Wounded sergeant known for patience, professionalism

With his family and friends congregated around his hospital bed this morning, Pierce County sheriff's Sgt. Nick Hausner worried about his partner's health.

Hausner, a 20-year veteran, and Deputy Kent Mundell were wounded Monday night when they responded to a domestic-violence call in Eatonville. Hausner is recovering from his injuries at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, and Mundell is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Hausner, 43, and his wife, Melanie, live in Eatonville. They have two children, a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl.

Larry Erb, Melanie's uncle, said that he spent time with Hausner at Madigan Army Medical Center this morning.

"I saw Nick this morning; he's in good spirits," Erb said. "He's looking fine. He's actually more worried about his partner than himself."

Melanie Hausner appeared calm and collected at the hospital — something Erb attributes to her previous job working as a 911 dispatcher. Erb said his daughter was watching the Hausners' two children today.

In the more than 20 years since he met Hausner, Erb said their families have regularly spent holidays together. He admires Hausner for his devotion to work and to his family.

"He's a real family guy, a real salt-of-the-earth person who would help anybody," Erb said. "He's a throwback to the good old days when families were close-knit and tight."

Hausner knew everything about his children and was always present for events in their lives.

Erb said that when he was looking online after getting off work Monday night, he heard that two deputies had been shot in Eatonville and immediately became worried. When he called a relative, he heard that Hausner had indeed been wounded.

"For the situation, he's doing quite well," Erb said.

Lakewood Police Chief Brett Farrar, who has known Hausner for almost 20 years, said that when he heard about the shootings — just weeks after four of his officers were slain on Nov. 29 — he was in disbelief.

"He is a good deputy. A smart, sharp guy and a good family man," Farrar said.

Farrar also said that Hausner has endless patience.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ed Troyer said that Hausner helped transition deputies from handwritten reports to learning to type reports on laptops inside their police cruisers.

Hausner dealt with the flak from the old-timers, deputies who didn't want to change over to the new report-writing system, said Farrar, who worked at the Pierce County Sheriff's Department for 15 years.

In 2002, Hausner even won a Sheriff's Department award for coordinating training for the new system, called "Enforcer."

"Nick did a whole lot of training. He had a gift for that," Farrar said today. "He told a whole bunch of us which buttons to push."

During his two decades at the Sheriff's Department, Hausner has patrolled in Lakewood and with the Mountain Detachment, Farrar said.

Jennifer Smith, owner of Truly Scrumptious Bakery & Cafe in Eatonville, said that both Hausner and Mundell were regular customers.

"We're just praying for their families right now," an emotional Smith said this morning.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com