.

“He didn’t look angry or upset,” Cline said. “He just looked confused.”

After Yeiter arrived, he arrested Ramirez on suspicion of drunken driving, but later found blood on Ramirez’s clothing and Gorectke’s belongings in Ramirez’s car, according to court records.

Ramirez has since pleaded not guilty to charges in Gorectke’s death. His trial is on hold until a new attorney can be found after Ramirez fired two public defenders last week.

Cline said the police award is flattering but also makes her embarrassed. “It’s one of those things you do, but you don’t do it for what you get out of it,” Cline said. “You do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

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