The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
State lawmakers to honor fallen officer
Bills introduced to dedicate portion of state Route 2 for Mentor Patrolman Mathew Mazany
Lake County’s representatives in both the Ohio House and Senate have introduced bills to rename a portion of state Route 2 after fallen Mentor Police Officer Mathew Mazany.
Mazany, 41, was struck and killed around 1 a.m., June 24, 2018, while he was providing backup to another officer for a traffic stop on state Route 2 just east of state Route 306.
In identical bills introduced in the two state chambers, the eastbound and westbound lanes of state Route 2 between Routes 306 and 615 in Mentor would be designated as the “Patrolman Mathew Mazany Memorial Highway.”
State Reps. John Rogers, D-Mentor-on-the-Lake, and Jamie Callender, R-Concord Township, introduced the House’s version of the bill in mid-February. Their version has been referred to the Transportation and Public Safety Committee.
On Feb. 26, State Sens. Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Heights, and John Eklund, R-Munson Township, followed suit, introducing the Senate’s version of the bill.
Mazany was a Mentor police officer for 14 years. Mentor police Sgt. Scott Tkach described him as an “old school cop.”
“One of the first days he rolled into the back lot with his big Lincoln, I knew he was going to be a little different than what we were used to here in Mentor,” Tkach said at Mazany’s July 2, 2018 memorial service.
Mazany’s brother Mike said at the service that he “naturally gravitated toward defending the defenseless and intervening when he saw injustice or inequality.”
In January, Mentor City Council passed a resolution asking the state legislature dedicate a portion of state Route 2 after Mazany.
“We discussed several things that we could do and that’s kind of the standard thing done to honor the policemen who lost their lives in the line of service,” Council President John Krueger said.
Mazany will be honored at services in Cleveland, Columbus and Washington, D.C., later this spring for respective services for officers who have died in the line of duty the past year, said Community Relations Administrator Ante Logarusic.