Hundreds show up to fundraiser for injured Las Vegas police officer

Everyone involved in a fundraising event for an injured Las Vegas police officer at a south valley pizza restaurant woke up with butterflies in their stomachs Sunday.

Officers Kem Deleonard and Mike Torsiello were nervous that weeks of planning the event with Windy City Beefs ‘N Pizza owner Tim Korney would fall short. Officer Dave Figueroa, for whom the event was planned was anxious about being the subject of so much attention.

Then hundreds of residents poured into the Silverado Ranch Plaza, located at 9711 S. Eastern Ave., near East Siverado Ranch Boulevard, to convince the men of the valley’s generosity.

“After seeing the amount of people that showed up, I’m amazed,” Torsiello said. “Dave’s a good guy. He deserves it.”

Many came because they are police or firefighter families. Many, like Lesley Zamora, who planned a special trip with her children the day of the fundraiser, are regulars at Windy City. Zamora’s kids, Ryan and Isabel, smiled as they explored a SWAT tank parked in the parking lot for the event.

“It’s really nice to see this many people here,” Zamora said.

Korney said there was a line out the door for the first few hours of the fundraiser. Early in the afternoon, Korney estimated that the restaurant had earned about $4,000 for Figueroa.

That’s in addition to the take from Nothing Bundt Cakes next door, which opened on a Sunday just for the event and also donated 50 percent of sales.

“What a great reason to do it. We were really happy to get involved,” co-founder Debbie Shwetz said of opening the bakery for the event. “Too often you contribute to a charity and you don’t see where it goes.”

But this time she and her husband got to see exactly where their money was doing. They were charmed by Figueroa’s kind nature and compelling story, so they decided to contribute an additional $500 to the bakeries donation, which Korney pledged to match.

Figueroa sat in a wheel chair on the restaurant’s front patio for hours, shaking hands and chatting with everyone who stopped by to see him. A private person, he said he was nervous about feeling like a “monkey in a cage” if he went to the event.

But as he rolled up to cheers and tears from the community, Figueroa was filled with gratitude and humility.

“I’m just the guy who’s laying there. They’re the ones who are working,” he said.

Figueroa spoke briefly about worrying about burdening his family and his wife, Judy Figueroa, and how hard of an adjustment it is for him to need to rely on other people. He talked about at least three more surgeries that he’s going to need for removing pins from his elbow and transplanting ligaments in his knee. He talked about how lucky he was to be able to keep his left leg, which is now 2 cm shorter than the other leg.

“It’s scary. Even with the doctors, there’s a lot of question marks,” he said.

And he talked about the irony of being a motorcycle cop, charged with responding to crashes and patrolling for drunk drivers, and being in this position because of a drunk driver.

The test results came back on the woman who turned in front of him and destroyed half of his body earlier this year.

“To find myself the victim instead of the police officer … I almost lost my leg because of a drunk driver,” he said. “Police officers are also affected.”

“She was almost 1 ½ times the legal limit.”

Anyone who still wants to donate can on the fundraising website Officer Down at https://officerdown.us/campaigns/lvmpd-motors-po-david-figueroa-severely-injured.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl