PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Families of fallen Philadelphia police officers and firefighters gathered in Franklin Square Park Wednesday afternoon as city officials honored their loved ones, including a special tribute to the newest name etched into the Living Flame Memorial: Sgt. Richard Mendez .
The annual ceremony at the Old City memorial honors those lost in the line of duty, remembering their courage and sacrifice. Mendez was gunned down in October 2023 at Philadelphia International Airport during a car theft.
Although he never met Mendez, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said he’s heard stories about the dedicated family man, who cared for his mother every day.
“Always a fixer, the guy to go to in the family,” Bethel said at the ceremony. “Picked up his sister and went to care for [their mother] every morning. Those things crystallize who a person is.”
Mendez’s family members were the first to lay flowers on his name, now etched in stone.
“They are still grieving. The trauma never goes away,” Bethel said. “To be able to wrap around them and be here for them. His daughter is graduating next week, and we plan to be there for him and be that person for him.”
Dozens of other families of slain officers followed the Mendez family, like the Ciones, who lost Officer Fred Cione in 1970 — the only unsolved police murder — and the family of Lauretha Vaird, the first female officer killed in the line of duty. She was checking on a bank alarm and interrupted a robbery.
Following the ceremony, all of the officers joined together at the Survivors Luncheon, held by the police union, to memorialize more than 300 police officers who have been killed in the Philadelphia Police Department’s history.
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