By Kristen Maloney
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Shawn Craig can be described as a modern day Superman: Adjunct professor by day, police officer by night. His kryptonite? Finding a balance between both of his stressful and time-consuming work lives.
Craig spends his days as an adjunct professor at Towson University teaching an Introduction to Criminal Justice course. By nightfall, however, he patrols part of Harford County as a sergeant in the police department.
Photo by Kristen Maloney
“I have a passion for teaching,” Craig said. “But that does not take away from my passion for police work.”
Craig began teaching not only to enrich the lives of young adults and educate them on the world around them, but also to bring passion and excitement into the classroom again. From his perspective, many professors do the bare minimum using PowerPoints and remain disconnected from their students.
“This is no way to teach,” Craig said. “Most student will graduate from college unable to tell someone 10 things they have learned throughout college. This is a travesty. I wanted to bring dynamite and passion to the classroom, and I hope it spreads like wildfire.”
Spread it did to Michael Hinely, a sophomore in Craig’s course.
“He is by far my favorite professor,” Hinely said. “Most of my classes are so boring, but the energy he brings to each class makes us interested in the material.”
When Craig is not busy trying to infect students with his positive energy and enthusiasm in the classroom, he is on the night shift for the police department.
“Yes, it’s extremely busy juggling both teaching and being an officer,” Craig said. “As much as I love doing both for moral and financial reasons, I am going to have to stop teaching soon. The combination is way too demanding.”
The demand of the two jobs hit home on Aug. 25, when Craig and his partner tried to save a man from a burning building.
On that day, 73-year-old Jaswant Singh purposefully set himself on fire in his daughter’s home at 1106 Saddleback Way in Bel Air, Craig said. He then fell to the ground, sending the rest of the house up in flames.
Singh’s body heat was so intense that he burned a hole through the first floor and fell into the basement of the home.
Singh’s daughter, Jaspreet Chhatwal, came home at about 3:13 p.m. to find her house fully-engulfed in flames, Craig said. Worried that her two children were inside with Singh, Chhatwal called the police. Craig and his partner, Deputy First Class Matthew Harrell, responded before firefighters could get to the location.
After a few minutes battling against the heat, dark and heavy smoke, Craig and Harrell were finally able to enter the house and look for Singh, Craig said.
“We called out over and over for anyone in the house,” Harrell said. “We couldn’t find Singh, and we were afraid the two kids were hiding upstairs somewhere.”
“The house appeared empty and no one responded to our calls,” Craig said. “The heat and smoke were getting too much to handle, so we had to evacuate immediately.”
The Bel Air Fire Department was able to put out the fire approximately five minutes after Craig and Harrell arrived on the scene, Craig said.
He and Harrell said they were relieved to learn that the two kids were not inside the house at the time of the fire. However, they were upset when they found out that Singh had died and that the fire had been started intentionally.
“You go through a lot of emotions,” Craig said. “At first, you beat yourself up for not being able to save everyone. Then, you get angry for risking your life and the life of your partner for someone who set themselves on fire. Finally, you feel remorse for the traumatized family members of the victim.”
“It was a difficult scene,” Senior Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire said. “But Sergeant Craig and Deputy Harrell were brave and did all they could to save anyone inside. That’s all we can do.”
Saving victims along with other police work will take center stage next spring when Craig plans to retire from teaching at TU after a nearly seven-year career, attempting to restore some balance in his hectic life.
“It will be a big change, but it’s for the best,” Craig said. “Doing both jobs really takes it out of me. I love being a sergeant so it really wasn’t a choice. It’s what I live for.”