NEW JERSEY COPS n AUGUST 2014
IN MEMORIAM
35
MELVIN SANTIAGO
Jersey City Police Department
End of Watch: July 13. 2014
Remembering Melvin leads
to an unexpected response
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Vincent Disbrow probably didn’t anticipate the inspiration
from Melvin Santiago’s line of duty death leading him here.
Three days after walking in procession with his fellow Jersey City police officers down Kennedy Boulevard to the St. Aloysius Church, where Santiago's funeral was held, Disbrow was
again with his colleagues in funeral mode. Outside St. Luke’s
Church in Waldwick where Officer Christopher Goodell’s funeral was about to be held, members of the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association handed out water and other
provisions to the hundreds of cops on hand to honor Goodell.
In the church parking lot, they set up a trailer and tent alongside the NJ State PBA, the Port Authority and other agencies and
realized just how galvanizing an effect Santiago’s death had created.
“We’re remembering Melvin for the cop that he was and just
drawing on the tremendous support we got from so many
agencies in New Jersey,” explained Disbrow, the First Vice President of the POBA. “We are humbled by the support we got, and
we just felt that being here was a way to do our jobs and support
Melvin so we can get through this.”
Remembering Melvin Santiago packs as much power and
impact as mourning him. He loved being a cop, and he was
eager to learn more about the job every day, according to Disbrow.
His memorial, it seems, is a show of strength, as thousands of
cops did by coming to Jersey City for the funeral on July 18. It
was a show of strength to honor Santiago and to let the crimi-
nal element in town know their threats on cops would be met
with the force of nearly one thousand police officers who
attended, not counting the tactical team guarding the church.
“The way the law enforcement community banded together
says that this was something that should have never happened
and will never happen again,” Disbrow added. “We have to be
sure that it never happens again.”
Santiago was shot and killed in the early morning hours on
July 13 by a man who moments earlier said, “Watch the news
later. I’m going to be famous.” The man opened fire on Santiago and his partner, Ismael Martinez, after they answered a robbery-in-progress call at the Walgreens at Communipaw Avenue
and Kennedy Boulevard.
Disbrow called the man a coward and refused to even say his
name. Honoring his request, you won’t read it here. Suffice to
say, the man was an ex-convict. When Santiago and Martinez
arrived, the man opened fire, killing Santiago before he could
even get out of the car. Other officers shot the man and killed
him.
Santiago’s casket was carried into St. Aloysius Church in Jersey City draped in an American flag created after 9/11 to pay
tribute to heroes who lost their lives in the line of duty. Santiago grew up dreaming of protecting Jersey City’s West District,
just like his uncle, retired cop Frank DeFazio, who gave the eulogy.
“The bullet that struck Patrolman Santiago’s head also struck
my heart,” DeFazio said during his eulogy.
Melvin was dressed in his formal blue uniform, with his casCONTINUED ON PAGE 36