Downers Grove Police Pay Tribute to Fallen Officer Richard Barth

Downers Grove officials held a memorial service Thursday in honor of Richard Barth, a village police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty 39 years ago.

The ceremony, held at Patriots Park, 59th Street and Fairview Avenue, is put on each year in conjunction with National Police Week, an initiative that brings together between 25,000 to 40,000 attendees from departments throughout the United States and internationally to honor police officers who died while in the line of duty.

Barth, Downers Grove's only fallen officer, was shot and killed on March 18, 1974.

That day, Barth was handling what appeared to be a routine call of two suspicious youths in what is now known as Hoopers Hollow Park. While he was questioning the youths, one of the subjects, Paul Fontani, produced a handgun and fatally shot Barth.

The two subjects were later arrested and convicted of first-degree murder. Both are now out of prison.

Tens of thousands of law enforcement officers and their families converged on Washington, DC, this week for National Police Week 2013, May 12-18.

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