MorningTimes.com
Posted: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 12:06 am
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Updated: 12:15 am, Wed Jun 18, 2014.
WAVERLY
-- Nearly half a century after Patrolman Elmer Beers of the Waverly
Police Department was shot and killed in the line of duty by a mentally
unstable man, the department has finally closed the case on one of its
most historic crimes.
But
while the case has been stamped "closed," those who remember Beers
still have a hard time feeling closure on the tragic events that rocked
the community on April 28, 1968.
What began as a quiet, sunny Sunday morning in the village quickly turned to chaos at around 9:20 a.m., when a frantic young boy ran to his neighbor's house screaming.
The boy begged his neighbor to call the police, saying that in his house, 444 Waverly St., his father was "cutting up" his mother.
Police and medical responders were quickly dispatched to the house. Inside, the boy's mother laid on the kitchen floor bleeding after his father -- 30-year-old Scott Gregory Parsons, an Athens native and U.S. Army veteran -- had stabbed her multiple times with a paring knife.
This was déjà vu for the Waverly Police Department. Three months earlier, they had been called to the same home, in the same fashion. One of the Parsons' young children had run to a different neighbor's house frantically asking for someone to call the police, because his father was beating up his mother.
After that incident, Waverly police charged Parsons with assault and threw him in jail, but he was released shortly thereafter.
What began as a quiet, sunny Sunday morning in the village quickly turned to chaos at around 9:20 a.m., when a frantic young boy ran to his neighbor's house screaming.
The boy begged his neighbor to call the police, saying that in his house, 444 Waverly St., his father was "cutting up" his mother.
Police and medical responders were quickly dispatched to the house. Inside, the boy's mother laid on the kitchen floor bleeding after his father -- 30-year-old Scott Gregory Parsons, an Athens native and U.S. Army veteran -- had stabbed her multiple times with a paring knife.
This was déjà vu for the Waverly Police Department. Three months earlier, they had been called to the same home, in the same fashion. One of the Parsons' young children had run to a different neighbor's house frantically asking for someone to call the police, because his father was beating up his mother.
After that incident, Waverly police charged Parsons with assault and threw him in jail, but he was released shortly thereafter.
Within a couple minutes of the emergency call, Beers, who had been helping direct traffic outside a nearby church, became the first officer to reach the scene. After entering the home, a struggle ensued between Beers and Parsons, and Parsons gained control of the officer's service revolver.
At close range, Parsons released five bullets into Beers, according to the coroner's report, including one fatal shot to the head.
Parsons' wife, attempting to retreat to a neighbor's house after the assault on Beers, was also shot in the shoulder. She was later brought to Tioga General Hospital for treatment, where she remained in "serious" condition for days.
A 27-year veteran of police work, Beers ended his watch at age 57. He left behind his wife, Ellen, and three young children, Mark Elmer, 5, Nadine Ellen, 4, and 13-month-old Kelly Louise.
During his massive funeral service, Beers was remembered by Waverly residents as someone who "was aware of everything in the village," and as an officer who "knew the people, and they knew him," newspapers reported. One of Parsons' neighbors told a local reporter that he couldn't believe such a horrible incident could happen in his town on such a peaceful Sunday morning.
Today, Waverly Police Chief Dan Gelatt echoes that sentiment. He said one thing the department has taken away from the 46-year-old case is the knowledge that danger exists at even the most unsuspecting times and places.
"We think dangerous stuff only happens at night and in certain places," Gelatt said, "but here it was, a Sunday morning, and look what (Beers) got called to."
Though the police force and community were restless for justice to be served, the case against Parsons quickly hit a dead end.
Police charged Parsons with murder for killing Beers. During his arraignment, then-Tioga County District Attorney Andrew Siedlecky motioned to have Parsons committed to a hospital in Binghamton for an evaluation of his mental condition.
The motion, which was agreed to by the judge and Parsons' defense counsel, was that he be examined there for no longer than 60 days. However, upon studying him, physicians determined that Parsons' condition warranted him being permanently institutionalized.
It was determined that Parsons would never be fit to stand trial, and he remained hospitalized for the rest of his life. It was there he would eventually make a full confession to the killing.
On May 11 of this year, one week after his 77th birthday, Parsons died inside Binghamton General Hospital. Shortly after receiving word on Parsons' death, Waverly police officially closed the case on Beers' death.
Gelatt believes the department had gathered more than enough evidence to see Parsons convicted. "I really wish he could have been prosecuted, but I guess the doctors at the hospital felt otherwise," Gelatt said.
But conviction or not, the Waverly Police Department has ensured that the tragedy that befell the Beers family is never forgotten.
Inside the station today, you will find a five-shelf display honoring Beers, which includes pieces of his uniform, awards made in his honor and an etching of his name off the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.
"This is the kind of thing we as a department will never forget," Gelatt said.
