A ceremony honoring eight Southern Tier police officers who died in the line of duty between 1909 and 2004, including three Dunkirk officers, will be held at 10 a.m. today in Dunkirk’s Memorial Park, 71 Lakeshore Drive West. It is sponsored by the not-for-profit Badge of Honor Association that honors slain Western New York lawmen and women.
Rochester Police Sgt. Justin Collins, president of the seven-year-old organization composed of members of law enforcement from across the state, said Dunkirk was selected for the start of the group’s two-month-long effort to honor 75 fallen officers from Western and Central New York, because the Dunkirk Police force has been “the hardest hit in the Southern Tier” for on-duty deaths.
The Dunkirk event is open to the public. Collins said subsequent ceremonies will be held over the next two months in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Batavia, Syracuse, Lyons, Ithaca, Canandaigua and Oneida.
Today’s ceremony will honor:
• Dunkirk Lt. Mark M. Elfman, who was shot and killed responding to a domestic dispute on Oct. 1, 1961.
• Dunkirk Lt. J. Harry Knollman, fatally struck on the head while investigating a burglary in a residential cellar on Feb. 6, 1932.
• Dunkirk Patrolman George Nelson, shot and killed when he interrupted a warehouse burglary on Oct. 17, 1920.
• Jamestown Police Patrolman George “Red” Kendall, shot and killed by a drunken man who had just shot and killed his own father and stepmother during an argument on June 18, 1915.
• Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Lt. Glenn Norman Peters, killed when his patrol car crashed against a tree as he as speeding to a crime scene on Feb. 2, 1962.
• Olean Police Capt. Timothy Hassett, shot and killed by a burglar he was trying to arrest at a lumber company office on Feb. 21, 1909.
• Salamanca Police Sgt. Perry Franklin Barrett, fatally struck on the head while trying to talk to a mentally deranged man outside the city hospital’s emergency room on Aug. 5, 1982.
• Allegany County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Paul Ward, killed when a driver ran a stop sign at Route 243 and Buffalo Street and slammed into his patrol car on July 2, 2004.
email: mgryta@buffnews.com
Rochester Police Sgt. Justin Collins, president of the seven-year-old organization composed of members of law enforcement from across the state, said Dunkirk was selected for the start of the group’s two-month-long effort to honor 75 fallen officers from Western and Central New York, because the Dunkirk Police force has been “the hardest hit in the Southern Tier” for on-duty deaths.
The Dunkirk event is open to the public. Collins said subsequent ceremonies will be held over the next two months in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Batavia, Syracuse, Lyons, Ithaca, Canandaigua and Oneida.
Today’s ceremony will honor:
• Dunkirk Lt. Mark M. Elfman, who was shot and killed responding to a domestic dispute on Oct. 1, 1961.
• Dunkirk Lt. J. Harry Knollman, fatally struck on the head while investigating a burglary in a residential cellar on Feb. 6, 1932.
• Dunkirk Patrolman George Nelson, shot and killed when he interrupted a warehouse burglary on Oct. 17, 1920.
• Jamestown Police Patrolman George “Red” Kendall, shot and killed by a drunken man who had just shot and killed his own father and stepmother during an argument on June 18, 1915.
• Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Lt. Glenn Norman Peters, killed when his patrol car crashed against a tree as he as speeding to a crime scene on Feb. 2, 1962.
• Olean Police Capt. Timothy Hassett, shot and killed by a burglar he was trying to arrest at a lumber company office on Feb. 21, 1909.
• Salamanca Police Sgt. Perry Franklin Barrett, fatally struck on the head while trying to talk to a mentally deranged man outside the city hospital’s emergency room on Aug. 5, 1982.
• Allegany County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Paul Ward, killed when a driver ran a stop sign at Route 243 and Buffalo Street and slammed into his patrol car on July 2, 2004.
email: mgryta@buffnews.com