Nov 4, 2017 4 min read

Canonsburg’s police chief and the sergeant who was on the call when one of his officers was shot and killed while responding to a domestic dispute last November have been asked to help develop a curriculum for other officer across the state in detecting the potential of an ambush.

Chief Al Coghill and Sgt. Donald Cross are working with the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission, helping to teach a pilot program on the subject.

Officer Scott Bashioum was shot during an ambush while responding Nov. 10, 2016, to a domestic call reported at the home of Dalia Sabae. Her estranged husband, Michael Cwiklinski, fire shots from a high-powered rifle at Bashioum and Officer James Saieva.

Cross drove his patrol vehicle through the line of fire close to Bashioum and dragged him partially into the vehicle. Peters Township police Sgt. Matt Collins and Cecil Township police Sgt. John Holt helped get Bashioum into the vehicle. Bashioum was taken to Canonsburg Hospital, where he died an hour after the shooting.

Cross then returned in another patrol vehicle for Saieva, who had been shot while seated in his cruiser. Cross got the Saieva into a vehicle while Collins maintained cover for them as Cwiklinski continued to fire. Saieva was flown to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment.

Cwiklinski and Sabae were found dead inside her home.

“Every day we come into the station, there is a remembrance of Scott,” Coghill said of the photograph of the officer that hangs on the wall. “We are still in a state of disbelief and realize we were victims. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.”

Coghill said he and Cross are in the process of teaching the instructors for the pilot program. They worked with officers from the western side of the state last month and will be heading east in a few weeks to work with instructors who will be teaching the class. They then will teach instructors in the central part of the state. The training will be made available to every municipal police officer in the state. Cross said the program has been well received.

An Allentown police officer who was involved in an ambush shooting while trying to serve a search warrant with other officers is working with them, Cross said. An officer the Allentown policeman was with was shot and had to be rescued. The injured officer survived and eventually returned to work.

“He said that he still doesn’t drive down the street where it happened,” Cross said.

“I think we have a heightened awareness now,” Coghill said of the officers on patrol. “It knocked any complacency right out of us.

“We are taking a more tactical approach than we did before,” he added. “We don’t want to fall back into complacency.”

Not long after Bashioum’s death, the department received a donation from the Canonsburg VFW Post 191 to purchase a new cruiser. The “ghost” cruiser is black with markings that make it stand out less when officers respond to a call.

“It gives us a lower profile when we respond, especially at night,” Coghill sad, adding the department also purchased a second “ghost” cruiser. “It is more difficult to tell it is a police vehicle approaching.”

The department also recently got ballistic vests that give more protection against shots fired from high-power weapons.

Coghill said the department is now putting more emphasis on community policing, walking through schools, the downtown area, Town Park and neighborhoods.

“The community has to trust and respect you,” Coghill said. “Things like walking through the neighborhood and schools are all investments in the community.”

Cross said that given society today, threats are posed not just by domestic calls but by anyone exhibiting hatred toward police.

“It is sad. There are a lot of evil people,” Coghill said.”We can do everything right and still get killed.”