Staff photo / Dan Pompili ... Youngstown police officer Brad DiTullio escorts Mary Kay Hartzell, mother of slain YPD officer Mike Hartzell to place a rose in her son’s honor in a memorial wreath at the Annual Fallen Officers Memorial service Thursday at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Youngstown. At front left sits Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell. Mike Hartzell was shot in his cruiser in 2003 after investigating a shooting at a bar and unknowingly pulling up behind the primary suspect in traffic.

YOUNGSTOWN — In front of a table full of 29 candles in blue glass, two Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office deputies placed an empty wreath. With each name read thereafter, an officer or family member of a fallen officer approached and placed a red rose in the wreath.

The names were read in chronological order:

William Freed, Alfred Evans, Samuel Banks, Youngstown police; John Constantino, Campbell police; Alexander Warren, Youngstown; Walter Flickinger, Lowellville police; Joe Ruby, Campbell; George Leonard, Ben Yeaden, Henry Clemens, Youngstown; John Harkins, Raymond Darwich, Struthers police; Frank Cichon, Youngstown; Albert Masi, Campbell;

William “Bud” Comm, Youngstown State University police; John “Sonny” Litch, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office; Richard Becker, Charles Yates, Poland Township police; Ralph “Bird” DeSalle, Paul Durkin, Millard Williams; Steve Malkovits, Youngstown; Carmen “Skip” Renda, YSU; William Rickets, New Middletown police; Michael T. Hartzell, Youngstown; Robert Conway, MCSO; Justin Leo, Girard police; Edward Mitchell, MCSO; Nicholas P. Cayton, Ohio State Highway Patrol.

“We can’t thank them enough. We can’t remember them enough every day. And we have to thank the officers out there,” said Mahoning County Commissioner Geno DiFabio, whose father served in the YPD for 34 years. “I want to thank you all on behalf of the commissioners’ office, and all the residents of Mahoning County, to all the officers represented here today, and for the sacrifice these men made.”

Cayton, 40, was added to the list of fallen Mahoning County police officers after he was killed in the line of duty on Oct. 16 when his cruiser was struck as he assisted a disabled semitruck on state Route 11. Leo was killed in 2017 while responding to a domestic violence incident. Hartzell was shot in his cruiser in 2003 after investigating a bar shooting and unintentionally pulling up behind the suspect’s car at a stop light. Mitchell, a 29-year veteran hired at about the same time as Sheriff Jerry Greene, died of complications from COVID-19 in October 2021, and no cause of death is publicly available for Conway, who died in February 2012.

The lives of the other 24 on the list were all cut short while they were actively serving their departments. A host of local officials, officers and family and community members gathered Thursday at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Youngstown to honor all of them.

The crowd gathered in the sanctuary after waiting outside the church for a caravan of police vehicles, representing a significant swath of law enforcement agencies in the county, including MCSO, OSHP, Youngstown, Austintown, Struthers and Girard. The procession was escorted by the Blue Knights and YPD Motorcycle Unit.

Offering a proclamation in their honor, Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell spoke of the Mahoning Valley’s duty to remind the families of the fallen officers, and their fellow officers still serving, that the communities they served are still behind them, and are still places that deserve their dedication and service.

“Your loved ones did not fall alone. They fell into a city that respects them, they fell into a space of not being forgotten,” he said. “There are still folks to be picked up, lifted, who we need to keep serving this community.”

Commissioners Anthony Traficanti and Carol Rimedio-Righetti also expressed gratitude and support.

“It’s become very hard for police to try to enforce the dignity of what the Constitution is, that we’re supposed to uphold, and then try to do your job and shoulder your duties with your family. So I personally want to thank you for what you do every day when you get up and you go out there, trying to protect our community and trying to make us all safe,” Traficanti said.

“It’s sad that in this country so free that we have to see so much violence. And thank God for all of you for saving us, because you have saved all of us,” Rimedio-Righetti said. “We depend on you. You’ve always been there. So God bless you, and God bless you in the future, and God bless everyone who has passed and has worked for all of our county residents.”

Other speakers included State Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Canfield. Both men invoked the same Bible verse, John 15:13 — “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

“Americans who kiss their families goodbye, put on the badge and step into danger so the rest of us can live in peace,” Fischer said in a speech that honored a gritty hard-working character he said is endemic to Mahoning County. “The fallen heroes we honor today carried that same spirit. They didn’t serve because it was easy; they served because they believed in duty, they believed that law and order matters, that protecting innocent people matters.”

Mahoning County Sheriff’s Deputy and Fraternal Order of Police State Vice President TJ Assion spoke about the many challenges police officers face in the line of duty as well as political activism and media attention he said that undermines officers’ dignity and safety and disregards their responsibilities and the burdens they carry into the line of duty.

“We have the unfortunate burden of having to deal with the worst of society. But I have never met a member who said, I really hope I get to draw my weapon and use force today. And I can confidently speak for the members in this church here today when I say we all have memories that we wish we never had,” Assion said. “None of us got into this line of work with any delusions of becoming millionaires. We just want to help people. And that is what we do every day.”

Assion said nobody in a uniform signs up to lose their life, but they are all aware that it could be the cost of serving their community.

“That is what Trooper Cayton and all of these heroes have done. They made the ultimate sacrifice to save lives and to ensure that the thin blue line holds … a reminder that the legacy of these heroes shall be lived out every day. Their legacies as husbands, fathers, and sons is lived out each day by their families,” he said. “And to all my brothers and sisters, each day we’ll continue to tie up our boots, put on our protective gear, strap on the duty belts. We will hold the line and that is how we live out their legacy. We will hold the line, and that is how we honor their sacrifice. Hold the line. May God bless you all and stay safe.”

Following comments from Assion and the others, deputies brought the wreath forward for the “final roll call,” honoring each officer one at a time until 29 roses filled the wreath.

The service then proceeded outside for a 21-gun salute, the playing of taps and a bagpipe rendition of “Amazing Grace” by Cleveland Police Pipe and Drum.

During the service, the audience also heard the national anthem from the Rev. Cynthia Wright-Palmer, “Ave Maria” from Maureen Stenglein and Jason Volovar, and the “American String Quartet 2nd Movement” led by a trio featuring Father Vit Fiala.