For Immediate Release: 05/09/2023

State of New York | Executive Chamber
Kathy Hochul | Governor

Governor Hochul Honors 55 Police Officers Who Sacrificed Their Lives in Service to Their Communities

New York State Police Officers Memorial Remembrance Ceremony Held Today at the Memorial on the Empire State Plaza in Albany

The Names of the 55 Officers Have Been Added to the Memorial, Which Now Recognizes 1,772 Men and Women From 150 Police Departments, Sheriffs’ Offices, and Federal Agencies

Governor Hochul Issues Proclamation Declaring May 9 as Police Memorial Day

State Landmarks To Be Illuminated Blue on May 9 To Recognize Officers’ Sacrifice and Highlight the Service of All Police Officers Across New York State

Governor Kathy Hochul today honored the lives of 55 police officers from eight police departments who were remembered at the New York State Police Officers Memorial Remembrance Ceremony in Albany. The officers’ names have been added to the Memorial’s black granite wall, which now includes the names of 1,772 men and women from 150 police departments and sheriffs’ offices across the state and six federal agencies who sacrificed their lives in service for New Yorkers. Governor Hochul also issued a proclamation declaring May 9 as Police Memorial Day and directed state landmarks to be illuminated blue to recognize the sacrifice of the officers whose names are included on the memorial and to recognize the service of all police officers across the state.

“Every day, the selfless men and women in police departments across the state put their lives on the line to protect us, knowing they may not make it home,” Governor Hochul said. “Today, we honor these 55 police officers, and we join their loved ones in remembering their unwavering commitment and dedication to our safety.”

“Today we honor and remember police officers from across New York State who paid the ultimate price to keep us safe,” said Lieutenant Governor Delgado. “May we never forget their bravery and courage. May we never forget the sacrifice they made to protect us all.”

The following landmarks will be illuminated blue tonight:

• One World Trade Center
• Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
• Kosciuszko Bridge
• The H. Carl McCall SUNY Building
• State Education Building
• Alfred E. Smith State Office Building
• Empire State Plaza
• State Fairgrounds - Main Gate & Expo Center
• Niagara Falls
• Albany International Airport Gateway
• MTA LIRR - East End Gateway at Penn Station
• Fairport Lift Bridge over the Erie Canal
• Moynihan Train Hall

This afternoon’s ceremony recognized the sacrifice of 55 police officers who died from injuries they sustained on duty, or as the result of COVID-19 or Ground Zero-related illnesses.

Line of Duty Deaths

NYPD

• Detective Wilbert Mora was shot when he responded to a call reporting a domestic dispute in an apartment at 119 West 135th Street in Harlem. (January 23, 2022)
• Detective Jason Rivera was shot when he responded to a call reporting a domestic dispute in an apartment at 119 West 135th Street in Harlem. (January 21, 2022)

Rochester Police Department

• Police Officer Anthony P. Mazurkiewicz and Officer Sino Seng were conducting surveillance in an unmarked vehicle while in plainclothes when they were ambushed and fired upon by the suspect. Officer Mazurkiewicz who was in the driver’s seat, sustained a fatal gunshot wound. His partner, Officer Seng, was struck with a non-fatal wound and was able to return fire. The suspect fled the scene and was hiding in a vacant house when he was located by responding officers while and taken into custody. (July 21, 2022)

Yonkers Police Department

• Detective Sergeant Frank D. Gualdino was driving his police vehicle while in uniform to supervise officers on traffic detail when he was struck head-on by another vehicle. (December 1, 2022)

The following officers died as a result of exposure to COVID-19. The names of the officers who died due to COVID were first added to the memorial in 2021; the memorial now contains the names of 25 officers whose deaths were COVID-related:

NYPD

• Police Officer David A. Mathura (March 6, 2022)
• Police Officer Daniel J. Sanchez (January 19, 2022)
• Police Officer Leonard Swanson (February 5, 2022)

Nassau County Police Department

• Detective Hector M. Nunez (December 8, 2021)
• Detective Charles C. Vroom IV (September 12, 2021)

Niagara Falls Police Department

• Lieutenant Kristina M. Zell (November 7, 2022)

Ground Zero-Related Illness Deaths

The following officers died from illnesses resulting from their work at Ground Zero in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The names of officers who died from Ground Zero-related illnesses were first added to the Memorial in 2008 and now total 380.

New York State Police

• Sergeant F. Brent Chomyszak (August 23, 2022)
• Major Roderick C. Covington (March 31, 2022)
• Trooper Scott P. Enser (March 20, 2021)
• Trooper Joseph J. Mecca, Jr. (December 2, 2020)
• Sergeant Ivan M. Morales (October 28, 2022)
• Trooper Michael R. O’Donnell (December 24, 2020)
• Sergeant James G. Sweeney (March 6, 2021)

NYS Environmental Conservation Police

• Lieutenant Paul C. Adam (September 8, 2015)
• Police Officer Lawrence E. Cabana (August 6, 2022)
• Investigator Thomas J. Graham (September 21, 2013)

Port Authority Police of NY & NJ

• Police Officer Frederick G. Maley (July 17, 2022)

NYPD

• Police Officer Chanda D. Barnes (April 25, 2021)
• Sergeant Hugh Bartlett (September 12, 2021)
• Sergeant William P. Brautigam, Jr. (January 31, 2021)
• Detective Barbara A. Burnette (December 30, 2021)
• Sergeant Pedro A. Candia (April 15, 2022)
• Detective Enrico J. Crisafi (November 28, 2021)
• Detective Michael A. DeVecchis (January 16, 2020)
• Sergeant Cornelius J. Douglas (June 24, 2021)
• Detective Pedro A. Foruria, Sr. (August 25, 2021)
• Sergeant Michael S. Fuller (July 26, 2021)
• Police Officer Hector M. Gonzalez Jr. (April 7, 2021)
• Detective Roland A. Gray (June 22, 2021)
• Detective Patrick J. Hogan (December 31, 2021)
• Police Officer John Horan (December 18, 2020)
• Detective Michael A. Houlahan (March 25, 2020)
• Police Officer Dennis J. Howard (August 5, 2020)
• Police Officer Denise A. Jones (September 6, 2021)
• Police Officer William M. Kelly (October 3, 2021)
• Detective Brian J. Maley (February 17, 2021)
• Detective George C. Moreno (July 30, 2021)
• Detective Terence P. Mulvey (December 1, 2021)
• Police Officer Thomas M. O’Reilly, Jr. (June 17, 2021)
• Detective Nicholas F. Ortiz (April 5, 2021)
• Police Officer Neil E. Porter (October 7, 2021)
• Police Officer Laurence J. Prehn (November 10, 2021)
• Police Officer Michael J. Reass (September 21, 2021)
• Police Officer Steven L. Rodriguez (June 9, 2021)
• Police Officer Michael Romano (January 16, 2021)
• Detective Frank Rosado (December 19, 2019)
• Sergeant Christopher M. Tully (August 14, 2021)
• Police Officer Matthew S. Von Seydewitz (January 27, 2020)
• Detective James M. Ward (January 17, 2022)

Nassau County Police Department

• Police Officer Robert D. Negri Jr. (September 28, 2011)
• Detective Matthew A. Perlungher (August 4, 2021)

The State Division of Criminal Justice Services coordinates the ceremony and the work of the Police Officers Memorial Advisory Committee. The state Office of General Services maintains the memorial and its Commissioner also serves on the Committee.

Division of Criminal Justice Commissioner Rossana Rosado said, “We gather to show our profound appreciation for the service and sacrifice of these brave men and women, and to express our heartfelt gratitude to the families and friends who live in the shadow of their loss every day. Thank you for sharing your loved ones and their legacy with your fellow New Yorkers. We are humbled by your presence here today and vow to always honor their memory.”

Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy said, “The New York Police Officers Memorial honors individuals who have sacrificed their lives in the performance of their duty and ensures their courage, dedication, and sacrifices are always remembered. We at OGS are proud of our role as caretakers of this special memorial and of providing a space where the families, friends, and colleagues of our State’s fallen officers can mourn their loss and pay tribute to their legacy as keepers of the peace in our communities.”

The memorial is based on a design concept suggested by Colleen Dillon Bergman, the daughter of Emerson J. Dillon Jr., a 16-year veteran of the New York State Police who was killed in the line of duty in 1974. Bergman also suggested that the names of police officers be placed on the memorial without regard to rank. In a letter to the committee established to oversee the memorial’s creation, she explained: “It doesn’t matter from which department they came, the feeling of loss is experienced the same.” Those words are engraved on the memorial

Memorial Inclusion Criteria
To be included on the memorial, an individual must have been a police officer, as defined in the State’s Criminal Procedure Law, or employed as a federal law enforcement officer and performed the same or essentially similar duties as defined in that law. Applications to DCJS for inclusion on the memorial must be made by agencies that employed the officers.

In addition to Commissioners Rosado and Moy, the following individuals serve on the Memorial Advisory Committee: New York State Troopers PBA President Charles Murphy, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Benevolent Associations President Michael O’Meara, New York State Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Patrick Phelan, New York State Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Peter R. Kehoe, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of the City of New York President Patrick J. Lynch, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Chapter President Andrew Rakowsky, and the Police Conference of New York President Richard Wells.

The Division of Criminal Justice Services provides critical support to all facets of the state’s criminal justice system, including, but not limited to: training law enforcement and other criminal justice professionals; overseeing a law enforcement accreditation program; ensuring Breathalyzer and speed enforcement equipment used by local law enforcement operate correctly; managing criminal justice grant funding; analyzing statewide crime and program data; providing research support; overseeing county probation departments and alternatives to incarceration programs; and coordinating youth justice policy. Follow DCJS on Facebook and Twitter.