The Western Mass. Police Unity Tour Team and sponsor representatives are, from left, Kelly Frazier of the South Hadley Electric Light Department, Kate Craven of Holyoke Gas & Electric, Officer Travis Odiorne of Chicopee, Capt. Eric Hall of Westfield, Officer Mark Hammon and retired Officer Tom Lamica of Chicopee, Sgt. Jhon Wielblad of Ludlow, Hayley Dunn of Eversource, and Tom Flaherty of Westfield Gas & Electric. Not pictured are Sgt. Andrew Beaulieu and Officer Todd Joseph of Easthampton.
Reminder Publishing photo by Marc St. Onge
Just days before Christmas in 1999, Chicopee Police Officer Tom Lamica and his partner, Mark Hammon, rushed to the scene of a domestic disturbance and came face to face with a man wielding a steel pipe.
“This guy tried to set a house on fire. He was coming after us with a pipe. He was only 5 feet away and we had to draw our guns,” Lamica told Reminder Publishing.
With seconds to spare, the man dropped the pipe and surrendered. Lamica said he and Hammon never fired a shot.
“But it was really close. He was inching towards us. In another 10 seconds, who knows what would have happened,” he said. Lamica’s career ended three years later when he fell and irreparably broke his elbow and damaged ligaments while chasing a suspected drug dealer.
While Lamica and Hammon survived their domestic violence call, many officers do not. Seven of the 47 law enforcement officers killed by firearms in the line of duty last year had been responding to a domestic disturbance, according to a report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
In May, a team of five Western Massachusetts police officers honored all fallen cops — 23,785 throughout American history, according to the memorial fund — by pedaling more than 300 miles from northern New Jersey to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Western Massachusetts cops joined 2,600 others who biked to the memorial. Dubbed the Police Unity Tour, the annual four-day ride raises money to benefit the memorial fund.
Lamica founded the Western Massachusetts bicycle team in 2015 to honor Officer John A. DiNapoli, a 21-year veteran of the Holyoke Police Department who was shot to death on the morning of Dec. 22, 1999 — the same day Lamica stared down the man with the pipe.
“I still feel the emotion of John dying that day. It was overwhelming,” he said. “Our mission is to make sure we’ll never forget the people who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. We want to make sure they’re never, ever forgotten.”
Lamica rode alone in 2015, but other members joined the team as the years went on. This year, five made the trek. Westfield Police Capt. Eric Hall was one of them.
“It’s not just to remember the officers who have died in the last year or two. It’s to never forget all the officers who have laid down their lives and made that ultimate sacrifice,” he said.
Hundreds of people welcomed the bicyclists when they arrived in Washington. Friends and family of police killed on duty wore special lanyards signifying their loss. Hall, who said he’s not usually emotional, spotted a woman and two children wearing lanyards.
“That’s where it hit home for me. These are people that get up out of bed every day and put their socks on, just like you and I do, and go to work knowing they might not come home,” he said. “When you meet these people and talk to them — and we bring stickers and little coins for the kids — it’s tough.”
According to National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 136 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2023, down from the 224 officers killed in 2022. It is unclear how many of those officers died in violent confrontations, like DiNapoli, or in other circumstances such as being struck by a vehicle while directing traffic on a road or at a construction site.
One group of companies that depend on traffic details for their own employees’ safety stepped up this year to support the local riders.
Joe Mitchell is assistant general manager at Westfield Gas & Electric and Whip City Fiber. He assembled a group of public and private utilities, raising $4,000. The coalition included WG&E, Eversource, Holyoke Gas & Electric and the South Hadley Electric Light Department.
“If there’s a driver who’s distracted or looking down at their cell phone, they could drift into a work zone, causing calamity and injuring a police officer or our crews. Excessive speed is another factor,” Mitchell said. “Part of what we’re trying to communicate, as a utility industry, is for the public to slow down in work zones. We want our crews and the law enforcement officers to go home safely after every day.”
The memorial fund keeps a running tally of police deaths, adding names to a wall that is running out of space to honor fallen officers.
“It keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. If you go down there right now, you can actually see they had to add eight inches to the top of the entire wall, because, again, this continues to happen,” said Hall.
Lamica recalls the lead pipe standoff with gratitude that everyone survived, including the suspect.
“I’m glad he opted to drop the pipe. It was a great decision, because you never want to be responsible for killing anybody, even if it’s justified,” he said.
Lamica and team member Todd Joseph, of the Easthampton Police, did not participate in this year’s ride. Those who rode in 2024 were Hall, Hammon, Chicopee Police Officer Travis Odiorne, Easthampton Police Sgt. Andrew Beaulieu and Ludlow Police Sgt. Jhon Wielblad.
