At Rentschler Field, police gather together to grieve: ‘It really hits home when a tragedy like this happens’
Joined by a large crowd of civilians, thousands of uniformed police officers from across the Northeast and beyond filled much of Rentschler Field on Friday for what was possibly the largest law enforcement funeral in Connecticut history.
Early in the morning, firefighters and EMTs from around central Connecticut unfurled massive U.S. flags at I-84 overpasses from Farmington to East Hartford. On the highway a couple of hours later, more than 200 police on motorcycles led the procession for Bristol police Lt. Dustin Demonte and Sgt. Alex Hamzy, who were shot dead last week answering what they thought was a domestic dispute.
The bodies of Hamzy and Demonte arrived shortly before 11 a.m. at Rentschler in hearses temporarily bearing Bristol police emblems, followed by row of black limos with their families. As the procession approached the sprawling parking fields, a command went out on the radio to the scores of officers doing traffic duty: “Nobody stops the motorcade.”
In a long-standing tradition, police turned out in massive numbers as a show of support for the families, for the rest of the Bristol police force and for each other. The Red Cross set up refreshment stands and several big-city departments used their command centers to bring coffee, water and snacks for the four-hour-long ceremony.
Agencies from as far as the West Coast and Midwest sent contingents of officers, while the largest Northeast departments arrived in huge numbers. Boston police came in a fleet of cars and vans, and the NYPD filled a bus with officers and sent another two dozen on motorcycles.
Rentschler’s parking lots were filled with patrol cars from Providence, Worcester, Chicopee, Albany, Pawtucket and other well-known Northeast communities, and others from more obscure towns like Hopatcong, N.J.
Closer to home, nearly every Connecticut police force was represented, and the state police had hundreds of troopers attending.
For many younger officers in Connecticut, it was the first time they’d endured a funeral for an officer shot to death on the job.
“We always talk about the risks of the job, but that really hits home when a tragedy like this happens,” Hartford police Chief Jason Thody said, who like other Connecticut chiefs is keeping an extra close eye on his younger officers.
There have been other relatively recent line-of-duty deaths in Connecticut: state police Sgt. Brian Mohl drowned last year when his patrol car was swept away in a flood, and New Haven Officer Diane Gonzalez died in January following a prolonged coma after a car wreck.
But it has been more than a decade since a Connecticut officer was killed by gunfire. East Haven Officer Robert Fumiatti died in 2007 from complications from severe injuries in a 2002 shooting, Master Police Officer Peter Lavery of Newington was shot dead in 2004 and Newington Officer John Aselton was killed in 1999.
Veteran officers say they remember those funerals vividly, and Connecticut commanders want to be sure newer officers get support during the grieving process for Hamzy and Demonte.
The Hartford police department’s experience illustrates just how close-knit the law enforcement community is in Connecticut.
Hartford was one of numerous local police departments that sent help to patrol Bristol during the week after the shootings; Hartford officers worked the overnight patrol shift for several days. Others spent off-duty time with Bristol officers to show support.
And when Hartford first got word of the shootings, commanders quickly addressed their regional academy class; a recruit from Bristol is among the trainees.
Thody expected about 80 Hartford officers attended the funeral, which several dozen more kept watch in Bristol or helped East Hartford’s police deal with traffic from the ceremony.
Like other chiefs across the state, Thody has been encouraging his officers to use the Employee Assistance Program or peer counseling. He’s also looking to the police community to care for each other once the ceremonies end.
“When it’s all over, the calm after the storm — next week and in the weeks and months and years after — we need to still be there,” Thody said.
New Britain Chief Chris Chute is taking a similar approach with his department, where many officers were close friends with Hamzy or Demonte.
“We’re telling people ‘Look to the left of you, look to the right of you. See if they’re OK. If you see somebody who needs to talk, let them talk,” Chute said. “This is going to be very difficult to get through, but we’re going to get through it.
“And we’re saying to our officers that not only are you experiencing this tragedy, you also have to look to your family members and loved ones,” Chute said. “Check in with them during your shift, let them know you’re OK. The majority of this department hasn’t experienced a line of duty death ever.”
Simsbury Chief Nicholas Boulter and his commanders have attended roll calls regularly since the shootings.
“We have been spending a lot of time with each other,” he said. “We are encouraging connections, discussions and ways to support each other and the Bristol police community.”
Thody and Chute both said the ceremonies are also a time for officers to reinforce for each other that police work is noble.
“This is a perfect opportunity to recognize what an honorable career this is,” Chute said. “I’m honored to work with everybody who wears a law enforcement patch. This is something we need to do for the healing process. We need to be together as the law enforcement community.”
During the ceremony, Bristol Chief Brian Gould made that point to the entire Rentschler crowd.
“What you do is honorable and you must not let anyone ever take that away. You are the line between order and utter chaos,” Gould said.
Hamzy and Demonte were genuinely exceptional, he said.
“We owe it to them to strive for that level of exceptionalism that they seemingly easily achieved,” Gould said. “Now we must rise together in solidarity and honor the oaths we all took to protect and serve our communities.”
