Cops, citizens pay respects to slain officer
A slideshow tribute at yesterday's public viewing for Police Officer Isabel Nazario offered snapshots into the charming life she shared with her family, friends and fellow officers.
A slideshow tribute at yesterday's public viewing for Police Officer Isabel Nazario offered snapshots into the charming life she shared with her family, friends and fellow officers.
As it played, a long line of emotional mourners - from uniformed cops to citizens - snaked around the John F. Givnish Funeral Home on Academy Road in the Northeast, as they waited to pay their respects to the latest city police officer killed in the line of duty.
Nazario, 40, was killed last Friday night when a stolen white 1999 Cadillac Escalade driven by 16-year-old Andre Butler slammed into the passenger side of Nazario's cruiser at 38th and Wallace streets, in Mantua.
Nazario, an 18-year veteran, was in the passenger's seat and took the brunt of the force. Rescuers used the Jaws of Life to get Nazario and her partner, Officer Terry Tull, out of the mangled cruiser. Tull had a broken hip and ribs.
Butler fled on foot but was quickly captured. He has since been charged with third-degree murder, aggravated assault and related offenses.
She was hailed by fellow cops for her pioneering spirit and kind heart. Earlier this week, Nazario's mother, Patricia Santiago, told reporters that her daughter once saw a barefoot little boy on South Street while on duty and bought shoes for him.
But as kind as she was, she didn't hesitate to crack down on the bad guys, said her friend and fellow officer Waleska Garcia.
"She was a nice person, but she was tough on the street," said Garcia, clutching a funeral program showing a smiling, blond Nazario.
A few feet away, Lisandra Mesa consoled a teary-eyed woman as they left the funeral home. Mesa, who said that she was related to Nazario through marriage, noted the composure of Jazmin, Nazario's 16-year-old daughter.
"She's being so strong," she said, "I don't how she could do it. Everything [Nazario] did was for her daughter."
Among the mourners, Deputy Commissioner Kevin Bethel, head of Regional Operations Command South, shared few exchanges with Nazario, but said she was "part of our family."
Tomorrow morning, he and several law-enforcement officials will depart for Puerto Rico, where Nazario was born and is to be buried.
"It's important to show our respects all the way to her gravesite," he said.
Nazario's death dealt another devastating blow to a department that's become all too familiar with loss in recent years.
Three other cops - Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski and Officers Chuck Cassidy and Gary Skerski - have been killed in the line of duty since 2006.
Liczbinski's and Cassidy's viewings also were held at Givnish.
Services: Viewing today from 7:30 to 11 a.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul, 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
A Funeral Mass begins at noon. *
