4,000 Attend Rites Honoring Policeman as ‘Fallen Hero’ : Funeral: Gov. Wilson, officers from throughout the West pay respects to Garden Grove patrolman who was gunned down during traffic stop.

Their badges wrapped in black bands of mourning, police from throughout the West gathered Monday for a tearful tribute to Officer Howard Ellsworth Dallies Jr., who was gunned down last week during a traffic stop.

Dallies, a veteran officer who helped train recruits and was soon to be promoted to sergeant, was remembered as a “fallen hero” in an emotional ceremony at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove.

A well-liked officer and father of two, the 36-year-old patrolman was the third Southern California police officer slain on duty since Feb. 22. A fourth was injured in a shooting last Thursday, and a fifth, a San Diego policeman, was treated Sunday for a gunshot wound to the leg.

“I do not feel that Howard is a hero simply because of his untimely death at the hands of a cowardly assassin,” Garden Grove Sgt. George Jaramillo said of his slain colleague. “I feel strongly that Howard is a hero because of the way he lived his life. Howard Dallies typified our department’s motto as he lived his life with courage, courtesy and commitment.”

Choking back tears, Jaramillo added: “To his family, Howard is a hero because he was a loving and warm father. To his police family, Howard is a hero for countless reasons. To me, Howard is a hero because he embodies the word Big Brother, always looking out for us.”

More than 4,000 people--including Gov. Pete Wilson, Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams, Orange County Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez, and officers from federal, state, county and city law enforcement agencies crammed into the Crystal Cathedral’s vast sanctuary, squatting in aisles and standing in the rear of balconies.

The memorial service was followed by a seven-mile procession, a massive checkerboard of black-and-white patrol cars moving slowly through the city’s streets to Westminster Memorial Park.

At the burial ceremony, Marines from El Toro Marine Air Station honored Dallies with a 21-gun salute. Three helicopters from local police agencies flew overhead in a “missing-man formation.” And dozens of white birds were released as officers who worked closely with Dallies laid their white gloves on his gun-metal-gray coffin.

Mary Dallies, his widow, shuddered with tears and pulled an American flag close to her chest at her husband’s graveside as “Taps” rang through the cool, breezy air.

Dallies’ gun was still strapped in its holster when he was shot in the face and abdomen about 2:45 a.m. on March 9, apparently while making a traffic stop in a residential neighborhood in Garden Grove. He was the fifth officer from Garden Grove, and the 31st in Orange County, killed on duty since 1912. He was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot.

Police have recovered a motorcycle they believe was stolen by the gunman, and have released a composite sketch of the possible suspect. There is a $10,000 reward for anyone who provides information leading to an arrest.

Dallies, who was raised in Garden Grove and returned to that city to join its police force in 1984, is survived by his wife, a dispatcher for the Irvine Police Department; sons Christopher, 7, and Scott, 4; and his father, Howard Dallies Sr.

During his eight years with Garden Grove, Dallies received 26 citizen commendations and was named a master officer.

“He stood out as an exceptional police officer in a department made up of exceptional police officers,” John R. Robertson, a former Garden Grove police chief who now heads the Orange Police Department, said at the funeral.

Referring to memorials for slain police officers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., Garden Grove Police Chief Stanley Knee said: “Let us pray, let us set as a goal that Howard Dallies’ name is the last one to be added to those memorials.”