Orange Local honors its fallen
n PHOTOS BY ED CARATTINI, JR.
Officer Joyce Anne Carnegie was joking around with her colleagues before telling them she needed to get gas for her patrol car one fateful morning in 1999.
“ That was the last time we saw her,” says Orange Local 89 President Joe Lane, who was in the Police Academy with Carnegie.
Joyce Carnegie was killed by an armed robbery suspect whom she spotted on her way to the gas station, then stopped for questioning. Her killer immediately drew his weapon and shot her before she had time to pull her gun. She was the second woman to die in the line of duty in New Jersey and the first in Essex County.
“ At that time, I never dreamed that would happen to any cop in Orange,” says Lane, a 23-year veteran of the force.“ It tore us apart at first and then we banded together. Joyce was so funny and such a good person.”
On Feb. 23, the town honored Carnegie, and three others who died in the line of duty, with memorial plaques that can be seen as soon as visitors walk through the door of the Freddie Polhill Law and Justice Complex on Park Street.
Also honored were detective Kieran T. Shields, who was killed by a shotgun-wielding robbery suspect he had been pursuing on foot in a residential area in 2006; Lieutenant Herman Peccarelli was shot and killed during a standoff with a suspect barricaded in an apartment building in 1966; and 20-year veteran patrolman Frank Guzzo was killed in a motorcycle accident while he was pursuing a vehicle in 1952.
In 2008, all four were posthumously promoted to the rank of inspector. All of them could have run from danger, but instead ran toward danger, and that is why the town wanted to honor their bravery.
“ We want the public to see the ultimate sacrifice they made and we want the families to see that they aren’ t forgotten,” Lane says, adding that the memorials are also a constant reminder to the officers who work in Orange.
“ There are some moments when you let your guard down,” he says.“ This is a reminder that the job can be a dangerous one and a reminder to stay safe. For all of us, it also puts a face to those we have lost. We all look back and remember 9 / 11, but do we remember the individual cops that ran to help? For Orange, this memorial also puts a face to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us.” d www. njcopsmagazine. com ■ MARCH 2017 75