A Milwaukee County Sheriff’s deputy is being held this afternoon on a possible charge of attempted homicide in connection with a double shooting last night that wounded a 31 year-old woman and her 12 year-old neighbor, according to police reports. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting Thomas D. Hutchins, a 12-year-veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, remains in police custody and is expected to be booked into the Milwaukee County Jail this afternoon. Arrest logs from the Milwaukee Police Department indicate Hutchins allegedly shot the woman and her neighbor during – or immediately after – a domestic dispute.
What I’d like to know is whether Deputy Hutchins used his service weapon to shoot the two victims, and I’d also be curious to know if Deputy Hutchins has a history of domestic violence. A quick search on CCAP shows a Harassment Restraining Order was issued against a Thomas Hutchins, and curiously enough, the HRO was issued without a firearms restriction, which seems more than a little odd to me, unless the Thomas Hutchins in question is in fact the same Thomas Hutchins involved in this shooting.
Further, if the Thomas Hutchins of the HRO is the same individual involved in this shooting, then I’d love to hear what action, if any, was taken by the Deputy’s superiors in response to the HRO. After all, logic would dictate a Sheriff’s Deputy would come under scrutiny if a Harassment Restraining Order were issued against said deputy. Obviously I hope the victims are going to be okay, and while Deputy Hutchins is innocent until proven guilty, I hope that if he is found guilty he’s punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Hutch has had major issue’s for a long time and the department kept him on because they couldn’t get rid of him. This guy was a loose cannon waiting to errupt and although his ex wife filed for a restraining order on him years ago she still remained in contact with him and now look at what she has to suffer with, he ruined her life. The little girl he shot…….this man needs to be hung and tortured for putting an innocent child through this. The Sheriff’s Departemtn has the most uneducated, lowest paid, jack asses working for them out of any law enforcement agency in the surrounding area’s!
It’s a shame this kind of thing gets swept under the rug and overlooked. You’d think the fact that this deputy had been the subject of a harassment restraining order would have been a red flag to his superiors, but apparently they’re asleep at the wheel, or worse yet, just don’t care.
WHILE THE ALL THE COMMENTS MAY BE TRUE….ONE CORRECTION IS NEEDED. IT WAS HIS GIRLFRIEND THAT GOT SHOT AND THE ONLY REASON HIS EX WIFE KEPT IN CONTACT WITH HIM IS BECAUSE THEY ALSO HAVE A CHILD TOGETHER. SO YOU HAVE IN FACT MORE THAN ONE LIFE THAT IS RUINED BECAUSE OF HIM.
Bitta, you’re absolutely right. Deputy Hutchins has ruined more lives than just his own, and as I said earlier, I hope he’s held fully accountable for his actions if and when he’s found guilty of criminal behavior.
I need to reply to “Former Co-Worker”,
As a current Deputy of the Department your inflammatory remarks about “most uneducated, lowest paid, jack asses working for them out of any law enforcement agency in the surrounding area’s!” are entirely untrue. What basis to you offer to support this claim?
Education, over 90% have at least 60 college credits. of those most hold at LEAST an associates degree. Personally I have two Bachelors of Science degrees.
Lowest paid, no we are paid at about the local average, although we take the longest to reach top pay (12 years).
Jack asses, every job place and profession has their share, as does every Law Enforcement Agency. We have no excesses. You obviously didn’t work in Law Enforcement long enough to learn that. What is obvious is that with your resignation the “jack ass” percentage did drop within my department.
I have worked with “Hutch” for years, I would not describe him as a loose cannon. He, like all of us, has a personal life. In his professional life I NEVER heard anything to doubt his capabilities to carry out his duties as a competent, professional, Deputy Sheriff. He made a very poor choice and it basically cost him his life, his actions will affect many others. Don’t generalize, it is an insult to those of us that have not made similar choices. Additionally, use spell check. You only fuel your own “uneducated” statement.
D. Nagle, you do raise a good point about the makeup of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department. I know more than a few deputies, and those folks are good, decent, capable public servants who’ve served the citizens of Milwaukee County well.
That being said, as you acknowledged there are always “bad apples” in any working environment, and unfortunately that includes the law enforcement community. However, I do disagree with your statement that Deputy Hutch made “a very poor choice,” because this isn’t the first time he’s made a bad choice, as evidenced by the Harassment Restraining Order issued against him. While I don’t know Deputy Hutch personally, it seems to me – and this is only my opinion – that there’s more to this story than we might know. While Deputy Hutch may have been a very professional and competent sheriff’s deputy, he obviously has very serious issues relating to domestic violence, and it’s just a shame more wasn’t done to address this issue when the HRO was issued back in 2006. What’s more, the fact that Deputy Hutch was allowed to keep his gun and keep his job as a member of sworn law enforcement despite allegedly threatening to kill his ex-wife is troubling, to say the least.
Zach,
As hindsight is 20/20 I would find it hard to disagree with your statements. I do not personally have knowledge of prior DV problems. The Restraining order W/O firearm restriction is common practice for those whose job would require carrying a firearm. A restaurant owner likely would not have a harassment order against knife possession if they threatened someone with a knife.
There is more to the story, this is obvious. It is unfortunate that we are here discussing it in the first place. His punishment will be much harsher than a lay person facing the exact same circumstances. Mildly put, based on his poor choice(s), he’s Fu#%&d. Thank God he didn’t kill anyone.
D. Nagle, I agree that if he’s found guilty, Hutchins is going to have the book thrown at him, especially if the victims of his crimes cooperate with his prosecution.
Then again, considering how he swore to uphold the law, I feel like he should be held to a higher standard, because he above all others should have known better than to engage in the kind of behavior he’s alleged to have engaged in. Whether fair or not, his crimes do paint his colleagues in the Sheriff’s Department in a bad light, because as we’ve seen from some commenters here, folks will say, “Oh, those Sheriff’s Deputies are a bad bunch; just look at Deputy Hutchins for instance.”
Having worked with Hutch and having worked with other members of the MCSO I will stick to my original statements. Hutch was a loose cannon, he should have had a firearms restriction when the restraining order was issued which is obvious. If you can’t see that after this woman is left sitting in the hospital along with a little girl being ,you are so off your rocker you should get a psych. exam! The majority of the deputies working for the MCSO are so bitter with Sheriff Clarke that they allow the bitterness towards him affect the way they do their job and let it affect their life. I am by no means saying the entire department is that way because there are very many people on the department that do a great job. However, there are the deputies/ captains such as Hutch, Lester, Nicols, Abdullah, Zuchowski, Armstrong, McCabe, Gellendin, Hein, Patane’ and the list goes on who just don’t give a rats ass about anything but themselves and are a disgrace to law enforcement. If the department would try to work together more, rather than work against the Sheriff, Milwaukee County would have a much better department. If the Sheriff was allowed to terminate anyone he deemed necessary the department would run much better as well. End of story!!!!!!
I can understand why you would look at the Sheriff for answers in this, but don’t neglect the judge (or possibly a court commissioner) who presided over the hearing when the restraining order was issued without a firearm restriction. What responsibility does he/she have in this foreseeable act of violence?
Anon, you’re absolutely right. Judge Amato does play a role in this as well, and as I said earlier, it’s mighty curious that a restraining order was issue without a firearms restriction.
what thomas did has nothing to do with the department. It was him and his decisions in life. what happened in his personal life like many others is the result of good or bad choices. end of story
There’s a Deputy Sheriff that works at the coles county sheriffs department in Charleston Illinois by the name of James Hite, and in my opinion from the way he acted towards me, he sounds pretty close to this Deputy in the article. Sheriff Cox wont take his gun away because there old buddies. This is how this kind of stuff happens, these idiots get a badge and a gun and they don’t require them to go under any mental evaluation at all and they end up killing a bunch of innocent people. I think they should have legislation these types of deputies should be mentally evaluated every three months to carry a gun.
StD, I’m not sure I support mental evaluations every three months, as that seems both impractical and unnecessary, but I do think those kinds of evaluations should be happening more frequently than they are. And unless I’m mistaken, law enforcement officers in my neck of the woods have to undergo psychological testing before they’re allowed to carry a gun.
I don’t know what to do, but I just read this report, this happed in Charleston Illinois, Charleston Illinois police officer Scott P. Lindecker, 33 was found dead at his home. Lindeeckers death was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday evening. So this proves to me that these deputies like Jim hite should not be allowed to have guns and they should go under medical evaluation immediately, when a deputy acts in a manner that is out of control in front of a citizen this is a good sign he is not in control. The public needs safe guards against this type of deputy. Just because a deputy has a badge, doesn’t make him normal. I don’t believe all deputies are crazy, I am just saying there are certain ones who need medical evaluations every three months, not all of them. I know some outstanding officers that put their lives on the line every day, that are completely normal. We just need to weed out the bad ones. That’s not too much to ask.
I am researching this case to determine the why/how aspects of a deputy, with numerous incidents of Domestic Violence in his history, was permitted to remain on the department? Also, why was he given a service gun, which was ultimately used in this crime? If anyone has pertinent information about this offense, please contact me at Praetorean@yahoo.com. I will investigate all relevant leads and information.