Posted on 04/18/2003 6:05:31 AM PDT by Coleus
It's hard to second-guess a specific situation, especially when looking at what did happen and evaluating a first response. What did the officer know about the situation when he arrived?
I suspect the picture concerning what he was facing was not clear (perps armed with what?) My comment is a general response to what I've seen and experienced in situations where I have observed performance of police officers in a teaching/learning environment. The majority of officers were not proficient with their duty weapons, especially under any stress.
How in tarnation would someone like this ever chase a buff, fleeing felon over walls, rooftops, etc?
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm06.htm
Prayer to Saint Michael
Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And you, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
Sincere condolences to the families of the dead and injured officers. Hasta la vista, Omar Marti of the Omar Family of Lawless Scumbag @ssholes.
CCW in New Jersey NOW!
~ Blue Jays ~
And, whoever asked if all their police officers were so overweight in NJ? I can tell you this (from my own experience): I dated a Paterson police detective in the late '80's. He was about 6'8" and very physically fit. I didn't date him for long, as I moved back to Georgia, but I will tell you that he even scared me. There was nothing on him except solid muscles. He looked like Ah-nold.
| Monday, April 28, 2003, |
An avid fisherman and caring lover. A cog in a family-run drug machine and gun-slinging desperado. A likeable guy.
From someone's little boy to suspected cop killer, Omar Marti wore many faces.
In upstate New York, he was girlfriend Ebony Saunders' romantic "Loveboat." She called him LB for short. He drove her to work, cooked elaborate meals and doted on her two children. She thought they would marry someday.
But authorities believe that for Fair Lawn Police Officer Mary Ann Collura, Omar Marti was a death sentence. On a brisk, dark April night, the 23-year-old gunned down the borough's first female officer on a church lawn as he evaded capture, police said. A warrant had been issued for his arrest months before a Clifton Police officer attempted to pull him over for speeding. After the chase that ensued, police said, Marti pulled out a .380 Magnum and fired.
Authorities found $1,000 worth of marijuana in the red Nissan he was driving. By then, he had fled in a Fair Lawn squad car and had run over Collura as she lay dying in the grass, police said. Shots hit Clifton Officer Steve Farrell's elbow; one passed through both legs.
He survived.
The incident sent Marti on a 60-hour odyssey from New York to Florida. A massive manhunt requiring thousands of law enforcers up and down the eastern seaboard ended when Marti, a gun in each hand, was killed in a shootout with police on a street in western Florida. Though Marti had never pointed a gun at his relatives, he left a bullet-riddled family reputation as his legacy.
Collura's slaying represented the pit the Martis fell into - once pillars of the community and now labeled relatives of a merciless murderer. His grandmother, Carmen Villegas, bursts into tears at the mere mention of his name. An aunt sits behind the locked and bolted door of her Main Avenue beauty salon, doing business, but refusing to talk about him. Passaic police Officer George Villegas, Marti's uncle, orchestrated the surrender of his nephew's suspected accomplices, but remains tight-lipped. They wait for Florida authorities to release his body so funeral arrangements can be made.
"From what I knew of him, as a child he was very intelligent, very outspoken. He was always trying to make a buck - not in a bad way," said cousin Hector Rivera, who described the woodworking projects Omar and his brother, Victor Jr., often crafted and sold. "I'm not saying what he did was right, but I was shocked to hear it."
Nonetheless, the shots struck Fair Lawn, a quiet suburb where some folks still leave their doors unlocked at night. They left longtime Passaic residents reminiscing about a time, decades ago, when Omar's father, Victor Sr., soared to success. He opened Empire Printing, the city's first Latino-owned print shop. As children, Omar and Victor Jr. spent hours in the Monroe Street storefront while their father produced invitations and campaign signs for local elections. Their mother took the boys to school every day and made sure they had a proper religious upbringing.
"My son was a good kid, a loving son," said Aurora Villegas Marti. "I vehemently regret the life my son found himself wrapped up in and will take the pain caused by his decision to my grave."
Victor Sr. was the second branch of the Marti family tree, which had roots planted in Puerto Rico. Almost immediately after emigrating from Rincon to New York, and eventually to Passaic in 1968, the first generation became prominent as Marti-owned stores sprouted up all over the city.
Then, in 1975, Victor Sr. was arrested in Bergen County on drug charges and received a year of probation. By the time he was again arrested on drug charges, in 1998, Empire Printing had been closed for nearly a decade and his marriage was on the verge of collapse, relatives said. Victor Sr. and Aurora divorced after the boys graduated from high school.
"They worked hard to expand (their businesses). Every time somebody got married, the parents bought them a grocery store," Passaic Mayor Sammy Rivera recalled. "I don't know how these kids got to the problems they have now. The parents, uncles and grandparents are decent, hard-working people."
In the years after Victor Sr. lost the printing business, he and both sons started a drug distribution operation, authorities said. After the Fair Lawn shooting, investigators discovered that the attic of their Paulison Avenue home had been converted into a sophisticated greenhouse with elaborate timer and irrigation systems. Marijuana crops worth more than $30,000 were seized.
Life was somewhat different in the sleepy upstate New York village of Johnson City, where Omar had spent the past few years blending in. He told relatives back in Passaic that he was attending school. If nothing else, the atmosphere of the 17,000-population small town was a far cry from Passaic's urban façade, though Omar had his brushes with the law there, too. In October 2000, police raided the Wells Avenue apartment he shared with his then-girlfriend, 35-year-old Karen Brown, and charged them with attempting to sell crack cocaine and marijuana, as well as with possession of drug paraphernalia and weapons offenses. Detectives had discovered a loaded .25-caliber handgun tucked away in the bedroom. Records show that Omar served two months of a four-month sentence in the Broome County Jail.
"He comes to town. He'd stay awhile and go back. Could he have been bringing drugs? Well, certainly. He's a convicted drug dealer," said Johnson City Detective Sgt. Darren Hannon, pointing out that a $3 hit of crack in New York City sells for $20 to $25 upstate. "If you bring a sizeable amount of the product, you do the math and you can make a lot of money."
Omar was released and sentenced to five years' probation, and authorities discovered that he was spending time in New Jersey, said Broome County Probation Officer Emmet Martin. His release agreement mandated that Omar not leave the state of New York without permission, though he frequently bounced back and forth between Passaic and Johnson City, at times visiting relatives and going deep sea fishing off the Jersey Shore. Martin suspected that Omar often had violated probation, but said he couldn't prove it. After he was finally caught early last year for breaking probation, Omar was sent back to jail for several months and afterward regularly met with Martin, though he often wasn't around for impromptu home visits.
When Martin received a call from the Manhattan district attorney saying that officers in the New York Police Department's 32nd precinct arrested Omar Nov. 10 for possession of a weapon with a defaced serial number, Broome County authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. He had already posted $10,000 bail and managed to slip through the cracks for five months, until the Fair Lawn incident brought him back into the spotlight.
"I never saw him get angry or lose his temper. If anything, he always wanted to talk things out. On the other hand, when I inherited him from New Jersey and called his probation officer there, the guy said 'Good luck. He's a monster,'" Martin said, adding that the only time he allowed Omar to leave the state was when his cousin, Matthew Fields, was killed in the crossfire of a shooting in Paterson last year.
"This was an extremely pleasant guy. He'd bat the breeze and talk about fishing," Martin said.
It was with pole in hand that Omar sought solace and often retreated to anywhere he found water, a habit he picked up from his father as a child.
"Whatever he was doing, he kept it away from where he lived," said Jimi Thomas, who last year rented an apartment to Saunders, Omar's girlfriend. "Half the time they weren't really here. Maybe two times out of the week. They'd come and stay for a while and leave."
It was there, in the second floor of that Helen Street building, that Omar set up an inflatable pool to house the turtles he had caught when he jumped in a creek wearing brand new boots, Saunders said. He often took her 11-year-old brother on fishing excursions and would disappear for hours.
"Whenever he had problems, he went fishing," said Saunders, who began dating Omar three years ago after they met at a card game. He stepped in and played the role of father figure for her children and ran errands in one of the many cars he returned with after trips to Passaic. Afternoons were spent delivering Meals On Wheels to fulfill obligations so he could collect welfare benefits, said Martin and Saunders.
In November, Omar left Johnson City, Saunders said, and got into the weapons charge trouble in Manhattan He'd call frequently and pop up for weekend visits. A three-person sheriff's department warrant squad had tracked him and knew he had ties to New Jersey, though police there weren't notified, because Broome County didn't have any solid leads that he was actually there.
"Unless we have concrete information that he's in an area, it's pointless to start a search," said Broome County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Patrick Isenburg, who featured Omar in the local newspaper's Most Wanted section in late November of last year. "He was laying pretty low when he came to this area. We strongly feel this last time around, we had such strong coverage in the area and such good intelligence we were at most a half a step behind him."
By the time New York State authorities started surveillance on Saunders' house a little more than a day after the Fair Lawn shooting, Omar Marti had already been there and again had eluded police.
"He told me what happened and I told him to get out, so I could get my mind together. It was like, did this boy really tell me what I think he just told me?" said Saunders, 22. "He was crying and said, 'I love you and I'm still going to see you.' I said, 'I love you' and just closed my eyes. He just gave me a kiss. I didn't want to see him go."
It wasn't until Saunders read a newspaper the next day that she realized Marti had omitted vital details.
"He told me the cops Maced him, he blacked out, started shooting and ran," she said. "It should of hit me he didn't tell me everything."
Reach Alisa Camacho at (973) 569-7165 or CamachoA@northjersey.com
I think I'm going to BARF! Why don't they just canonize him a saint and be done with it?
_____________________________________
Letter to the Editor
Regarding the tragic shooting death of a Fair Lawn Police Officer Mary Ann Collura and the shooting of Clifton Police Officer Steven Farrell:
These are two brave police officers who attempted to use less-than-lethal force to subdue their suspects. In return, they were shot and run over by a small- time drug dealer. My question is what is the Passaic County Probation Department doing about it?
Small time (non-violent?) drug dealers get probation. Look into the record of the suspect, Omar Marti, for example. What sort of supervision are these criminals receiving from the Probation Department? None. Criminals sentenced to probation are required to pay fines, perhaps occasionally take random drug tests, warned to stay out of trouble, and told to get jobs.
Probation officers, poorly trained to begin with, are certainly not trained in any way to protect themselves or others. They make very infrequent home visits to houses of offenders but are usually too intimidated to visit ones who are most dangerous. And on the rare occasion when probation officers do leave their offices to make home visits, offenders don't even bother to acknowledge them or let them in.
Many states train probation officers as peace officers and even arm them. These states also mandate that probation officers actually leave their cubicles, go out in the community, and check up on offenders. The goal is to involve probation officers in the communities, both in a social service and public safety capacities.
Unfortunately, the Passaic County Probation Department is doing very little for social services and even less for public safety. It has no goal clarity or function.
John Goodyear ,Clifton, April 20
_____________________________________
Sixty hours hunting down a cop killer
|
Sunday, April 27, 2003 |
|
The clock began running at 10:06 p.m., just after the first bullet ripped through Fair Lawn Police Officer Mary Ann Collura's chest.
At that moment, Mike Mordaga, chief of detectives at the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, was driving home through Paramus. The first words came over his radio: Officer shot.
Then: Officer dead.
The report began a 60-hour manhunt across four states, as hundreds of officers from local, state, and federal agencies pursued a cop killer. County sheriffs themselves scoured riverbanks and canvassed neighborhoods, alongside off-duty officers who threw on police jackets and immediately reported for work.
It was an extraordinary show of collaboration, said detectives, looking back on the investigation less than a week after the final arrest. During the 2½-day chase, dozens of agencies operated as one unit, stretching the dragnet from upstate New York to Florida.
While police in Passaic pressed street informants for leads, officers in Hackensack questioned suspects throughout the night. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration flew officers to Binghamton, N.Y., while sheriff's deputies in Florida scoped out addresses where the gunman may have been hiding.
The case belonged to every cop. A killing in Bergen County is a Bergen case, but when an officer dies in the line of duty, it's different.
"It's that bond, that commonality," said Mordaga, who headed the investigation.
In less than an hour, police knew their killer was Omar Marti. Within seven hours, they had made their first arrest in the case. In 60 hours, Marti was dead.
All before Mary Ann Collura was buried.
A hunt begins
Marti and his cousin Ivan Marti were speeding east on Route 46 in a red Nissan around 9:40 p.m. on April 17 when Clifton Officer Steven Farrell spotted them. The car's New Jersey license plates didn't match any on file, and Farrell tried to pull the car over, but it took off. Another car, driven by Omar Marti's brother, Victor Marti II, followed behind Farrell.
Farrell chased the Nissan into Fair Lawn, where it ran over a curb, blew out a tire, and ended up in front of the Van Riper-Ellis/Broadway Baptist Church.
The rest of the story has become etched in people's minds. Omar Marti struggled with Farrell, wounding him and fatally shooting Collura, an 18-year veteran, policesaid. Marti bolted in Collura's car, soon careening through an intersection where he hit another car. Then he ditched the car.
The clock was running.
Minutes after the shooting, officers from departments in Bergen and Passaic counties flooded the area. Some, like Mordaga, headed for Broadway and 31st Street in Paterson, where the killer had abandoned Collura's patrol car.
Others flocked to the church parking lot, pulling up in patrol cars and staring, horrified, at the scene on the lawn. About 150 officers packed into the gym, a temporary command center for the night, and broke up into search teams. They were looking for Ivan Marti, who they thought had fled on foot.
Fair Lawn Detective John Ietto was off-duty in South Jersey when a friend called after hearing on the scanner that an officer had been shot. As Ietto dialed his department's number, his pager went off.
Emotions were running high. Adding to the chaos, police were dealing with two crime scenes in two counties, with at least two people on the loose - at least one of whom was possibly armed.
In a small room in the back of the church, Mordaga gathered the police chiefs from Passaic, Clifton, Paterson, and Fair Lawn, along with Bergen County Sheriff Joel Trella and his counterpart from Passaic, Sheriff Jerry Speziale, and began divvying up responsibility. Teams of detectives, including Ietto, were sent to knock on doors, Passaic officers hit up their informants for tips, and canine units fanned out through the woods around the church.
By necessity, Mordaga said, he withheld some details of the investigation, so as not to affect charges pending against six alleged associates of Marti's, including family members who authorities said helped him flee.
However, Mordaga said, "it would have been impossible to solve this case in 60 hours if we hadn't operated as a team."
Almost immediately, evidence began turning up. Within moments, the Nissan's VIN number was traced through a database to Marti's father, Victor Marti Sr. Sources close to the investigation said Omar Marti also left his cellphone behind at one of the scenes.
Officers found the gun used to kill Collura on the front floor of her car. Investigators had a name - and a murder weapon - before midnight.
The tips come in
Victor Marti II was walking along the Monroe Street Bridge just before sunrise Friday when Passaic officers picked him up. Police believe he was driving the "tail car" the night Collura was killed.
With more than 10 ounces of marijuana in the Nissan split into plastic bags and ready for sale, Omar and Ivan Marti were probably headed to a drug sale, police said. A tail car is used to distract police if officers get too close to the car with the drugs, Mordaga said.
After the shooting, Victor Marti II swung by the church and picked up Ivan Marti, authorities said. Then he got Omar, dropping both separately at the family's house in Passaic, they said.
Having identified a suspect, investigators pressed anyone who may have come in contact with the Marti family - friends, relatives, girlfriends. They talked to customers believed to have bought drugs and weapons from them, as well as their competitors.
City of Passaic officers played a key role. "They developed strong leads. They knew the history of the targets," Speziale said. "The Passaic Police Department was extremely important and had such a wealth of knowledge on the targets."
Through the night, Ietto and his team rapped on doors in Passaic, rousing sleeping residents and following leads from house to house. People who knew the Marti family were brought to the Bergen Courthouse in the middle of the night for questioning. Speziale's staff ran names through a national database, looking for relatives and addresses.
"We were going to specific addresses that we had heard people may have been at," Ietto said.
At 2:30 p.m. Friday, Ivan Marti turned himself in to Bergen County detectives to face charges of weapons and drug possession, as well as hindering apprehension. An hour later, Passaic police picked up Victor Marti Sr. walking down the street. That night, police nabbed Omar Marti's cousin Joseph Marti Jr. at his home in Garfield. Both were charged with hindering apprehension.
All apparently were cooperative.
"If a cop is murdered and another cop is shot and you didn't do it, you want to make sure the cops know that," Mordaga said.
But the killer was still running.
Beyond state lines
Omar Marti left New Jersey on Saturday morning, less than two days after the shootout on the church lawn. Accompanied by his cousin Manuel "Manny" Brignoni, Marti headed for Binghamton, N.Y., where he once lived and was believed to be still selling drugs, authorities said.
New Jersey detectives weren't far behind, following in cars and flying in on DEA planes.
On Saturday, more than 100 detectives blitzed 16 addresses in Binghamton. They found plenty of people who knew Marti, but not Marti himself. Shortly after police arrived in Binghamton, Marti and Brignoni left - barreling south on I-95 in Brignoni's gray Oldsmobile, bound for Florida.
Police entered the Oldsmobile's license plate into a national database of wanted vehicles, notified the U.S. marshals office that Marti was a fugitive, and headed south. Investigators heard the pair might stop in Richmond, Va., so they planned to check on the way down.
Meanwhile, sheriff's departments in two Florida counties were alerted that Marti and Brignoni could be headed their way.
Mordaga flew to Florida on Saturday to wait for the squad to arrive. But the two fugitives got there quicker than anyone imagined.
At 9:39 a.m. on Easter, a Hernando County officer drove by one of the addresses New Jersey detectives had forwarded to his department. Marti was in a car in front of the house. He began to fire at the officer before leading police on a chase along a rural road through twocounties - shooting out the rear windshield during the pursuit.
Minutes later, Marti was killed in a shootout. New Jersey detectives who had just reached Virginia were sent home.
Less than an hour later, Mordaga was standing amid shell casings in the road. The Oldsmobile was trashed, overflowing with weapons, dirty clothing, and more than a pound of marijuana, Mordaga said.
"A lot of criminals say they're going to run until they're killed, but they don't really mean it. Most people would rather be in jail than dead," Mordaga said. "Once in a while someone keeps his word."
_____________________________________________________
6th man charged with aiding fugitive suspect in cop killing
|
Thursday, April 24, 2003 |
Related story:
Fallen hero hailed as 'peacemaker and protector'
The last of six men arrested for helping Omar Marti, suspect in the killing of a Fair Lawn cop, appeared before a state Superior Court Judge in Hackensack on Thursday, authorities said.
Manuel "Manny" Brignoni, who waived extradition in Seminole Country, Fla., was charged with weapons possession and aiding and abetting a fugitive. He is accused of helping Marti in Florida before Marti was killed by police there Sunday.
Before Judge Donald Venezia, Brignoni entered a plea of not guilty, and bail was kept at $500,000, said Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor Jim Santulli.
Brignoni, of Passaic, was initially being held in Sandford, Fla., pending an extradition to New Jersey, after surrendering in Seminole County early Monday, authorities said. He arrived in New Jersey on Tuesday night.
Authorities said they have charged everyone believed to have aided Marti's journey south, including a Passaic man arrested Sunday.
- Karen Mahabir and Amy Klein
| Thursday, April 24, 2003, |
| . |
Related story:
6th man charged with aiding fugitive suspect in cop killing
A hushed silence fell as limousines carrying flowers slowly rolled by.
Mourners gasped and sobbed as Fair Lawn Police Officer Mary Ann Collura's shift-mates marched her flag-covered casket up the stone steps of St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church in the borough. Next to the hearse stood a horse with two empty black boots in the stirrups. A police baton was fastened to the saddle.
Photo by: JAMES W. ANNESS ..Fellow Fair Lawn police officers carrying the casket of Mary Ann Collura up the steps of St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church in the borough on Wednesday
Last Thursday, a drug dealer allegedly gunned down Collura and then ran over her with her own patrol car on a church lawn. She had raced to the church to assist a Clifton officer pursuing the suspect.
On Wednesday, officers from throughout the state and beyond came to support Collura's family. The gathering was estimated at 7,500.
Outside, drummers beat a slow tempo as officers stood in formation, 12 deep over three blocks. Honor guards facing the church raised American, New Jersey, and local police department flags, and more than 150 officers rode by on motorcycles.
About 1,500 people packed St. Anne's, including dozens of Clifton officers.
Among them was Officer Steven Farrell, who survived multiple gunshot wounds from Collura's killer. Sniffles turned to sobs as he entered in a wheelchair.
Speaking in the church where she was baptized, colleagues remembered and celebrated Collura, Fair Lawn's first female officer, as both a tough cop and a caring community member.
"Mary Ann was a fighter," said Fair Lawn Police Detective David Boone, a friend of Collura's for 23 years, as he spoke of her determination to return to work following recent heart surgery. "Mary Ann died doing what she loved doing best, and that was being a police officer and serving others."
Collura's niece, Amy Klenke, spoke of her aunt's enthusiasm for life, calling her a "peacemaker and protector."
"She broke down many barriers, and she did so with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye,'' Klenke said. "She changed many perceptions by the way she lived her life and the way she performed in her chosen profession."
One lighter moment came when Police Officer David DeLucca recalled an incident before he joined the force, when he "had some trouble'' during a high school softball marathon and was arrested by Collura.
"I wasn't happy about the situation, but Mary spoke to me and made me feel comfortable, even though I had just been arrested,'' he said. "In '88, I had the opportunity to be a Fair Lawn police officer. When I saw Mary after I got sworn in, she said, 'Aren't you the one I arrested at the marathon?' I said 'Yes,' and she said, 'Don't worry about it. You're one of us now.'"
A longtime borough resident, Collura attended Fair Lawn High School and joined the force in 1985, fulfilling her life's dream. She had attended William Paterson College and spent three years as a volunteer with the Fair Lawn Police Reserves before joining the force.
Collura, 43, was a certified New Jersey Training Commission instructor, as well as one of the department's firearms instructors. She earned several awards, including the Hackensack University Medical Center EMS Excellence Award for saving a life with a defibrillator.
Just before Halloween 1999, she launched a program to give elementary school children glowing light sticks to wear at night for safety - a projectthat has been repeated every year since.
Police say Collura was killed by Omar Marti of Passaic, who was struggling with Farrell after a chase from Clifton to Fair Lawn. Marti, who police said sold drugs and weapons with his family, eluded capture for three days. He was killed Sunday morning during a shootout on a Florida country road. He purportedly told friends he would not be taken alive.
"We believe that Thursday night, Mary Ann came face to face with the God that she loved," said the Rev. John McCrone, chaplain for the state and county Patrolmen's Benevolent associations. "Physical separation does not mean that her love is over for us or that our love is over for her."
As Wednesday's service came to an end, Fair Lawn officers took their posts around Collura's casket and cried as they led the procession out of the church, followed by Collura's family.
A few people came out of stores to watch as hundreds of police officers - on motorcycles, in police cars, and in buses - traveled north on Route 17 on their way to the cemetery.
"This is awesome," said Jim Hague of Fair Lawn, as he shook his head in sorrow. Hague, who came with his family to Route 17, said he wanted to watch the procession to pay respect to the fallen officer whom his son, an officer with the Bergen County Sheriff's Department, had known.
As the motorcycles, in double rows and with lights flashing, escorted the hearse, Hague took off his black baseball cap and held it over his heart.
"They just keep coming," he said. "Have you ever seen anything like this? I haven't."
Under gathering clouds, the procession came over the Century Road hill into George Washington Memorial Park, passing the statue of the nation's first president as honor guards in dress uniforms from various towns formed a large circle around the gravesite.
Hundreds of officers also arrived on foot and marched up the hill to the grave.
Dave Vanderweit of Fair Lawn, a cemetery worker for 15 years, stood at the barrier blocking the road into the cemetery and watched.
"It's sure the largest funeral I've ever seen," he said, adding that he had heard how highly Collura was regarded in the community.
Family members say they hope Collura's unique character and wanderlust will continue to be celebrated.
Klenke said during the ceremony that she and Collura used to go on "adventures."
"We would look at a map and pick a place as vague as, say, Virginia. And we would load up the car with junk food and hit the road," she said.
"When I got in the passenger seat, she would toss me a map or two and say, 'Just tell me where I need to turn.' Now she's gone on her final adventure without me, and I'll have to drive myself now if I want to get anywhere in life. But I know I won't need any maps, because all I have to do is follow her example and I'll know where to turn."
Fair Lawn PBA Local 67 has established a scholarship fund in Mary Ann Collura's name. Donations can be made to: Officer Mary Ann Collura Memorial Scholarship Fund, PBA Local 67, P.O. Box 276, Fair Lawn, N.J. 07410.
Staff Writers Charles Austin and Merry Firschein contributed to this article.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1OCZmZ2JlbDdm
N3ZxZWVFRXl5NjM3MDE3OSZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI=
 |
|
||
|
Photo by: KEVIN R. WEXLER  Paterson Bishop Frank J. Rodimer leaving St. John the Baptist Cathedral after Wednesday's Blue Mass, honoring police officers who have died. |
PATERSON
The annual Blue Mass honoring fallen law enforcement officers took on a new meaning Wednesday.
About 300 people attended the service at St. John the Baptist Cathedral to pay tribute to officers killed in the line of duty and those who have simply passed away.
But the Mass was more emotional than usual as officers remembered Mary Ann Collura of the Fair Lawn Police Department. She died in a shooting three weeks ago outside a church less than four miles from Wednesday's ceremony.
Police officers and relatives bowed their heads, recited prayers along with Bishop Frank Rodimer, and greeted their colleagues with solemn nods.
Some, such as the mother of Paterson police Sgt. Enrico Venditte, who was shot to death two years ago, could not stand the emotion and had to escape the church into the hazy morning sun on Main Street.
"She just couldn't take it anymore," said Paterson Detective Sgt. Ricardo Reyes. "These things are very emotional for the families."
Wednesday's ceremony was the fourth Blue Mass held by the Diocese of Paterson, which serves Passaic, Sussex, and Morris counties.
Worshipers also paid tribute to state Trooper Christopher Scales, who was killed in the line of duty last year, and the 141 American soldiers killed in Iraq.
Each year, a fresh tragedy seems to give new meaning to the service - last year it was the 9/11 attacks and Venditte's death. This year, it was Collura and Scales.
Scales did not die at the hands of a criminal, but his loss was painful for police officers nonetheless, Reyes said. He was performing seat belt safety checks on the New Jersey Turnpike in December when a tanker truck struck him and dragged him 40 feet.
Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano highlighted Scales' "fearless performance and energetic duty" during a prayer.
Then he praised Collura, who he said always "felt it was important to temper justice with mercy."
Collura died during a police chase that started in Clifton the night of April 17 and ended minutes later outside a River Road church in Fair Lawn.
Omar Marti fatally shot Collura and wounded a Clifton police officer. He was a fugitive for two days before he died in a shootout with police in Florida.
Fair Lawn Lt. Bob Kneer, commander of the New Jersey state honor guard, orchestrated a march of about 20 police officers. They came from different departments' honor guards - Clifton, Paterson, Paterson fire, Fair Lawn, state police, the Passaic County Sheriff's Department, and the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.
Kneer pulled them together before entering the cathedral by barking forceful but encouraging orders. Some officers likened the performance to the way many departments came together to hunt down Collura's killer in the hours and days following her death.
"It's a brotherhood and sisterhood we have here," said Kneer, a 30-year veteran of the department.
He made a point to include sisterhood, a notion commonly left out during police memorials.
Kneer said he thought of Collura during the entire Mass. Collura was the first woman hired by the department and spent three years as a Fair Lawn police reservist before she began her 18-year career as an officer.
Kneer and Fair Lawn's police chief said that even though the public would eventually move on as the sensational details of her death grow foggier with time, they would not. They could not.
"Much of the public forgets, but we never forget," said Chief Rodman Marshall.
Kneer was there when Collura received an award for exceptional duty eight years ago. It's a special moment for him, Kneer said, because he's the one who pinned the medal on her lapel.
Collura was a 10-year veteran at the time. While off-duty, she saw a man committing a crime, followed him into Paterson, and wrestled with him until she had him restrained - or "stuffed and cuffed" in police lingo, Kneer said.
"I watched her grow up on the force," Kneer said after sliding a sword with ornate etchings into its sheath and rolling up an honor guard flag after the Mass. "She's still wearing that medal, along with the four others she received."
Ashanti M. Alvarez's e-mail address is alvarez@northjersey.com http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2Mzc1OTgx
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.