Connecticut Police Officers honored during National Police Week

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - On Friday, Bristol, Connecticut Police Chief Brian Gould and his officers hit the road for a nearly 7 hour journey to Washington D.C. They are coming to pay tribute to two of their own, Lieutenant Dustin Demonte and Sergeant Alex Hamzy. The two officers were killed in a ambush last year while responding to a call.

Demonte and Hamzy are among the 556 fallen officers whose names were carved into the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial this spring. The memorial honors more than 23,000 officers.

“Going down there now and actually seeing their names on the walls next to their brothers and sisters, I think it’s going to be an extremely sad occasion. I think it’s also going to be extremely a lot of pride that they’re on there and they’re being honored for generations to come with their brothers and sisters. So I really am expecting a whole host of emotions that we’re going to all have to navigate through,” said Gould.

Surviving officer Alec Iurato was injured in a gun battle during the October 2022 ambush, that took the lives of his fellow officers. He’s the officer who killed the suspect. Iurato too will attend the ceremonies that will take place as part of National Police Week. The ceremonies will include a candlelight vigil on Saturday, a memorial march on Sunday, and a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. The families of the officers also plan to take part.

“You know, here we are talking about how we are going to feel and, you know, there’s no amount of pain and sadness that we feel that’s going to even come close to what they’re going through. They’re navigating an extremely difficult process. As I’ve mentioned in the past, they are extremely strong families, especially the two spouses. Two of the most incredible people that I’ve ever met as far as the way they’re handling this, you know, tragedy. And they’re just remarkable. They really are such brave, incredible young people. But there’s a tremendous amount of sadness and a massive loss in their lives,” said Gould.

Earlier, in January, Bristol’s police chief spoke at the National Law Enforcement Officers Museum during the Officers Firearms Survival Summit. He said at that time, he and Iurato walked along the memorial wall wondering where the names of the two fallen officers might be carved.

“We took a trip out to the wall trying to kind of get an idea where we thought those names were going to land on the wall. And it was really surreal. At that moment, it was very emotional. Here we were, you know, trying to take an educated guess on where they would be. And we kind of stood there for a moment, imagining what it would look like. And it was a sad moment. And it did, it did open up a lot of emotions. And I think when I say open up, they’ve never really closed. These are going to be wounds that are open for a long time and maybe they start to scab over a bit here and there. But every time there’s something, there’s a little bit of a reopening and there’s a lot of mourning still going on. And we miss them tremendously,” said Gould.

Officer Alec Iurato was named the December 2022 national ‘officer of the month’ at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. This fall, he’ll be back in Washington D.C. to receive a statute of a lion to commemorate his bravery.

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