Local News

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― The city of Oakland virtually halted Friday for the funeral of four slain police officers, with a populace still in shock jamming Oracle Arena, spilling into an overflow stadium and filling the streets to pay their last respects.
 
About 20,000 people filled the indoor arena, where the service for the officers took place, and about another 10,000 watched it on a giant screen in the outdoor Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum next door.

The funerals for Sgt. Mark Dunakin, Officer John Hege, Sgt. Ervin Romans and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, who were gunned down March 21 by a wanted parolee during a traffic stop and a later shootout, shut down Interstate 880 and other major freeways into and out of Oakland for much of the day as their long processions made their way to and from the arena.

The officers' caskets were draped in American flags and shepherded to the arena in caravans that passed under a giant U.S. flag held up by two fire truck ladders as they entered the parking lot.

Pallbearers accompanied the caskets inside the venue while bagpipes sounded throughout the space at the beginning of a solemn ceremony packed with law officers from near and far.

"They were exemplary men and outstanding police officers. They were our brothers," said acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said at the outset of the service.

Jordan praised the officers as "brave, heroic and peaceful men who did their jobs," and added: "They rest in peace, because they were men of peace."

The officers' violent deaths marked the deadliest incident for law enforcement in California in nearly four decades and the deadliest nationwide since Sept. 11, 2001. Underscoring the magnitude of the tragedy, a somber pageant of uniformed officers from every type of agency police departments, sheriffs' offices, highway patrols from across the country and Canada overwhelmed the arena.

The entire 815-member Oakland Police Department, wearing dress white caps and gloves and black mourning bands on their badges, filled the front rows, saluting their fallen brethren as their flag-draped caskets were carried inside.

Loved ones, community members and dignitaries, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and state Attorney General Jerry Brown, made up the rest of the mourners in the arena.

"These four men were and are heroes, but they weren't made of steel. They always knew the day may come," Feinstein said in her address to the crowd. "When the time came to make the ultimate sacrifice, their final hour was one of their finest."

The four officers "were among the best to ever wear the badge of the Oakland Police Department," she continued, "and they died in the cause of their efforts to remove a dangerous criminal from the streets."

Brown, who formerly served as Oakland's mayor, added "you can't find four more honorable people" than the four officers who were "ready to die for what is right."

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums also attended the service, but was asked not to speak by at least one family of the victims, his spokesman said. Paul Rose said he did not know which family made the request or the reason.

President Barack Obama and his first lady Michelle sent condolences in a letter, read by Oakland police chaplain Jayson Landeza, saying, "their commitment to their fellow man will never be forgotten."

But one of the most affecting tributes came from Oakland Police Capt. Edward Tracey, commander of the SWAT team that cornered parolee Lovelle Mixon in an apartment, prompting the deadly shootout that left Sgt. Romans, Sgt. Sakai and the suspect dead. The violence began earlier in the day when Mixon shot Sgt. Dunakin and Officer Hege at a routine traffic stop.

"These were my men," Tracey said. "They died doing what they loved: riding in motorcycles, kicking in doors, serving in SWAT."

In a speech that brought tears to the crowd, he thanked the citizens who called the police on the suspect after the traffic stop and singled out Clarence Ellis, a 53-year-old former bus driver who stepped forward to perform CPR on Dunakin at the scene.

Tracey also addressed the members of the SWAT team present when Romans and Sakai were killed. "Console yourself knowing that they spent their last moments in your company," he said, also telling the officers not to let the deaths "hold you back."

The officers' coffins lined the front of the arena. The tall black motorcycle boots that Dunakin and Hege wore were placed by their caskets.

Individual eulogies from friends, colleagues and relatives of the officers sketched portraits of dedicated, hard-working family men.

Dunakin, 40, known as "Dunny," was the life of the party and loved looking good on his motorcycle. Hege, 41, volunteered to work overtime at the Coliseum during Raiders home games to see his favorite team. Romans, 43, a former Marine Corps drill sergeant, was an avid hunter and enjoyed cooking up his game. Sakai, 35, was a former Boy Scout who loved backpacking through untouched wilderness.

Private burials for the officers were held later in the day.

Outside the arena, a sea of police vehicles bomb-squad trucks, motorcycles, Ford Crown Victorias and Dodge Charger cruisers filled the parking lot.

New York City Police Lt. Tommy Ng, who attended the ceremony, said the tragedy brought back memories of Sept. 11. He said he was not surprised by the outpouring of support for his colleagues in Oakland.

"When one of us is hurt, all of us are hurt," Ng said before the service. "We're all brothers."

Minneapolis Police Sgt. Steve Blackwell and three other officers drove two squad cars from Minnesota over three days to attend Friday's service.

"It's a national tragedy," Blackwell said, "so it cuts pretty deep. We want to let the people of Oakland see that we care. I hope that this city finds strength from this tragedy to move ahead."

For those in the Oakland Police Department, the loss was almost unspeakable.

Gery Gilbert, 49, a traffic clerk at the Eastmont substation, where the slain officers worked, said she had a hard time just getting up Friday morning. She recalled how excited Hege was to be on motorcycle patrol when she last saw him two weeks ago, just one week after he joined the patrol.

Ronit Tulloch, a resident of Oakland, said she wanted to attend the funeral to show her gratitude for the work police officers do to protect citizens.

"You take it for granted, you forget what they're really there for," she said. "They just get up every day and do it. It's amazing."

Norma Jean Palmer, 55, of Alameda, hugged longtime Oakland police officer John Wilson as he greeted fellow officers from across the country before the ceremony started.

"You keep your head up," Palmer told Wilson, who nodded slowly.

Wilson, 49, who grew up in East Oakland, said this has been the toughest week in his 25-year career.

"It's been hard, but we're getting through it," Wilson said. "The support we have from our colleagues near and far is much appreciated."

Wilson said he knew all four of the officers killed and promised that their memories will live on.

"They made the ultimate sacrifice," Wilson said. "They will never be forgotten."

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