Page 35 - October Newsletter

After 29 years, Bernie Domagala finally succumbed to the bullet he took in the head in the line of duty. A look back at those 29 years and beyond offers respect and tribute to a man who never lost his smile, his sense of family or his love for the police.
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Bernie Domagala is smiling. And why not? He’s feeling good be- cause two brother police officers have spotted Bern in the lobby of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and he has eyeballed them. When they find out who he is, they come over to shake his hand, tell him how honored they are to meet him and swap some stories from the beat.
Even the bullet that hit Bern in the head during a response with his beloved Hostage, Barricade and Terrorist (HBT) Unit all those years ago couldn’t wipe the smile off his face now. And for 29 years following the gunshot that left him with a traumatic brain injury – a tragedy that stole his dream but never stole his presence – Bernie always found plenty of reasons to smile.
His love for the police, his love for his family and his love for a good joke sustained and fortified him from that fateful July 14, 1988, incident until this past Sept. 5, when Bernie Domagala finally fell to that gunshot wound. For 29 years, Bern lived as a hero to his fellow police officers, his wife and three sons, and his City. And he will forever.
So, yes, Bern is feeling good.
This is a feel-good story.
“He always had a joke,” recalls Craig, who along with his twin
brother, Adam, was 4 months old when his father was shot. “There were times he would be on a ventilator and he wouldn’t be able to talk very well. You would lean in and realize he was telling you a joke. With everything going on, he had such a good spirit.”
Ruben Garza knew how infectious Bern’s spirit could be. He was part of the HBT Unit and alongside Bernie when the call came on July 14, 1988. He said he remembers that day like it was yesterday and he will always think about the Bernie that so many in the De- partment knew.
“He had one of those laughs that was contagious,” Garza shares. “We would get him going on purpose so we would all start cracking up.”
Yes, Bernie could make everybody feel good. And in paying trib- ute to the man who lived a hero’s life, the feel-good story is so much
a study of what it means to be a real cop. It would be easy to feel sor- ry for Bernie considering the gunshot left him not being able to get out of bed for nearly a year and a half. And considering that when he was shot, Adam and Craig were just 4 months old and oldest son, Erik, was just 4 years old.
But when what seemed like half the Department, including all of the new recruits, turned out for Bernie’s wake and funeral, Denise Domagala cherished how the police loved her husband as much as he loved them. And she recognized how they shared her hero’s worship for the past 29 years.
“After he was shot, his cognitive issues were immense,” Denise confides. “But he could talk forever with stories about the police department or the family. I think at his funeral Mass, Father Dan (Brandt) said it best: He was the real Police.”
For all the cruelty that came in the wake of the gunshot, the traumatic brain injury provided a ballistic shield to more serious sadness. Adam offers that Bernie never really understood the full scope of his situation, and consequently, it didn’t deface the picture of what happened before the incident, the one the twins and Erik feel they have been so fortunate to re-create.
Just days before the shooting, Bernie had finished building a fence around the yard, a task so indicative of the man. Denise mar- veled at how her husband could be a master craftsman, building cabinets or furniture or fences with the extreme precision demand- ed of the HBT Unit.
“He was exact with his measurements, even down to something like decorating cakes,” Denise extols. “If he wanted to tackle some- thing, it was no holds barred. He would get a book and read about it, or he just went and did it.”
Erik doesn’t have a lot of memories of his father, but he knows he inherited Bernie’s relentless work ethic. He vaguely recalls being in the backyard to help build that fence, which actually lends defi- nition to how he worshipped his father in the same way the City would eventually come to do.
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CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ OCTOBER 2017 35
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