Feb. 8, 2023 Cheektowaga Police Officer Troy Blackchief remains and relies on a ventilator after he was critically injured when he was run down by a stolen vehicle during a chase.
By Stephen T. Watson Source The Buffalo News, N.Y. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Just before 11 a.m. Monday, Raymond Nowicki asked members of a West Seneca-centric Facebook group to pray for his son-in-law, Cheektowaga Police Officer Troy Blackchief, who was critically injured when a stolen SUV plowed into him several hours earlier.
Sometime later, Renee Herbst replied, “I feel absolutely terrible my jeep was the one stolen that hit your son-in-law. He’s in our prayers.”
In fact, the two vehicles tied by Cheektowaga police to the incident belong to Herbst and one of her daughters, who live next to each other in Depew and who left their SUVs unlocked that night.
“It’s not your fault,” Nowicki responded on Facebook to Herbst.
“I just feel guilty for being so careless. I feel like that was careless on my part,” Herbst said in an interview, “and now somebody is suffering.”
Blackchief, 45 and a 17-year department veteran, was in critical but stable condition at Erie County Medical Center, Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Gould said Tuesday afternoon.
He remains under sedation and relies on a ventilator to help him breath, said Gould, whose officers are supporting their injured colleague as best they can.
“We’ve had a constant presence since Officer Blackchief arrived at the hospital,” he said.
Gould said doctors at ECMC are “cautiously optimistic” about Blackchief’s recovery from his injuries.
Blackchief was hurt at 4:30 a.m. Monday as he attempted to place stop sticks on Union Road, near the Kensington Expressway, to try to end a police pursuit of two stolen SUVs that began in Depew.
The thefts took place about 30 minutes earlier on Penora Street, which crosses through Depew and the Town of Lancaster.
Herbst said a camera on her home showed an SUV pull up in front of their mailboxes. Two people got out and entered her white 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, which was parked unlocked in the driveway, and began rummaging through it for valuables.
Unfortunately, Herbst said, the day before her keys had fallen out of her purse, without her realizing it, in the front of the vehicle. This allowed the car thieves to start the SUV and drive off with it.
And, Herbst said, her daughter Krista Grant also had left her maroon 2019 Jeep Cherokee SUV unlocked in her driveway next door. The keys, and Grant’s wallet, were in a diaper bag inside.
Grant’s SUV also was stolen by the same group, Herbst said. Her husband discovered the missing vehicles when he woke up around 5:30 a.m., she said, and that’s when they called police.
It turns out, about an hour earlier, Depew police on patrol had attempted to pull over her SUV, Herbst said she was told. This prompted a pursuit that led from Depew to Cheektowaga before Blackchief was struck as he tried to put out the devices meant to deflate the vehicle’s tires.
Herbst’s SUV was soon found abandoned at a gas station at Kensington Avenue and Century Road in Cheektowaga. Hours later, Grant’s SUV was recovered on Nicholson Street in Buffalo.
Herbst said Cheektowaga police have told her it will take a few days to fully search the vehicle for evidence. She said she was asked to submit to a saliva swab to help investigators differentiate her DNA from other genetic material found in the SUV.
Herbst also said she understands two other vehicles were stolen around the same time off William Street nearby, likely by the same group.
Gould said police are closely investigating all vehicle thefts early Monday in and around this area and are reviewing video footage from Penora Street and from the sites where the two SUVs were abandoned. No arrests have been made in the high-priority case, Gould said.
Having her SUV stolen is a personal violation, Herbst said, but her thoughts primarily are with Blackchief.
“I want to see these people prosecuted to the fullest — not so much for stealing my vehicle, but for hitting a police officer,” she said. “And it’s not like he’s got a broken leg. He’s got serious, serious injuries.”
Herbst said another of her kids, Anthony Graves, is a volunteer firefighter who knows Blackchief.
” ‘He’s a super great guy,’ ” Graves said, according to his mother. ” ‘He’s a veteran. He’s a father. He’s a good person.’ “
Raymond Nowicki echoed those thoughts in a brief interview Tuesday, calling his son-in-law “a good man” and “a hero.” He chuckled as he recounted Blackchief’s rough sense of humor.
“He is a hero to his son,” Nowicki said. “That’s how I describe him.”
Blackchief worked for several years as a corrections officer before getting accepted to the police academy and joining the Cheektowaga Police Department.
Blackchief and his wife, Jennifer, have been married 20 years. They were fellow volunteer firefighters and EMTs at the time of their wedding.
They have a son and daughter. Another daughter, Lyric, died in 2021, and the Blackchief family started a foundation in her memory.
“This family’s had their share,” Nowicki said, trailing off.
For now, Nowicki said, his daughter and the rest of the family are asking for privacy as they wait and pray for Blackchief’s recovery.
“We do really appreciate the support of the community,” he said.