Officers grieve, but to continue to work when a colleague dies

October 24, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Lt. Brian Butler of the city police department knows what his colleagues in Girard are going through after an officer there was shot and killed late Saturday.

He just can’t put it into words.

Butler, now the department’s staff inspector, was working the last time an officer on duty in the area was killed, when Michael Hartzell was shot and killed in his cruiser April 29, 2003, on West Federal Street.

Butler was on the road that evening and came downtown when he heard the radio call about Hartzell’s shooting, to help in a search. That suspect was later caught in Florida, convicted and sentenced to death but hung himself in his prison cell.

Asked what it’s like to try and function so shortly after a fellow officer is killed, Butler paused for a moment Monday in his office before saying he could not put the situation into words.

“I don’t know if it’s really describable,” Butler said.

Girard officer Justin Leo, 31, was shot and killed about 10:15 p.m. Saturday while answering a domestic disturbance call with another officer. That officer, in turn, shot and killed the man who shot Leo, police said. The other officer has not yet been identified.

Girard police have referred all questions to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is investigating the case.

Butler’s chief at the time Hartzell was killed, Bob Bush, said the experience of dealing with the death of one his officers is something he never forgets. It also spotlights how helpless he was, Bush said.

“That was the first time I felt totally inept,” Bush said. “There’s nobody to call. I felt isolated and totally helpless.”

Inside the Girard Police Department on Monday, Chief John Norman and other officers looked haggard, as if they had gone a long time without sleep, and it appeared that Norman was distraught.

Youngstown officer William Burton was a close friend of Hartzell’s and said the officers in Girard are experiencing the same kind of emotions they would feel if a close family member died.

“It’s a punch in the gut,” Burton said.

Youngstown firefighters also are grieving a loss in their department. Battalion Chief Ronald Russo, 64, who served on the department for 37 years, died Friday in a motorcycle accident in Ashtabula County.

Funeral services for Russo are slated for Thursday. Flags at the department’s main fire station on Martin Luther King Boulevard flew at half staff Monday in memory of Russo.

The Rev. Lewis Macklin, a member of the city police department chaplain corps, said often when officers ask to talk, he does not say anything because more than anything, they just need someone to listen.

“Sometimes the best thing we can do is listen,” the Rev. Mr. Macklin said.

Chaplains are also available for family members of officers who often experience trauma worrying about whether their loved ones are coming home from their job, he said.

A key is to let officers or their family members know their emotions are valid and legitimate and to be nonjudgmental, Mr. Macklin said.

Bush said he had counselors available when Hartzell was killed if officers needed them, but he did not push it. He also got together with his command staff and tried to find out who had been working too much. Those officers would then be assigned to the radio or other duties where they were not needed on the street.

Also helping was treating Hartzell’s death as a homicide, not just the death of a police officer; that allowed officers to have some sense of routine because they were part of an investigation.

Butler and Burton both said death is part of the reality of the profession they chose, and Hartzell’s death brought that point home.

“Any officer who experienced that, it’s sure to be a life-changing event for that officer,” Butler said. “You never look at police work or life in the same way. I can’t imagine how guys in the military go through that on a daily basis.”

“You’re dealing with the loss of your friend, and you’re confronted head-on with the reality of the choice you made,” Burton said. “It humbles you.”

Burton said, however, he loves his job and accepts what might happen to him. He said he tries to do positive things, such as coaching and other community activities, so he can know the people better.

“I enjoy going out on calls and dealing with people’s problems and coming up with a solution,” Burton said.

Burton offered his help to any officer in Girard who wants to talk. He said his most important piece of advice for them is to make sure they talk to someone.

“Don’t pen anything in. Let the hurt out. Go talk to somebody,” he said.