Ceremony honors law enforcement officers
CARSON CITY -- Five of the record six law enforcement officers killed in Nevada in the past year were honored Thursday at a ceremony that attracted more than 400 people, including 200 uniformed police officers.
The names of Special Deputy U.S. Marshal Stanley W. Cooper and Las Vegas police officers James Manor, Milburn Beitel, Trevor Nettleton and Daniel Leach were inscribed on the Nevada Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
The memorial, which features a sculpture of a dying police officer, is on the mall between the Capitol and Legislative Building.
Each year police from around the state gather for a ceremony that includes a 21-gun salute and speeches from state officials to remember law enforcement officers killed or who died while on duty.
The number of officers who died in the past year was the most of any 12 months dating to the Nevada Territory in 1861.
The sixth fallen officer, Nye County Deputy Sheriff Ian Deutch, will be honored next year. But he also was remembered in Thursday's ceremony.
Deutch, 27, was killed April 26 at a Pahrump casino after responding to a domestic disturbance call. His death came two days after returning to work after a tour in Afghanistan with his Nevada National Guard unit.
Deutch was the 114th Nevada law enforcement officer known to have died while on duty.
Retired Henderson Police Chief Mike Mayberry, the master of ceremonies, said there was not time this year to put Deutch's name on the memorial, but he joined the crowd in a moment of silence for the deputy.
" 'Officer Down' is the most terrible phase we can hear in our community," Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said in the keynote speech.
Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line day after day to keep Nevada's communities safe, she said.
Gov. Jim Gibbons also praised the officers and their sacrifices.
"Every day when I walk by this memorial, I hope with all my heart that I see no more names," he said. "It stands in silence, but speaks loudly for the men and women who have served. We are grateful to each and every one of you."
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie talked about the four Las Vegas officers who died.
"Any of us who enter this profession know it is a dangerous profession," Gillespie said after the ceremony. "Inevitably we lose some of them in the line of duty. The community has stepped forward. Sometimes we don't realize the level of support for us. It really has helped. I saw the same thing last week in Nye County with officer Deutch."
U.S. Marshal Christopher Hoye praised Cooper, 72, as a wonderful, smiling man who spent 42 years in law enforcement, including 26 with the Las Vegas police.
Cooper's "End of Watch" came Jan. 4 when he was killed by a man who entered the federal courthouse in Las Vegas and opened fire.
"Unlike in the movies, you can't outrun a bullet," Hoye said.
Four other law enforcement officers, whose deaths date as far back as 1924, were honored Thursday.
Frank Adam, a retired Nevada Division of Investigation officer and a police historian, said their sacrifices had been "lost in the pages of history" and only recently discovered.
FALLEN REMEMBERED
Nine law enforcement officers were honored Thursday in Carson City:
Special Deputy U.S. Marshal Stanley Cooper, 72, who was killed Jan. 4 when a gunman entered the federal courthouse in Las Vegas and opened fire. Cooper had been a marshal for 16 years after a 26-year career with the Las Vegas police.
Las Vegas police officer James Manor, 28, who died after a May 7, 2009, car accident as he was responding to an emergency call.
Las Vegas police officer Trevor Nettleton, 30, who was killed in a shootout with robbers in the garage of his home Nov. 19. He shot one of the suspects. Three men were apprehended.
Las Vegas correctional officer Daniel Leach, 49, who was killed in a crash Nov. 21 while driving a prison van near Searchlight.
Las Vegas police officer Milburn Beitel III, 30, who was killed Oct. 8 in a car accident while responding to an emergency call.
Southern Pacific Railroad officer Eveleigh Bates, 34, who was killed in an accident on Nov. 8, 1924, when he fell between the cars of a moving train.
Storey County Deputy Hugh J. Gallagher, 67, who died of a heart attack in 1948 while responding to an emergency call in Virginia City.
Nevada Bureau of Narcotics Agent Ronald Haskell, 45, who died Jan. 4, 1975, of injuries he suffered from a beating by four suspects in 1969.
Nevada correctional officer Sgt. Vincent Tatum, 26, whose bullet-riddled body was discovered Sept. 25, 1982, more than a month after he left his shift at the Southern Desert Correctional Center. Tatum had been conducting a prison investigation, Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said. No one has been apprehended in connection with his slaying.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
