RESEDA : Police Put Happy Ending on Misfortune

For anyone else whose bike disappeared with a stranger who was asked to guard it, it would have ended yet another sad story of misplaced trust.

But not so for Joey Ronquillo.

“We told him, time and again, you can’t do that,” said Senior Lead Officer Kenny Knox of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division in Reseda.

For the past five years, Ronquillo, a 28-year-old mentally retarded man who runs errands for the police officers, has been under their protective wing. Knox, Ronquillo’s best friend there, has been nicknamed “Joey’s Dad” by the other officers.

Last week, Ronquillo came into the station crying. His bicycle, his only transportation to the station and to a part-time job at a Carl Jr., had been stolen after he rode to a store to buy flowers for his mother. He had asked someone to watch it for him.

The stranger and the bike were both gone when he came out.

West Valley officers had planned to chip in to buy Ronquillo a new bike, but instead, Kent Griffin, owner of the Criterium Cyclesport shop, donated a $400 red Nishiki Blazer, an 18-speed mountain bike.

“There’s so many unfortunate things going on in this city,” Griffin said after presenting the bike Monday to Ronquillo as the officers, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick and a contingent of television, radio and newspaper reporters looked on. “A wrong needed to be righted.”

Griffin adjusted the seat for Joey in his store, which had just opened at its new location on Vanowen Streen in Van Nuys.

After circling the parking lot on the new bicycle, Joey was presented with a new helmet and a bicycle lock, paid for by two LAPD captains, Valentino Paniccia and Bob Gale, along with Chick, whose field office adjoins the police station.

“You have to be careful,” Knox warned his friend. “You always have to wear your helmet.”

More good news is in store for Ronquillo, who has gotten a better job at a Home Depot store. Working with Home Depot, the police have also planned a major refurbishment of Ronquillo’s Reseda home sometime next month.