Untouchables Motorcycle Club dedicates annual fundraiser to family of slain Gary officer
MERRILLVILLE — Officers active and retired milled about the Untouchables Motorcycle Club grounds Saturday night, happy to see their brothers and sisters from near and far.
When the bagpiper started playing “Amazing Grace” in honor of slain officer Jeff Westerfield, though, you could hear a pin drop.
The club, founded in Northwest Indiana in 2000 by active and retired law enforcement officers that now boasts 17 chapters around the country, pledged its annual fundraiser, Rumble in the Jungle, to Westerfield’s five children: daughters Allie, Rachel, Cheyenne and Katerina and son Brady, said Todd Cliborne, the club’s cofounder and president. The choice to do so wasn’t complicated at all.
“We were in a meeting about the fundraiser this year, and Scott (Jajowka, a detective with the Hammond Police Department and sergeant at arms for the club) was on detail guarding the kids. He called me from there and I was like, ‘We were just talking about this.’ ”
“We were finishing each other’s sentences,” Jajowka said.
Cliborne, who’s now with the Union-Pacific Railroad Police but worked with Westerfield when he was with the Gary Police Department, knew him from growing up in Black Oak. The two were traffic officers, he said.
Jajowka, known to the club as “Pig,” said giving the proceeds to the Westerfield children was a great way to show them that even though they were hit with such tragedy, there’s still a lot of good in the world.
“When I approached Allie about it, I told her not to think about it right then, but that I would contact her about it closer to the time,” Jajowka said. “She just looked at me speechless, like she wasn’t expecting such kindness.
“We hope they’re able to see what people can do for other people, and not because they feel like they have to.”
There’s another lesson Jajowka and the other officers hope the children are able to digest eventually: That there was absolutely nothing their dad could’ve done differently that would’ve prevented his death.
“I was helping with parking at 4th and Broadway the day of the funeral, so I got to talk to a lot of different officers,” Jajowka said. “I can tell you there was no one I talked to who said he should’ve done this or could’ve done that. I hope somehow that that can bring them peace.”
Joe Frank, of Hickory, North Carolina, made the trip for the fundraiser like he has since 2006. He was happy to see his friends like always, but the cause was just as important.
“I know all these guys would support me and my family. When you’re in a family, we feel it’s an obligation you need to make,” Frank said.