Galt to commission memorial honoring Grewal
Jun. 24—GALT — The Galt Police Department will have a second memorial commissioned in the coming year to honor a fallen officer.
The Galt City Council unanimously approved allocating $50,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding for a memorial to honor Officer Harminder Grewal at its Tuesday meeting.
The memorial will cost about $110,000 and be a bust of Grewal placed inside the Galt Police Department near the front entrance, Chief Brian Kalinowski said.
"As you know, being a small town, raising $100,000 is going to take a minute," he said. "When we lost Officer (Kevin) Tonn, we did not have the opportunity to receive these types of funds and to help with fundraising, which was a similar amount of funds needed. We anticipate that without these funds, a solid three years to raise them, and then another year to get the project done."
Kalinowski said with a $20,000 donation from the Grewal family and fundraising planned throughout the remainder of the year, the memorial should be completed and installed by November of 2024.
The department will hold its annual Fourth of July run on July 1 to raise funds for both the Tonn and Grewal memorials, and the Chief's Gala in November should also help contribute, Kalinowski said.
Another fundraiser is planned following a second anniversary memorial event of Grewal's death at the city's Fallen Heroes Memorial on Aug. 27, as well.
"I think we should help the department however we can," Vice mayor Paul Sandhu said. "I think it's a great idea and a great honor. Our officers put their lives on the line to keep the community safe. They are our hometown heroes."
On Aug. 22, 2021, at 4:35 a.m., Grewal and fellow officer Kapri Herrera were traveling northbound on Highway 99 to assist with the Caldor Fire in El Dorado County when their patrol car was struck head-on by a Ford pick-up truck that jumped the concrete median from the southbound lanes near the Dillard Road interchange.
Both Grewal and Herrera had to be extricated from the vehicle, with the former taken to Kaiser's South Sacramento campus in critical condition. He succumbed to his injuries four days later.
An officer with the Galt department for more than two years at the time of his death, Grewal was named the 2020 Officer of the Year.
He had also been recognized by the Mothers Against Drunk Driving California the prior March at an awards ceremony for helping remove 64 impaired motorists from the streets in 2020. Grewal made more than 30 impaired driving arrests that year.
He spent two months with the Lodi Police Department before moving on to Galt.
Grewal's name is on the Fallen Heroes Memorial outside Galt City Hall, along with Tonn and Ray Marcum.
