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| Law enforcement officers salute as a hearse carrying the casket of a fallen Oakland Police officer arrives prior to a memorial service Friday, March 27, 2009, in Oakland, Calif. The memorial service was held for Oakland police officers Mark Dunakin, John Hege, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai, who were gunned down Saturday police say by a 26-year-old parole violator, who was also killed. |
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- The city virtually halted Friday for the funeral of four slain police officers, with a populace still in shock jamming a large sports arena, spilling into an overflow stadium and filling the streets to pay their last respects.
The funerals for Mark Dunakin, John Hege, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai, who authorities say were gunned down March 21 by a parolee, shut down major freeways into and out of Oakland for much of the day as their long processions made their way to and from the Oracle Arena.
The shootings were the deadliest incident for U.S. law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001, and the deadliest in California in nearly four decades. A somber pageant of uniformed officers from law enforcement agencies across the country - police departments, sheriffs' offices, highway patrols - overwhelmed the arena.
The entire 815-member Oakland Police Department, wearing dress white caps and gloves and black mourning bands on their badges, filled the front rows, saluting their fallen brethren as their flag-draped caskets were carried inside.
Loved ones, community members and dignitaries, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, state Attorney General Jerry Brown and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, made up the rest of the mourners in the arena, with a large overflow crowd filing into the adjacent Oakland Coliseum to watch the service on jumbo screens - more than 20,000 attendees in all.
"These four men were and are heroes, but they weren't made of steel. They always knew the day may come," Feinstein told the crowd. "When the time came to make the ultimate sacrifice, their final hour was one of their finest."
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums also attended the service, but was asked not to speak by at least one family of the victims, his spokesman said. Paul Rose said he did not know which family made the request nor the reason.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sent condolences in a letter, read by Oakland police chaplain Jayson Landeza, saying, the officers' "commitment to their fellow man will never be forgotten."
Police say parolee Lovelle Mixon shot Sgt. Dunakin and Officer Hege at a routine traffic stop, then killed Sgts. Romans and Sakai in an apartment where Mixon also was killed.
One of the most affecting tributes came from Oakland police Capt. Edward Tracey, commander of the SWAT team that cornered Mixon.
"These were my men," he said. "They died doing what they loved: riding in motorcycles, kicking in doors, serving in SWAT."
Tracey thanked the citizens who called police after the traffic stop and singled out a man who performed CPR on Dunakin at the scene. He also addressed the members of the SWAT team present when Romans and Sakai were killed.
"Console yourself knowing that they spent their last moments in your company," he said. He also told the officers not to let the deaths "hold you back."
The officers' coffins lined the front of the arena. The tall black motorcycle boots that Dunakin and Hege wore were placed by their caskets.
Individual eulogies from friends, colleagues and relatives of the officers sketched portraits of dedicated, hard-working family men.
Dunakin, 40, known as "Dunny," was the life of the party who loved looking good on his motorcycle. Hege, 41, volunteered to work overtime at the Coliseum during Raiders home games to see his favorite team. Romans, 43, a former Marine Corps drill sergeant, was an avid hunter and enjoyed cooking up his game. Sakai, 35, was a former Boy Scout who loved backpacking through untouched wilderness.
Outside, a sea of police vehicles that carried law enforcers from around the country and from Canada filled the parking lot.
New York City police Lt. Tommy Ng, who attended the ceremony, said the tragedy brought back memories of Sept. 11. He said he was not surprised by the outpouring of support.
"When one of us is hurt, all of us are hurt," Ng said before the service. "We're all brothers."
Minneapolis police Sgt. Steve Blackwell and three other officers drove two squad cars from Minnesota over three days to attend Friday's service.
"It's a national tragedy," Blackwell said, "so it cuts pretty deep. We want to let the people of Oakland see that we care. I hope that this city finds strength from this tragedy to move ahead."
For those in the Oakland Police Department, the loss is almost unspeakable.
Gery Gilbert, 49, a traffic clerk at the Eastmont substation, where the slain officers worked, said she had a hard time just getting up Friday morning. She recalled how excited Hege was to be on motorcycle patrol when she last saw him two weeks ago, just one week after he joined the patrol.
Ronit Tulloch, a resident of Oakland, said she wanted to attend the funeral to show her gratitude for police officers.
"You take it for granted, you forget what they're really there for," she said. "They just get up every day and do it. It's amazing."
