The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Officers gather to honor fallen comrades
Wellington Police Department hosts memorial ceremony
With prayers, memories, flowers and music, law officers gathered to honor Lorain County’s community servants and protectors who gave their lives in the line of duty.
The Wellington Police Department hosted the Lorain County Police Memorial ceremony May 10.
Law enforcement officers from across the county and from outside the area honored their fellows whose lives ended during the course of their work.
Speakers included Greg White, the former Lorain County prosecutor who became a U.S. attorney and federal court magistrate.
White introduced Cory Coursen of Toledo, the son of Dyke “AJ” Coursen, a Lorain County native who was shot and killed while working as a sheriff’s deputy in South Carolina.
Cory Coursen, 18, is ready to graduate from Toledo Technology Academy and continue his studies at Brigham Young University Idaho.
On Jan. 8, 2002, Coursen was 2 years old when his father and another sheriff’s deputy were shot responding to a call of a woman being held against her will by her boyfriend.
The man who shot the elder Coursen later was caught, convicted and sentenced to death.
AJ Coursen made his start in police work serving in Grafton and Lagrange.
“My dad was the definition of public service,” Cory Coursen said. “He was on call 24/7.”
The younger Coursen said his recollections come from photographs and the stories of people who knew
his father.
He read a letter that AJ Coursen penned while on a break during patrol.
“Well, little man, I need to get going,” Cory Coursen said. “I’m writing you from my police car. See you soon, son. I love you. Dad.
“I’m envious of all those who got to know my dad.
I want that so bad. I just want to talk to him. I want to know all of his likes and his dislikes. I want those dad talks from him. I wasn’t able to experience any of that.”
The keynote speaker was retired Ohio Highway State Patrol Trooper A.J. Torres, who recollected personal memories of some of the officers killed while patrolling in Lorain County or elsewhere.
Torres recalled officers such as Trooper Robert Perez Jr., killed on the Ohio Turnpike near Milan in 2000; Elyria police Officer James Kerstetter, who was shot and killed in 2010; Elyria police Officer Brad Scott, who was killed in a motorcycle crash in 2004; and Trooper Kenny Velez, who was killed on Interstate 90 in Cleveland in 2016.
“What I want to deliver today, is that we should honor our fallen heroes, not only by the way they conducted their jobs, but how they honorably lived their lives in Lorain County,” Torres said.
At times, he and Coursen choked back tears as they spoke to the crowd.
Additional speakers were Wellington police Chief Tim Barfield, Lt. Jeff Shelton and Sgt. Josh Poling; Wellington Mayor Hans Schneider; and Pastor Jeff Braden of Penfield Community Church.
Musicians included the Pipes & Drums of the Cleveland Division of Police, the Ohio State Highway Patrol Band and Andrew Bosley of The Ohio State University, who played “Taps.”
The Avon Lake Police Department Honor Guard offered the rifle salute.