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Posted: Saturday, 06 June 2009 7:29PM
Police Bid Farewell to Fallen Officer
Bob Roberts Reporting
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CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The pain was evident in Englewood District Police Officer Thomas Vargas' voice Saturday as he eulogized his fallen partner, Officer Alejandro Valadez.
"Alex, you're the best cop I ever worked with," Vargas said, gesturing to the casket in which the body of his partner laid.
The 3,000 people jammed into St. Bede (beed) the Venerable Church, at 4400 W. 83rd St., and listening to loudspeakers outside listened intently as Vargas recalled Valadez as a proud father-to-be, as a partner whose infectious laugh and sharp sense of humor made bad days better and as a hard-working officer who volunteered to work "where the action is."
Vargas said eulogizing Valadez was the most difficult thing he had ever done.
"The only reason that you're not here is because those spineless cowards took you away from us," he said. "They did it in the most disgusting and inhumane way possible -- behind your back."
Vargas said that after Valadez had been shot and help had been summoned, he stayed with the fallen officer, trying to keep him from slipping into unconsciousness.
"You never stopped fighting," he said. "All the way from the street, to the hospital, you never stopped fighting. That last look you gave me when I was talking with you before they wheeled you away I know you heard me. You still hear me."
It was an emotional moment in a 90-minute funeral Mass that was filled with them.
Gov. Pat Quinn called it "a profoundly sad day." Mayor Daley said, although he was only a police officer for three years, Valadez "made a difference."
"Those citizens that he helped, and all the commendations and honorable mentions are saying today, are saying thank you, and God bless you," Daley said.
Delivering his eulogy, St. Bede Pastor Rev. William Stenzel said it was a difficult day on many levels.
"This is not a day for easy believing," he said.
Yet he told the congregation that Valadez was a religious man who committed himself to "stopping badness," and was faithful to that commitment until the end.
"The bad guys took that life from him and from us," Fr. Stenzel said. "And Alex's colleagues, with whom he made the commitment to police work, the Englewood Rangers, did their job and arrested the bad guys."
Kevin Walker, 21, and Shawn Gaston, 20, are both charged with first-degree murder. The suspects are being held without bail in the Cook County Jail pending trial, and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Vargas said Valadez was the ideal work partner.
"Your laugh and smile were contagious, no matter what," he said. "No matter how bad our day had been, it was always better if you were around."
Vargas called his fallen partner "a gentle giant" who loved his job and family and couldn't wait for the birth of his son. He said Valadez showed off his fiance's ultrasound pictures, which he stored on his cell phone.
Stenzel said one commitment remains to properly honor Valadez -- to make certain that his unborn son knows who his father was, and what he stood for. Vargas said he will take on that job gladly, and that his family will be a second family to the child.
"I promise we will go camping, fishing, rest assured," Vargas said. "I promise that the first ballgame we'll go to is a Cubs game. He wouldn't have it any other way."
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