Honoring the fallen

Robert Chacon

In solemn fashion, about 100 uniformed officers, other city staff

members and family of some of Glendale’s fallen officers filled the

street in front of the department’s year-old memorial statue to pay

tribute.

The four officers killed in the line of duty since 1915 were

remembered during the Glendale Police Department’s first such

memorial service Thursday.

The memorial service will continue as an annual event, Chief Randy

Adams said.

“This is an opportunity for us to pause and honor them, to commit

to the fact that we shall never forget,” he said. “Their ultimate

sacrifice is a reminder that freedom is not free.”

Mayor Rafi Manoukian praised the work of the department and

credited the officers with “keeping Glendale one of the safest cities

of its size in the U.S.”

The four Glendale officers killed while on duty were Town Marshal

Whitney Smith (1915), Officer Leslie O. Clem (1926), Officer John

Isaacson (1972) and Officer Charles Lazzaretto (1997).

Officers or family members placed flower bouquets at the base of

the memorial statue, near bronze plaques depicting the likeness of

the late officers. Police officers from other departments, including

Burbank, also attended.

Smith was killed after responding to a call of an armed robbery

near the intersection of Central Avenue and Los Feliz Boulevard. He

chased the fleeing suspect as he boarded a streetcar in an attempt to

escape.

Smith tried to arrest the armed suspect when he exited the

streetcar in Atwater Village, but was shot dead. Other officers who

responded shot and killed the suspect.

Clem was a traffic officer who lost control of his motorcycle

while in pursuit of a suspect on Verdugo Road. He was thrown from the

motorcycle and died from his injuries. The suspect escaped.

Isaacson was driving back to Glendale on the westbound Santa

Monica (10) Freeway after attending a training exercise. He lost

control of his squad car when he tried to avoid a car that had made a

sudden lane change. The car overturned, killing Isaacson.

Lazzaretto was an investigator with the department’s

robbery-homicide division and was investigating an attempted murder

in a Chatsworth warehouse. When Lazzaretto entered the structure, he

was ambushed by the suspect and shot dead. After a 2 1/2 -hour

standoff with officers and a SWAT team, the suspect killed himself.

The department’s color guard gave a 21-gun salute, and three of

the department’s helicopters flew west over department headquarters.

One lone copter abruptly turned and headed north, signifying a

missing man.

Isaacson’s widow, Sally Isaacson, attended, as did Lazaretto’s

widow, Anna Maria Lazzaretto, and his parents, Any and Nan.

“It’s beautiful that they still remember my husband,” Anna Maria

Lazzaretto said. “I am really honored that they put a lot of pomp

into it.”

* ROBERT CHACON covers

La Canada Flintridge and La Crescenta. He may be reached

at (818) 637-3239 or by e-mail

at robert.chaconlatimes.com.