Accused cop killer Eric Frein’s cuts came during capture, marshal says
For nearly seven weeks, the American public knew alleged police killer Matthew Eric Frein from a handful of images — showing a seemingly clean-cut young man, sometimes dressed in a Cold War-era uniform and carrying a gun.
But this week, they got a different glimpse of Frein. The bridge of his nose was cut and bloodied. His face was scratched. And he wore an orange jail jumpsuit.
The new uniform is because of what happened Thursday, when a team of U.S. marshals took the 31-year-old survivalist and military buff into custody at an abandoned airport near Tannersville, Pennsylvania.
As to the suspect’s abrasions, Scott Malkowski — who took down Frein, accompanied by about a dozen other marshals — told CNN they came about when these authorities tried to detain Frein and avoid the firefight many feared.
“We’re not playing around,” Malkowski said.
Capturing a dangerous fugitive
Authorities have acknowledged Frein got special treatment in some ways.
After his arrest, he was shackled in the handcuffs of Pennsylvania state police Cpl. Bryon Dickson — the officer that authorities say Frein killed on September 12 — put in the backseat of the slain trooper’s squad car, then sent back to the barracks where the ambush on Dickson occurred. That’s not possible for every accused convict.
But Malkowski said that Frein wasn’t treated differently — at least differently than anyone on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List considered armed and dangerous, after having allegedly killed one officer and wounded another before melting into the woods — while being taken into custody.
When authorities approached Frein, the suspect had his chest down on the ground but his head was up looking at Malkowski, the marshal said. From a law enforcement perspective, that is just what you don’t want.
“Never have a fugitive look at you,” Malkowski explained.
Per law enforcement protocol, Frein was forced to be face-first on the asphalt looking away from the marshals (so that a suspect can’t anticipate an officer’s next move). In the process, his nose got cut and his face scraped.
Eric Frein booking photo
“Sometimes things like that happen,” Malkowski said.
An end to a tense 48 days
The U.S. marshal told CNN affiliate WPVI that his first sign of Frein came in the form of movement through nearby high grass and weeds.
“When I first saw him, I was like, ‘What’s this guy doing in the field by himself?’ ” Malkowski recalled Saturday. “For a split second, I didn’t think it was him.
“But then we had a sixth sense, I guess. I knew it was him.”
And so Malkowski and his team of marshals got closer, without the suspect apparently not knowing. Until, that is, Frein turned around and saw the law enforcement officers approaching him.
“I told him to get on the ground…,” Malkowski said. “We just kept closing distance (to) about 5 feet away.
“I said, ‘Who are you? What’s your name?’ And he said, ‘Eric Frein.’ ”
So ended the manhunt that terrorized many in northeast Pennsylvania over a tense 48-day stretch — closing schools, canceling outdoor activities and prompting the halt to hunting and trapping. As many as 1,000 federal, state and local law enforcement officers scoured forests and thoroughfares looking for Frein.
Authorities worried they would get the worst from an armed man with a reported history of police hatred, a man who had lashed out violently before and got away. In fact, while Frein wasn’t armed at the time of his capture, investigators later found a cache nearby that included a sniper rifle.
The U.S. Marshal team that spotted Frein was well-aware of the worst-case scenarios when they went after him.
Yet, Malkowski said, “That’s what the marshals do. We hunt fugitives. That’s our job.”
