Page 42 - December 2018

Honoring a Hero
Cool Running
Why Chicago Police Officers never hesitate to head toward danger when the call comes
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Second District Officer Stephanie Arroyo remembered re- sponding to a call when a woman she and another officer were trying to arrest ran on them. Her backup on the call took off with Arroyo, not hesitating for one moment or worrying about what might happen.
Backup came from Samuel Jimenez, who ran toward danger without hesitation, just like he did on Nov. 19, 2018. On that day, as we know, Jimenez and partner Armando Zambrano heard the call of an active shooter at Mercy Hospital. And even though it was not in their district, the 002 officers took off.
“When we heard the call on the 1st District radio, we gave a nod to each other, jumped in the car and just went,” Zambrano noted. “We weren’t scared. We heard the shots and knew what to do.”
As the Department mourned the loss of Samuel Jimenez, it celebrated the response as exemplary and emblematic of how Chicago Police Officers continue to run toward danger without hesitation. Despite raging senseless violence, increasing internal and external oversight and discouraging calls from the public challenging their actions, they do not hesitate. Just like Samuel Jimenez didn’t on Nov. 19.
“As police officers, each of us takes an oath to protect and serve with impartiality,” Superintendent Eddie Johnson declared in his funeral remarks, not just as a tribute to Jimenez but to every offi- cer in the Department.
“We know the dangers that are out there,” he continued. “And yet out of selflessness and sacrifice, we run toward the danger that awaits.”
As Lodge 7 members trekked through the burgeoning bliz- zard Sunday afternoon and evening to attend the visitation for Jimenez, and then mustered in the cold prior to the funeral the following day, the question of running toward danger made the rounds. All officers didn’t hesitate to explain that they don’t hesi- tate. And they each seemed to have a unique motivation for doing so, even when the job seems to give them so many reasons not to.
Officer Caitlin Richards, who is in Area Central Bikes and worked some details with Jimenez when he was a PPO, consid-
42 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2018
ered what he had in him that inspired him to respond on Nov. 19. It might be the most common bond among all Chicago Police Officers.
“It’s in your blood. It’s in your blood to want to help people,” she explained. “I think it came to the question of how can I help somebody? And he answered to go and do it. I don’t think there