Portage County law enforcement honor fallen brother and sister officers

Jeff Saunders, Record-Courier
·3 min read
Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski reads the names on the memorial roll call as F.O.P. Chaplain Robert Burgess tolls the bell for each name called during the 2022 Peace Officer Memorial Service ceremony held Saturday, June 4.
Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski reads the names on the memorial roll call as F.O.P. Chaplain Robert Burgess tolls the bell for each name called during the 2022 Peace Officer Memorial Service ceremony held Saturday, June 4.

When it comes to losing police officers in the line of duty, Portage County has been unscathed of late.

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"We were fortunate in Portage County to buck the odds, the national odds so to speak, because we lost no officers in the line of duty in 2021, as opposed to the 620, approximately 625, nationwide" said Bob Burgess, chaplain of Portage County Fraternal Order Of Police Lodge #70. "About 420 of those were due to COVID, but the remainder of that 625 was you know, violent felonious deaths and whatnot, shootings, stabbings and ambushings. Nationwide, we've seen the highest number on record, so here in Portage County, we did very well, thankfully."

But Portage County law enforcement officers still gathered together this past Saturday, as they have annually on the first Saturday in June for the past few years, to honor law enforcement officers active or retired who have died nationwide or in Portage County of any cause.

The approximately one-hour ceremony takes place at a memorial outside the lodge off South Prospect Street in Ravenna. A member of a Portage County police agency is selected to read a list of deceased officers with Portage County ties and Burgess said that this year, Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski read the names of roughly 50 officers in chronological order of the date of death. The majority are FOP members who have died from non-duty related causes, with a single toll of a bell after each of their names to honor them for their service. Three officers, however, who died while on duty are honored every year with three tolls of the bell.

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They include:

Patrolman William J. Keller, 27, of the Ohio State Highway Patrol Ravenna Post; End of Watch Oct. 14, 1972 when a pickup truck struck him while he was outside his vehicle during a traffic stop on Interstate 76 in Rootstown. He had graduated from the academy the previous December.

Major Joseph LeBlanc, 32, of the Portage County Sheriff's Office; End of Watch Sept. 13, 1976 when a county-owned truck turned in front of him on Route 59 in Ravenna Township, causing a collision that resulted in his cruiser bursting into flames. Several witnesses tried to help him, but were burned when the car exploded. LeBlanc had only been promoted to major an hour before the crash and left behind his wife and two children.

Patrol Officer James R. Wert, 25, of the Ravenna Police Department; End of Watch Jan. 31, 1981 when he was struck by a drunk driver while he and his partner, who was struck and injured, were attempting to arrest another drunk driver on Route 88 at 1:33 a.m. The person who struck them fled the scene, but was later arrested at home. Wert was survived by his wife, parents, sister and two brothers.

Also taking part in the ceremony was an honor guard made up of law enforcement officers from various agencies. Members of a Young Marines unit affiliated with the Ravenna Veterans of Foreign Wars placed a wreath on the memorial.

Burgess and Lodge President Mike Stankiewicz spoke during the ceremony.

President John F. Kennedy declared May 15 as National Peace Officer Memorial Day in 1962. Burgess is a founding member of the Peace Officer Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and is active with a national ceremony there, which is why Portage County's ceremony is held later.

"And much like the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., there's also a wall with 23,000 names of peace officers who have been killed in the line of duty," said Burgess. "There's a huge ceremony. I mean, we get about 50,000 turnout."

Burgess said it was due to this that he saw a need for a memorial in Portage County, so he approached Stankiewicz in 2018 to work together to create one.

"I would travel across the country doing police memorial services, come back to Portage County where I served in law enforcement and we had nothing," he said.

Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage County law enforcement honor fallen brother and sister officers