Honoring Those Killed on Duty

Buena Park’s police chief fought tears as he spoke Tuesday about an old friend in his department.

In front of hundreds of Orange County police officers and family members, Chief Gary Hicken recalled the day in June he visited Cpl. Tyler Pinchot in the hospital after a serious motorcycle accident. Pinchot, Hicken said, told the chief he loved him. Hicken returned the kind words.

“I wished I’d have told him more. I really thought he’d be OK,” Hicken said. “It’s really important to tell [officers] that you appreciate them.”

Pinchot, who died in September, was remembered in a candlelight vigil Monday night and in a Tuesday morning ceremony at the Orange County Peace Officers Memorial Monument in Santa Ana’s Plaza of the Flags.

The 18th-annual ceremony was one of many across the nation. May 15, 2004, is National Peace Officers Memorial Day and, throughout May, cities are honoring officers who died in the line of duty during the previous year.

The Orange County memorial consists of three white uprights with raised figures depicting officers at work. The uprights overlook a granite-tile base holding 23 plaques, the number of officers commemorated at the first ceremony in 1986.

Pinchot was one of more than 40 Orange County officers remembered at the ceremony. His plaque stood atop the others as friends and family placed red and yellow roses on the memorial.

On June 13, Pinchot, 45, was on his motorcycle pursuing a traffic violator when a vehicle accidentally hit him from behind. He suffered major injuries and died Sept. 21 after slipping into a coma and living for three months. He is survived by his wife, three stepchildren, and his parents and siblings.

“It was a wonderful tribute,” his wife, Susie Snider-Pinchot, 48, said. “He would be amazed, I think, at the recognition he’s been given.”

Hicken said families come to the ceremony for a sense of closure as well as to express their appreciation for police officers.

“To me it’s about having gratitude for people. That’s really why everybody comes,” he said. “It would bring you peace of mind.”