Ryan Tanner was a police officer who often worked closely with the firefighters of SFD Station 19 and was childhood best friends with Andy Herrera. He died after accidentally being shot by a young child who found his mother's gun.
History
Hotwiring Pruitt's Car
When they were twelve, Andy had the idea to hot wire her father's car.[1]
Arrest
On the day of Andy's graduation from the fire academy, Ryan was arrested. He was given one phone call and used it to call Pruitt, who came to bail him out and understood why he hadn't called his father instead.[2]
Apartment Fire and Trapped Woman
Ryan responded to a call about an apartment fire. When he responded, he parked his squad car in front of a fire hydrant, so when the SFD responded, Andy used the fire engine to push it out of the way, angering Ryan. When Pruitt collapsed during the fire and Andy started crying worried about him, Ryan was able to get her to calm down. Later, Ryan came over to check on Andy and they had sex.
The next day, Ryan, Jack, and Andy freed Becca, who was trapped between two buildings. He also told Andy they didn't have to talk about the sex and they were good.[3]
Middle School Alarm
Ryan was the police response to a fire alarm pulled at Stratford Middle School.[4]
Picking up Pruitt
When Andy was working on an overturned tanker, Ryan went to pick up Pruitt to take him home, but Pruitt insisted on going to the station instead.[5]
Ryan then took Pruitt home. After he dropped Pruitt off, he was summarily dismissed.[6]
Helping Maya
When he arrested Maya's brother, Mason, for shoplifting art supplies, he called her to see him. Maya later opened up to Ryan about how Mason got shafted by their parents because he wasn't the prospect that she was. He agreed to keep an eye out for Mason while he was doing his patrols.[7]
Stakeout
Ryan and the other officers helped the SWAT team with a raid to take down a drug dealer. Maya and Andy provided an Aid Car backup just in case anyone got hurt. When an officer was shot, they called in the car after the arrests had been made.[8]
Andy's Test
When Andy had to go through The Incinerator, Ryan gave her a good luck charm they'd passed back and forth as kids. At the end of the day, she returned it and told him it hadn't gone well.[9]
Disaster Preparedness Plan
When the police and fire departments had to work together for a disaster-preparedness drill, Jack developed a plan. Ryan didn't like the plan and saw many issues with it.[10]
Strip Mall Fire
A fire started at Flanner's restaurant and quickly spread to the rest of the strip mall. The police department was called to respond. Ryan rushed in to help evacuate, despite not wearing turnout gear. They evacuated all the survivors they could quickly while Maya, Dean, Vic, and Travis set up the lines to douse the fire. Once the structure became too unstable to continue, they prepared to start the water and ended evacuations. They then noticed a woman on the balcony holding a baby. Jack took the ladder from the engine over to her, but it took time and so Ryan asked the woman to toss down her baby, so she'd be ready to jump to Jack when he got close enough. After some hesitation, she tossed down her baby and he caught it. Then she was able to jump onto the ladder with Jack and was taken safely to the ground. Ryan and Jack shook hands and each agreed the other had done good work.[11]
Being Trapped in a Garage
Ryan and Karen Reis responded to a 911 call from Oliver, who complained that his wife, Audrey, had started a fire to burn his stuff. After Station 19 arrived to deal with the fire, Ryan, Karen, Audrey, and some of the firefighters ended up trapped in the garage due to Audrey's advanced security system. With the fire in the house, the garage started to heat up. They searched for anything they could use to try to free themselves. They found a toolkit, which Karen used to pick the lock on the trunk of the car and retrieve a jack. They tried to use the jack to lift the garage door, but it wouldn't budge. As the temperature climbed, Ryan decided to hot wire the car and try to use it as a battering ram. Jack said it was a bad idea, but Ryan started it anyway. Andy was able to stop him before he moved the car. Jack had the idea to use the motor from the internal door to get access to the house. It didn't work and they started to wear out. When Pruitt arrived and gave Andy a pep talk, she used the last of her energy to think of a plan. She saw the water heater and decided they could use the pilot light to create an explosion. They siphoned gas from the car and rigged the water heater up to explode and propel itself through the garage door. It worked and once they were free, they were all cooled down and rehydrated.[12]
Skyscraper Fire and Helping Pruitt
Ryan and other cops went over to the skyscraper fire and stepped in to help out. He was eventually sent out by Ripley, who didn't want anyone in the building for too long. He went from there to Station 19 to pick up Pruitt, who was having trouble breathing. He found Bailey there, also looking for Pruitt. They found Pruitt not breathing and pulseless. Bailey started CPR and Ryan drove his car as close in as he could to get Pruitt out.[13]
Ryan and Bailey got Pruitt to the hospital, where she immediately started tending to him. He was quickly stabilized. A clot had gotten to his heart, which is why he was having trouble breathing. Ryan also learned that this was a good thing. The chemo caused the clot, but it was also working on the cancer. He was only a few treatments away from remission.[14]
Max Forrester Rescue
When Max Forrester disappeared from Grey Sloan Memorial, Ryan and the SMPD were called out to find him. Ryan and Brit Logue spotted Max walking along the street and called out to him. This spooked Max, who then ran into a storm drain and got swept away. Ryan called it in as a Search and Rescue. He then helped the firefighters' efforts to find and recover Max.[15]
Jack's Ride-Along
In order to foster cooperation between the fire department and police department, Sullivan sent Jack on a ride-along with Ryan. Ryan told Jack he wasn't allowed to leave the squad car for any reason because he was a civilian. They were on traffic duty. They first pulled over Vince, who was speeding to get home because he had burned himself on hot coffee and wasn't wearing pants or underwear. Jack used the megaphone to ask Vince about his burn and then advised him that he'd need medical attention and offered a police escort to the hospital. After that was complete, Ryan pulled over Gregory Dougal, who was also speeding. He said he was on the way to a birthday party with his daughter, Lindy. Ryan said he'd be right back and went back to the squad car. He immediately radioed in to say he suspected a child abduction. Jack was shocked that Ryan had figured that out based just on the traffic stop. Ryan pointed out what he'd seen and confirmed that there was an Amber alert out for Lindy, who was the subject of a custody dispute. They waited for backup, but when Gregory clearly became restless, Ryan went over to the car and calmly told him not to do what he was planning because it wouldn't end well for him. He was able to talk Gregory into surrendering. Jack sat with Lindy until her mom came. The mom thanked him, even though he tried to tell her that Ryan was actually the hero. When Jack told Ryan about that, he said he's used to it because cops aren't seen as the heroes like firefighters are.[16]
Reunion with Greg
At a bust, Ryan noticed a familiar cigar burning on the poker table. He then went to find his father, Greg, whom he suspected was nearby. He found Greg hiding and Greg, surprised to see him, immediately said he'd give them whatever information he had in order to make a deal. Ryan said they weren't after him and he'd just have to give a statement. After giving his statement, he asked Ryan for a ride. Ryan tried to decline, but ended up taking Greg to his next call, where he left Greg in the back seat while he interviewed someone who claimed to have been robbed. Greg told Ryan that the guy hadn't been robbed and explained why. Ryan then revealed he knew the whole time, because Greg had taught him to think like a criminal his whole life. At the end of the day, Greg told Ryan that he wanted to grow a relationship with Ryan, but Ryan said he didn't need one or want one.[17]
Police Training
The firefighters of station 19 held a training session for the police officers, teaching them first aid and CPR. Ryan ended up in Andy and Vic's group. Andy showed him how to do compressions and set him up on a dummy, telling him to do compressions until it beeped back to life. He did many compressions, before stopping and saying the dummy must be broken because Andy wouldn't let him stop.[18]
Meeting his Father
His father said he wanted to meet with Ryan and Ryan asked Andy to meet with him. They met at a coffee shop, but after 45 minutes, his dad hadn't shown up, so Ryan decided to leave because he said he was tired of waiting for his father. Later, Greg showed up at the station injured looking for Pruitt. He told Ryan and Andy that he got in the middle of a fight when he tried to help a kid and his phone was broken. Ryan didn't believe him. [19]
Friendsgiving and Greg's Arrest Warrant
While at Friendsgiving with his father, Ryan found out there was a warrant for Greg's arrest. The FBI was involved in the case as well. He went to Pruitt with the information, but Pruitt said he wouldn't tell anyone if he just wanted to enjoy the day with his father. When the firefighters were called away due to the windstorm, Greg had the idea for the rest of them to bring Friendsgiving to the station. While they waited for the others to return, they played cards and reminisced. At the end of the day, Ryan went to Greg and showed him the warrant. Then he said he could arrest Greg and take him in or Greg could leave, no questions asked, but Ryan would never see him again.[20]
Greg told Ryan to turn him in and Ryan agreed, but said they were still grounded because of the storm, so they went back to the party. Ryan kept putting off arresting Greg, even as Greg told him to do it.[21]
Andy's Award
Four months later, Ryan attended the ceremony where Andy was awarded a medal of valor. When she ran out of the room abruptly without a word, he knew she felt guilty and didn't feel she deserved an award. Later that day, at the party celebrating Andy's medal, the two of them had sex.[22]
Saying Goodbye to Greg and Helping Andy
Ryan was surprised when he saw Greg, as Greg was supposed to disappear. He gave Ryan the key to a storage locker, saying he wants him to have it. Ryan then went to Seattle Presbyterian Hospital, where Margaret Chen was waiting to be arrested after escaping custody. Margaret asked Andy for just a few minutes to say goodbye to her son, who was having surgery and worried he'd die without getting to see her again. Ryan agreed and took her inside to see her son. Then he arrested her and brought her out of the hospital. He then went to the storage locker, where he found a large amount of money, which Greg swore was clean. He told Ryan to use it for the mortgage.[23]
Helping Pruitt
When Pruitt put his house on the market, he immediately started getting offers. He enlisted Ryan's help to look into all the potential buyers' criminal histories. He also confessed to Ryan that he felt he'd become too comfortable in the house and he wanted to move forward.[24]
Personality
Relationships
Romantic
Andy Herrera
He went to prom with Andy Herrera. As adults, after she found out her father had cancer, they had sex when he came to her house to check on her.[25]
After learning that Pruitt still saw him as the kid who stole Pruitt's car, Ryan went to Andy to make sure she knew that he wasn't a kid anymore.[26]
Before The Incinerator, Ryan gave Andy a good luck charm, a small world that they'd passed back and forth as kids when either of them was going through something hard.[27]
After the strip mall fire, Ryan came to Andy, pumped about what he'd done. He was exhilarated and he and Andy started kissing and undressing each other.[28]
They continued having sex regularly in the mornings.[29] However, when Andy learned that Ryan deliberately didn't tell her that her dad was in trouble during the skyscraper fire, she ended things with him, saying they always ended up in the same pattern of him protecting her when she didn't need it.[30]
Months later, after she received a Medal of Valor for her actions during the windstorm, she and Ryan hooked up at her party.[31] They continued hooking up, but Andy stopped any conversation of their status.[32] Later, after hearing Pruitt talk about getting too comfortable and wanting to move forward instead of backward, he asked Andy if he was just a security blanket for her.[33]
Jenna Matson
After wondering if he was just Andy's security blanket, Ryan starting seeing Jenna, a fellow officer.[34]
Familial
He has a rocky relationship with his father, Greg.
Friendships
Jack Gibson
After Jack went on a ride-along with him, they buried the hatchet and went to Dean's after work to share a drink and hang out.[35]
Professional
Career
He is a police officer with the Seattle Police Department.
Notes and Trivia
- His parents lived next door to Andy and Pruitt Herrera.[36]
- He spent time in juvie as a kid.[37]
- He takes his coffee with one sugar.[38]
Gallery
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A more complete gallery with pictures of Ryan Tanner can be found here. |
Notable Episodes
The following episodes are Ryan-centric or are otherwise very informative about his life:
Memorable Quotes
Appearances
| Station 19, Season 1 | |||||
| #01 | "Stuck" | #05 | "Shock to the System" | #09 | "Hot Box" |
| #02 | "Invisible to Me" | #06 | "Stronger Together" | #10 | "Not Your Hero" |
| #03 | "Contain the Flame" | #07 | "Let It Burn" | ||
| #04 | "Reignited" | #08 | "Every Second Counts" | ||
| Station 19, Season 2 | |||||
| #01 | "No Recovery" | #07 | "Weather the Storm" | #13 | "The Dark Night" |
| #02 | "Under the Surface" | #08 | "Crash and Burn" | #14 | "Friendly Fire" |
| #03 | "Home To Hold Onto" | #09 | "I Fought the Law" | #15 | "Always Ready" |
| #04 | "Lost and Found" | #10 | "Crazy Train" | #16 | "For Whom the Bell Tolls" |
| #05 | "Do a Little Harm..." | #11 | "Baby Boom" | #17 | "Into the Wildfire" |
| #06 | "Last Day on Earth" | #12 | "When It Rains, It Pours!" | ||
| Station 19, Season 3 | |||||
| #01 | "I Know This Bar" | #07 | "Satellite of Love" | #13 | "Dream a Little Dream of Me" |
| #02 | "Indoor Fireworks" | #08 | "Born to Run" | #14 | "The Ghosts That Haunt Me" |
| #03 | "Eulogy" | #09 | "Poor Wandering One" | #15 | "Bad Guy" |
| #04 | "House Where Nobody Lives" | #10 | "Something About What Happens When We Talk" | #16 | "Louder Than a Bomb" |
| #05 | "Into the Woods" | #11 | "No Days Off" | ||
| #06 | "Ice Ice Baby" | #12 | "I'll Be Seeing You" | ||