GARDEN GROVE : Police Honor Five Fallen Colleagues

Filled with grief and pride, Mary Dallies wept as she watched a ceremony Thursday in honor of her late husband and four other Garden Grove police officers killed in line of duty.

“There’s a lot of pain involved because it’s still an open wound and it still hurts,” said the 29-year-old widow of Officer Howard E. Dallies Jr., who was slain March 9, 1993. “But I’m very proud and it feels good that people honor him, remember him, and miss him as much as we do.”

Police have made no arrests in connection with the slaying of Howard Dallies, who was shot to death by a motorcyclist during a nighttime traffic stop. Dallies was remembered warmly by his colleagues at the seventh annual memorial service, held under gray skies in front of police headquarters.

More than 250 officers, family members, friends and local residents attended the solemn, hourlong ceremony, which is held each May. Family members of four of the five officers killed were present.

“This is very good for us,” said 73-year-old Rita Reed, whose son, Donald, was shot to death in 1980 while trying to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect in a bar.

“It makes me realize that they haven’t forgotten our beautiful son,” Reed said. “Family never forgets, but you never know about outsiders.”

Reed died in the arms of Sgt. Paul McInerny, who began organizing the annual memorial services in 1988 as a tribute to his slain colleague. McInerny was the only one of four police officers sent to the bar that day who was not shot. Two reserve officers were wounded in the attack.

“I think the fact that I wasn’t shot combined with the fact that my brother and I went into the Army together and he was killed in Vietnam and I made it, played a big part in my wanting to do this memorial,” McInerny said.

Also in attendance was 32-year-old Lori Rainford, whose husband, Michael, was killed by a drunk driver in 1980 as he attempted to issue a ticket to a motorist he had stopped.

At the time of her husband’s death, Lori Rainford was six months pregnant with the couple’s only child, Michael Rainford Jr., who is now 13 and plans to become a police officer, his mother said.

“It’s still hard to come to this every year, but it’s nice that they do something,” said Rainford.

Also remembered at the ceremony were officers Andy R. Reese and Myron L. Trapp. Reese was killed in 1970 while directing traffic during the city’s annual Strawberry Festival Parade and Trapp was shot to death in 1959 while responding to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon.

Police Chief Stanley L. Knee spoke glowingly of the five fallen officers, then expressed his dismay over the deaths of nine Southland police officers, including Dallies, killed in line of duty since February, 1993.

“I think it is unfortunate that we have a society where police officers are subject to the violence that occurs,” Knee said. “It makes the job of protecting the community that much more difficult.”