Taking to Their Bikes, Police Honor Fallen Comrades

Several dozen police officers from agencies throughout the state and region gathered Thursday morning on Franklin Street for a memorial service to help kick off the Police Unity Tour, an annual bike ride commemorating law enforcement killed in the line of duty.

An estimated 1,700 police officers -- including a contingent of 19 from Newark -- are scheduled to meet at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC on Sunday, Officer.com reported. Groups of cycling police from across the nation were scheduled to depart from Franklin Township, Millville and Philadelphia as well as from cities in Virginia.

The officers who met in Newark Thursday attended a memorial honoring 50 police who have died in the line of duty throughout the department’s history. The group, escorted by motorcycle police and patrol cars from communities including Bayonne, Perth Amboy and Newark, set out for Edison before pushing on to the nation’s capital.

“We have a commitment to this tour that will never end,” said Samuel DeMaio, the director of the Newark Police Department, as the family members of two of the department’s slain -- Det. Michael Morgan and Officer John Gutekunst -- looked on.

Morgan was killed attempting to stop a robbery in November 2011. Gutekunst was fatally shot on a Newark street in 1965.

Newark police Det. James Stewart said that while the NPD has taken part in the tour for a number of years, 2013 marks the first time all of the department’s fallen -- dating back to the 1940s -- will begin to be honored individually. Cyclists from Newark Thursday rode with placards printed with photos of deceased officers attached to their backpacks.

“It truly helps to know that he is not forgotten,” said Gutekunst’s sister, Joyce Vail. “I’m just so thankful to James Stewart for letting us know we’re not alone and people still care.”

Last year riders raised $1.6 million for the law enforcement memorial and museum.

The tour was started by Florham Park police officer Patrick P. Montuore in 1997. For more information call 973-443-0030 or click here.