Police Honor Boy : Barney’s Pals Gather to Say a Sad Goodby

A 12-year-old Fullerton boy, befriended by officers of the Costa Mesa Police Department during the last few months he battled leukemia, was buried Thursday with a host of law enforcement friends in attendance.

Barney Hardaway became involved with the Police Department last January through the intervention of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to dying cancer victims, Sgt. Bill Bechtel said.

Bechtel, who delivered the eulogy at the boy’s funeral services at the Fullerton Seventh-Day Adventist Church, said Barney, who died Saturday, had also served as honorary captain of the 9th Cop Bowl last April. The Cop Bowl is a charity football game played every year that pits Costa Mesa and Irvine police officers against their counterparts from Newport Beach, Garden Grove and Huntington Beach.

“We sort of took Barney under our wing,” Bechtel said. “We took care of him and visited him. We also took him and his family up for a ride in the (police) helicopter.”

About two dozen of the boy’s friends from the Police Department were present for his funeral. Barney was buried in his Cop Bowl jacket. After the eulogy, Bechtel pinned his sergeant’s badge on the jacket.

“We wanted to do something special for Barney,” Bechtel said. “But we were the ones who got something special from him. He was a very courgeous boy.”