Slain sgt. remembered as ‘everybody’s friend’
One of the two Iowa cops who were senselessly gunned down in an early morning ambush is being remembered by his griefstricken friends and colleagues as lovable mountain of a man whose 6-foot-4 frame belied what they called a “gentle” demeanor and a prankster sense of humor.
“Tony was everybody’s friend,” Indianola, Iowa, police Sgt. Scott Dwyer told the Herald of his former colleague and neighbor, Sgt. Anthony “Tony” Beminio, a 38-year-old husband and father of three who was killed yesterday morning while sitting in his patrol car.
“It was always nice going to the door with Tony whenever we were out on a call,” Dwyer said. “Just his sheer size usually brought order to whatever situation we were dealing with.”
Dwyer recalled one time when Beminio, who worked in Indianola for four years before leaving for Des Moines in 2005, told a new recruit the chief was angry and looking for him.
“So the gullible new officer went into the chief’s office, sat down and said, ‘I understand that you’re not happy with what I’m doing,’ ” Dwyer said, managing a chuckle. “The chief right away knew who was behind that.”
Beminio, a 2001 Simpson College graduate, was an allstate lineman and state champion heavyweight wrestler at West High School in Iowa City, according to the school’s athletic director, Craig Huegel.
Des Moines police Sgt. Parizek remembered Beminio as being “one of the most gentle and compassionate officers we have.”