First of two parts
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Chief Bixby, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
They were a prominent part of the national outpouring of grief and support from outraged and mourning law enforcement agencies, 20,000 officers spanning the breadth of the land.
Culver City was royally represented at the Dec. 27 Brooklyn funeral of NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos, assassinated, along with his partner, in their police car seven days before.
Chief Scott Bixby led a seven-person delegation to honor Officer Ramos’s memory.
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Culver City party in front of fire station just before Rafael Ramos funeral. From left, Lt. Jason Sims, me, Officer Angela Voorhees, Officer Victor Garcia, Asst. Chief Chris Gutierrez, Officer Roy Lopez and Lt. Sam Agaiby.
“I was shocked,” Mr. Bixby said when Jet Blue airlines agreed to fly all of them across the country and back without charge.
“We left Friday, Dec. 26, at 11 o’clock, arrived at 8 in the evening, and the Ramos funeral was the next day. We came home on the 6:30 flight Sunday morning. It was really a whirlwind, but what an experience,” the chief said with a face-wide smile.
The cold-blooded murder of young Officers Ramos and newlywed Wenjian Liu, by a man seeking revenge for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, shocked and angered police throughout the country, and they answered by attending the Ramos funeral.
Nationally, Jet Blue flew an unknown number of cops to New York.
“I never had seen so many uniformed officers in one place for as far as my eyes could see,” Mr. Bixby said. “I tried to find high ground for pictures.”
The Culver City chief was amazed by “how gracious the police and fire departments were at the hotel where we stayed. They were able to get a special (hotel) rate for us.”
At the epicenter of a remarkably hostile criminal environment, when masses of scruffily attired protestors shouted obscenities for hours at a time, the Culver City visitors felt safe.
They were the beneficiaries of unusual outer protection.
“Two New York officers were at the lobby 24/7 while we stayed there,” said Mr. Bixby, “just to make sure we felt comfortable.”
(To be continued)
