LINE OF DUTY DEATHS

[burner]

Fortunately this news item does not require a "memorial", yet this seems like the appropriate place to post it in view of what has happened in our area during this past week.

No sooner had Nassau County Police Officer Joseph Olivieri been laid to rest did we hear that a second Nassau County Police Officer, Arthur Lopez was gunned down. Then a day later, Wednesday October 25, 2012, an off-duty New York City Transit Police Officer, Ivan Marcano, was shot in the chest while interrupting a robbery in progress.

As reported by NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Officer Marcano was sitting in his car with his girlfriend when she saw two men robbing a third. Marcano got out of the car, pulled out his gun and shield, and identified himself as a police officer, Kelly said.

"As soon as he did, one of the suspects fired, striking Officer Marcano in the chest,'' Kelly said Wednesday evening at a news conference with Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the Bronx hospital where the officer was taken.

Marcano got back into the vehicle with his girlfriend behind the wheel. She took off to seek medical attention when their car became held up at a red light behind several vehicles, Kelly said. She honked at the cars; the one in front of her, a white Mustang, turned out to be the suspects' getaway vehicle. It jerked forward, hitting a livery cab and then a parked car before going onto the sidewalk where it came to a stop.

Three men got out of the Mustang and started running on foot. Marcano got out of his own car, taking cover some distance away. Holding his left hand over his wound, with his gun in his right hand, he approached the men and fired one shot, Kelly said.

He then moved to another location and fired again. "In a remarkable display of marksmanship and cool under fire, Officer Marcano fired, striking one of the suspects in the head,'' Kelly said.

The man died at the scene. The other men ran off in different directions.

Marcano followed one of the men, and came across an ambulance, which got him to Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Kelly said.

A gun was recovered at the scene.

The shooting spurred an army of NYPD officers to spread through the neighborhood, looking for the other two suspects.

Marcano, who joined the force in 2007 and was assigned to Transit District 12, is expected to be OK. He is the 12th NYPD officer to be shot in eight separate incidents so far this year, according to Kelly, and the second shooting of a police officer this week (refering to the murder of Nassau County Officer Lopez).

PS As an upshot to the Officer Lopez killing a policy change has been instituted by the Nassau County Police Dept. requiring all officers to wear body armor while on duty. Until now it has been left to the discretion of each individual officer.

[bluepride]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to meet Marcano at my next PSSG meeting.

I went to the funeral for PO Lopez today. A long and exhausting day but I'm glad I went. His department hit it out of the park in terms of how they handled all of the ceremonial things. A very nice touch was that the family of the man who was car-jacked and executed was there as well as the family of Lopez. Very nice. I ran into old colleagues and saw a lot of familiar faces.

And I was floored when I was just walking along and heard my name called out a few times. Guys and girls who aged a bit but still looked good. One guy who called me...well....I had no recollection of him at all for about 30 seconds. I had to do one of those furtive looks at his nameplate. Then it came back to me! Maybe I'm just getting senile. But it was good to see him and catch up after many many years.

The ending ceremonies before the Officer was removed to the cemetery were really moving. I was almost about to lose it. Later, after walking the long walk to my car, among hundreds of others, I was almost sorry that I'm retired. I said, "almost".

And damned if it didn't happen again.....I was stuck in the exit traffic going one way when all of a sudden I hear my name again while I was in motion. One of my old bosses, who was one of the best bosses and people I've met in all my years. He was driving the opposite direction from me and all I could do was give an excited wave as I drove by!

All in all, it was a very heavy day but at the same time, very uplifting in a different way. This is what happens at these things, though. For all the sadness we feel at the funeral of a Police Officer, you get reaffirmed in the brotherhood and sisterhood. You're never really retired.

I took videos of the entrance and exits from the church and the ending ceremonies. When I have the energy, I'll try to do a compilation of some of them.

RIP P.O. Artie Lopez.

[blu06]

We must remember always,
It is to Protect and To Serve
To this, we stay True
Always Blue

Be Safe,
Mac

[hoosiercop]

This is Tim McCormick. He was killed the other morning when a drunk driver wrecked into his ambulance in Indianapolis. As you can see from this video, Tim was one hell of a person and role model. I didn't know him, but I wish I had.

Attachments:

[TheBear]

Feb 17, 2013 8:31:03 GMT -5 hoosiercop said:

This is Tim McCormick. He was killed the other morning when a drunk driver wrecked into his ambulance in Indianapolis. As you can see from this video, Tim was one hell of a person and role model. I didn't know him, but I wish I had.

THANK YOU for sharing this youtube video, Jon.

For BluePriders who may have skipped over the video, I invite you to view it now. No, I did not know Tim McCormick. Yet, his message in the video is one that all BluePriders and allies need to hear.

A silent SALUTE to Tim McCormick...

Bear

[bluepride]

This is really sad. And now his partner has died as well. Tim is from Staten Island, NY. There will be a second funeral service for him after the funeral in Indiana. He's done good in so many ways. He has left a valuable legacy. RIP to him and his partner.

[bluepride]

A Police Officer goes to work one day, expecting to do her job and protect the citizens of her town. She is having personal domestic problems as a lot of Police Officers do. She has no reasonable expectation of being stalked, set up and summarily executed by anyone, least of all her husband.

She is in uniform and on patrol performing her assigned duties. And she is murdered. Even though it was her husband who "allegedly" did it, it was a cold blooded murder of a cop doing her job. And now, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund denies her her rightful place on the Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.? They say it was a domestic incident problem. Wow.....

This is beyond outrageous in my opinion. And in the opinion of a lot of other Police Officers all over the country. As of right now while I'm typing this, she is being denied an honor that is due her and all who have been killed in the line of duty. I can't properly express the rage I'm feeling over this. I am preparing a letter to e-mail to the NLEOMF to express my feelings on this. I know I won't be the only one. At this point, I can't see renewing my membership until this is recified.

I hope that at this years National Police Week functions that she is not forgotten and honored by the rank and file attendees, whether done officially or not. And at the Candlelight Vigil, I hope to see people carrying signs with her name and photo so the world can see who is not being honored.

I urge everyone who is or was in law enforcement to contact the NLEOMF to register their outrage over the exclusion of this Officer. They won't get another cent from me until it is.

Rest In Peace, Officer. We will be there for you even in death.

READ ARTICLE and SEE VIDEO: Slain Wauwatosa officer denied place on national memorial

[Deleted]

The NLEOMF may be reconsidering and may change their stance this coming Thursday.

[TheBear]

... A silent salute to Officer Sean Collier, MIT LEO. How appropriate that there were thousands who attended his memorial service. Out of tragedy, it is good to see a whole community - a whole nation - come together to honor Officer Collier.

Link: www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57581186/thousands-attend-slain-mit-officers-memorial-service/

[Deleted]

Bear, that's a wonderful video. Thanks for posting it. Bidens remarks were great !!!!

[bluepride]

Gay firefighter, first responder to Pentagon on 9/11, dies

Phillip Curtis McKee III, a businessman, stained glass artist and firefighter who was among the first to respond to the fire at the Pentagon caused by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, died May 31 at a hospital in Fairfax City, Va. He was 41.

Family members attribute McKee’s death to complications from injuries and illness linked to three days of fighting the Pentagon fire following the 9/11 attack, including inhalation of toxic dust, a severe leg injury that resulted in him being wheel chair bound, and a prolonged bout of post-traumatic stress disorder.

McKee’s husband and partner of 15 years, Nopadon McKee, said the injuries forced Phillip McKee to retire from his job as a firefighter due to disability. Although he displayed “tremendous courage” in persevering as an artist, businessman, and author over the next 12 years, the injuries and his struggle with PTSD took its toll, Nopadon McKee said.

“He succumbed to his injuries,” a statement released by the family says.

Phillip McKee was born in Portsmouth, Va., and lived in his early years in Corpus Christi, Kingsville and San Antonio, Texas. He did undergraduate studies at Yale University and graduate studies at Harvard University in Medieval history as well as economic and diplomatic history, and held a fellowship at Princeton University, a biographical statement prepared by family members says.

At the time of his university studies he became interested in the medium of stained glass and eventually became a stained glass artist and owner of a small business selling stained glass artwork, including his own.

Sandra Martinez, McKee’s aunt, said McKee entered a Catholic seminary for a short period of time after completing his university studies before moving to Washington, D.C. to work in the field of computer and internet security with the National Fraud Information Center.

While working in this position he founded Capitol Web Services in 1998 as a part-time web-based business.



According to Martinez, McKee, who had been serving as a volunteer fireman in the Maryland suburbs, informed his family in early 2001 that he decided to change his career and become a firefighter with the Arlington County, Va., Fire Department about six months prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“after all of that education, I chose to become a firefighter,” McKee wrote in a message appearing on his business website McKeestaindedglass.com.

“Needless to say, this was not greeted with much enthusiasm by my family,” he wrote. “However, a firefighter’s work schedule gave me the free time I needed and I was able to pursue my other passion – glass art!” he wrote.

READ ARTICLE: Gay firefighter, first responder to Pentagon on 9/11, dies

[TheBear]

A silent Salute of honor to Firefighter McKee... and a caring nod to his husband Nopadon.

Bear
________________.

[edmontongreg]

Salute to FF McKee and his partner

[bluepride]

These are some of the initial transmissions regarding the two NYPD Officers who were executed today. I'm not posting any news links yet because as of right now, the names haven't been released. But I AM posting a photo of the shooter. He fled to a nearby subway station and shot himself when responding officers approached. It is graphic but it is reality.

[edmontongreg]

Too bad he didn't do that first.