Another watch ended

[najaboy]

This is the 86th officer down this year. Since, July, it's been a bad year for officers being murdered. Here in Detroit, one officer was shot as she went to talk to a man about his dog not being on a leash. Another was coldbloodedly executed as he was arresting a different criminal. The thin blue line diminished just a little bit more on Friday.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>Beaumont police officer Conrad S. Gernale was killed in the line of duty Friday night, September 6.
Officer Gernale was 34 years old, and a 12 year veteran of the Beaumont Police Department. He leaves behind a wife and three young children, all under the age of 5. He was the only Filipino officer in the department.
Police say Officer Gernale was dispatched at about 11:10 pm to a disturbance in the 2200 block of Beatrice, near Concord.
He was responding to a report that a man had been involved in an altercation with his girlfriend and her father. Investigators say they had been assaulted with a bat. As officers arrived in the area, they observed a naked man running away.
Officer Gernale pursued the suspect on foot. The suspect managed to get into an older model Suburban. Officers at the scene say the man ran down Officer Gernale. They say he then drove the vehicle into a parked EMS unit. Three paramedics were injured.
Officer Gernale was dead at the scene. Beaumont officers took the suspect into custody.
The suspect is a twenty-three year old Beaumont man. Police officer Carman Apple says the man has been booked into jail on charges of capital murder of a police officer and aggravated assault. Formal charges are pending in the district attorney's office.
Officer Gernale is the first Beaumont police officer killed in the line of duty since March 22, 1988, when Paul Hulsey, Jr. was shot and killed by Michael Lee Lockhart.
Lockhart was executed for the crime. </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
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[najaboy]

THE POLICEMAN’S LAST INSPECTION ...

THE POLICEMAN STOOD AND FACED HIS GOD, WHICH MUST ALWAYS COME TO PASS.
HE HOPED HIS SHOES WERE SHINING, JUST AS BRIGHTLY AS HIS BRASS.
&quot;STEP FORWARD NOW, POLICEMAN. HOW SHALL I DEAL WITH YOU?
HAVE YOU ALWAYS TURNED THE OTHER CHEEK? TO MY CHURCH HAVE YOU BEEN TRUE?&quot;

THE POLICEMAN SQUARED his shoulders and said, &quot;No, Lord, I guess I ain’t.
Because those of us who carry badges can’t always be a Saint.
I’ve had to work most Sundays, and at times my talk was rough,
and sometimes I’ve been violent because the streets are awfully tough.
But I never took a penny that wasn’t mine to keep,
though I worked a lot of overtime when the bills just got to steep.
And I never passed a cry for help, though times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God forgive me, I’ve wept many unmanly tears.
I know I don’t deserve a place among the people here,
they never wanted me around except to calm their fear.
If you’ve a place for me Lord, it needn’t be so grand.
I never expected or had too much, but if you don’t, I’ll understand.&quot;

There was silence all around the throne where the Saints had often trod.
As the policeman waited quietly, for the judgement of his God.
&quot;Step forward now, policeman, you’ve borne your burdens well.
Come walk a beat on Heaven’s streets, you’ve done your time in #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^&.&quot;

Rest in peace, brother. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img]
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