Hundreds gather to pay tribute to slain police chief
Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario had worked in a small town for a short time. But as mourners gathered to say good-bye to the fallen chief Saturday, it was clear that the lives he touched were many, and his impact lasting.
Hundreds filled the church. Dozens waved American flags on the sidewalk as the funeral procession
passed. Family members filled an entire charter bus.
Yet even the throng of extended family members spilling out from the blue tent at St. Joseph Cemetery in Lockbourne couldn’t stifle the gentle sobs that came from within after an officer disappeared inside, delivering the perfectlyfolded flag that had covered DiSario’s casket to his family.
Beyond the tent were at least 250 law enforcement officers, a sea of blue under Saturday’s gray skies. Many traveled from across the state to pay their respects.
Most had never met the man they came to mourn.
“Chief Eric DiSario, you are our friend and our brother for eternity,” said Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp during the funeral service at Grove City Church of the Nazarene. “Your duty here is done; we will take it from here.”
The chief, 38, was shot and killed May 12 when he responded to a report of a man with a gun behind the Pine Kirk Care Center in the Licking County village of Kirkersville, about 25 miles east of Columbus. Thomas Hartless shot DiSario, then went into the nursing home and killed his ex-girlfriend, Marlina Medrano and nurse aide Cindy Krantz. Hartless was found dead of a selfinflicted gunshot wound inside the nursing home.
Medrano and Krantz were laid to rest earlier last week.
DiSario had only worked at the Kirkersville Police Department for a month.
Those who knew him best reflected on his bubbly laugh, cheery grin and booming singing voice in church on a Sunday. They’ll cherish the memory of his competitive spirit, whether playing family board games or engaging the next-door neighbor in a lawn-mowing competition, said the Rev. Steve Brown of St. Luke Lutheran Church on the Northeast Side, where DiSario regularly attended services with his family.
“He never did anything halfway,” Brown said. “There was never a dull moment when you lived with Eric DiSario.”
He leaves behind five children, ages 5 through 19, with a sixth on the way.
“He wouldn’t go anywhere without a smile on his face. He showed he really loved his life,” said his daughter Grace Armintrout, 13, through tears at the service. “I’m so glad people look at him as a hero, because he sacrificed his life for others in need of help. I love and miss you, Dad.”
“Thank you for showing me how a man is supposed to treat me,” wrote daughter Olivia Armintrout, 19, in a letter read aloud by Brown. “I miss you more than anything, and when I graduate or walk down the aisle on my wedding, I know you will be in my presence.”
In DiSario’s last communication with police, he said he had Hartless in sight. Authorities said he was shot shortly after exiting his cruiser.
Though his loved ones and fellow law-enforcement officers will never know what was going through DiSario’s mind when he responded to the call that would end his life, they know that even through his last moments, he was helping others, said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine during the funeral service.
“He did what he was called to do,” DeWine said. “And that was to serve and protect.”
As bagpipes at the cemetery finished their high-pitched rendition of “Amazing Grace,” the cries from the tent quieted.
“From the depths of our darkness, we have hope,” Thorp said. “From the darkness comes light.”
Just a day after an agonizing goodbye, the DiSario family will have a joyous reason to say hello. DiSario’s wife, Aryn, is scheduled to deliver a baby girl, Lilliana, today.
A light in the darkness. “I can’t think of anything brighter than that,” Thorp said.