Twinsburg Club Provides Lasting Recognition
for Fallen Twinsburg Officer
for Fallen Twinsburg Officer
Twinsburg Rotary has been getting a lot of great buzz lately. Our very successful Parade of Flags program, the club’s massive patriotic displays at the Friday night football game on Patriot’s Day weekend and then VFW’s Gold Star monument dedication are great examples of how one of the goals that Shannon Collins and I of have of working with other civic organizations are being realized.
The following project is especially meaningful – please take a minute to read this and watch the video using this link https://youtu.be/rlaTKuEv4Eo
About the project:
-Patrolman Josh Miktarian was shot and killed in the driveway across from the fire hydrant
-Instinctively, the first back-up arriving dragged him out of "harm's way," which was across the street near the hydrant
-EMS, Life Flight docs and police officers worked on him (to no success) a that site.
-Each year on the anniversary of this line of duty death, police officers from all over gather at this location to pay tribute to Josh by lighting some road flares. There must be at least 20 cruisers there with their emergency lights on each year
gathered at that site.
-1000s of cars drive by that site daily, including our own PD and EMS workers.
-This is not a memorial. It is a marker of significant importance to those who responded that evening. The official memorial is located on Ravenna Rd/Miktarian Parkway, in front of city hall.
About the video:
The "Dan" who is mentioned first is Patrolman Dan Fidoe, a good friend and coworker of Josh who was the one who dragged him out of the area. He asked me about six months ago if I could "do something." After telling this to Shannon, I tried to think of a way to best honor him but keep the hydrant in service for use. After Shannon found some other examples, I worked out a design with Marsam Metals (awesome locally owned facility) and they engineered the two laser-cut badges.
After choosing the colors (no easy feat...do you know how many shades of blue there are?), we just took a couple of hours to make it happen. We didn't tell anyone, not even Dan Fidoe or our club. The area is too close to traffic with no place to pull off, so for safety and secrecy, we went "rogue." I created a video and then sent it on to Dan and Holly (Josh's widow) at the same time for the "reveal." As you can see...this is getting a lot of attention by other social media sites and I'm happy for our Rotary Club too.
I could not have done this without my co-president, Shannon. No way, no how!
We bought enough paint to maintain this project for many years to come. Also, we’ll reevaluate how the to the metal badges hold up with the weather and road salt (this hydrant happens to be very close to the road too). If they don’t hold up, we’ll have Marsam do powder coated versions.
I can’t say enough about Mark Brownfield (Marsam owner) and his two artist/craftspeople George Dufour and Jim Bayus. Marsam only charged us $25.00 each for the badges, which probably doesn’t even cover the materials. They also turned them around in three days!
From the Twinsburg Police Association:
A couple officers presented an idea to AC Bosso and he made that idea come to life.
Many of you have probably passed by the Fire Hydrant near 2454 Glenwood Drive. Many may not know that on July 13, 2008 around 2am Ofc. Josh Miktarians body was dragged to the road near this hydrant after he was shot multiple times in the head during a traffic stop. His blood draining from his body into the pavement near this hydrant.
Every year on that date and time officers from all over meet and place a lit flare at this hydrant. Every time Twinsburg Police drive past this hydrant it’s a reminder of that horrific incident. An incident both Twinsburg Police and Fire endured.
A couple officers felt it was time to spruce up that hydrant as it is a symbolic location where Officers realized there was no bringing Josh back. We would forever have those horrible images of the destruction done to Josh as we knelt around his lifeless body. Only the voice of one senior officer yelling at us to "Go find this Guy" broke the shock we were in, as we left Josh's side and proceeded to clear vehicles and setup a perimeter in the area we thought the suspect might be.
The work done on this hydrant is beyond expectations and fitting for the sacrifice Josh gave to the city of Twinsburg. It will forever be a permanent fixture and a reminder of that sacrifice.
Thank you to Twinsburg Rotary. AC Bosso and Shannon Collins for helping to make this happen. We are forever grateful for the continued support and dedication.