Off and walking
City officers begin annual trek to D.C. to honor fallen brethren and their families
WOONSOCKET — In the fraternity of law enforcement, death, it seems, is never far away.
The Woonsocket Police Department hasn’t experienced a line-of-duty fatality in nearly a century, but Officer Michael Martinsen was a personal friend of Officer John Tarentino of the Auburn, Mass., police department, where Martinsen worked before joining the WPD. Tarentino was shot to death on the job in 2016.
Police Chief Thomas Oates III was a friend and colleague of four policemen killed in the line of duty since 1994 as members of the Providence Police Department, where he worked for more than 30 years.
“To see the families, the people who are left behind, they have a lot of financial issues and psychological issues they have to deal with,” says Oates. “They have children to raise.”
And so there’s COPSWalk, a relay run to Washington, D.C. that raises money to help families of fallen police officers. Marking the 17th year of the annual tradition, COPSWalk participants – 13 members of the WPD – set out on the 450-mile trek from Clinton Street headquarters Tuesday as a crowd of city officials and civilians cheered them on with applause, prayer and words of praise.
Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, Council President Daniel Gendron, Councilman Christopher Beauchamp, a contingent of police retirees and the father of slain Providence Patrolman Steve Shaw – one of the officers Oates mentioned – were among those on hand to see off the COPSWalk troupe.
“We’re sending a message to everyone here in Woonsocket... we’re proud of you,” said Mayor Baldelli-Hunt.
“Time and again you have proven to us your work extends beyond the time you spend here on duty.”
COPSWalk has raised over $200,000 to support families of fallen police officers since its inception – including some $26,000 in 2016 – a single-year record participants hope to match again this year, according to Detective Lt. Edward Cunanan, a lead organizer. The name was inspired by COPS, an acronym for Concerns of Police Survivors, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting relatives of fallen officers. All of the proceeds from the local event are funneled to the New England chapter of COPS.
COPSWalk is timed so that participants reach Washington, D.C. for events marking National Police Week at the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Participants take turns jogging an average of four miles at a clip, resting up in one of two campers that are part of the COPSWalk caravan.
So far, 44 police officers have died in line-of-duty deaths this year – a list that’s on track to match the 2016 total of 135, according to Officer Down, an organization that keeps detailed records of the fatalities.
Officer Down includes deaths from natural causes on the list, but law enforcement mortality is largely the result of gun-related homicide and on-the-job vehicular mishaps
In addition to Cunanan and Martinsen, 11 other police officers are COPSWalk participants, including Lt. Brad Scully, Sgt. George McMann, Officers Peter Menard, Patrick McGourty, Michael Velino, Enrique Sosa, Justin Mowry, Joseph Wasilewski, Greg Klocek, Matt Labine and Scott Whiting.
The 2017 installment of COPSWalk is dedicated to Tarentino – the Auburn policeman who was friends with Martinsen – and Massachusetts State Trooper Thomas L. Clardy. Both died in 2016 – Tarentino as a result of being shot to death by the driver of a car he had pulled over for a routine motor vehicle violation. Clardy was struck and killed by a motorist in the high-speed lane of I-90 in Charlton during a motor vehicle stop.
Martinsen said he not only knew Tarentino as a colleague and friend, but also had occasion to become acquainted with his wife Trish after he was murdered.
Taking part in COPSWalk is a way to honor his memory and make a concrete difference in the lives of the relatives Tarentino left behind, Martinsen said.
“It’s an honor that we can support families of fallen officers,” said Martinsen. “It makes me very proud to a police officer. It’s like another family.”
Death in the line of duty isn’t an abstraction for Oates, either. He was a friend of Patrolman Shaw when he was shot to death while investigating a house break in 1994.
“I actually went to his wedding,” said Oates.
In the years that followed, Oates saw three more officers from the ranks of the Providence police killed in the line of duty, including Cornell Young, Detective James Allen and Max Dorley.
Their deaths are “the ultimate sacrifice” that a police officer can make in the service of keeping the public safe and the havoc their loss wreaks on survivors is “extremely difficult... something no one can imagine unless you’re in that position,” said Oates.
The last line-of-duty death involving a city policeman occurred on Oct. 7, 1937, when a motorcycle cop named Albert Lemoine lost control of his bike while in pursuit of a motor vehicle. The fugitive motorists escaped and were never identified.
Yesterday, a distant relative of Lemoine who is also a member of the police force – Detective Capt. Michael A. Lemoine – jogged without a break as far as the Connecticut line with the COPSWalk participants before hitching a ride back to headquarters – an unbroken stretch of about 20 miles. He just finished his third Boston Marathon last month.
“He can’t get enough,” Oates quipped before the runners started off. A group of supporters, mostly family members and friends of police officers, joined them for the first half-mile of the trek, down the Truman Bypass, as far as River Island Park.
Whether they skip generations or a few town lines, line-of-duty deaths can and do happen anywhere, says Cunanan, and events like COPSWalk not only help family members pay for counseling, retreats and other supports, they raise awareness about the nature of police work.
“We hope and pray that it never comes, but you never know,” he says. “It feels good to be able to do something for those who are left behind.”