Illinois post steps up for families of fallen, wounded police officers
In late December, Bradley (Ill.) Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, responded to a noise complaint at a Kankakee County hotel. The suspects opened fire on the pair, mortally wounding Rittmanic, 49, and critically wounding the 27-year-old Bailey, who spent 23 days in the Intensive Care Unit before being listed as in stable condition.
The shooting of the officers – and killing of Rittmanic – had a big impact on the area, American Legion Post 755 Junior Vice Commander Dan Gerber said. Post 755 is in the Village of Manteno, less than 10 miles from Bradley.
“In this area here in Kankakee (County), I don’t think an officer’s been killed since like sometime in the early ‘90s,” Gerber said. “Nothing like this has happened where two of them have gotten shot. It was kind of a shock.”
Both Rittmanic, a U.S. Army veteran, and Bailey were married, and in the days and weeks following the shooting members of the community became raising funds for the officers’ families. Post 755 wanted to be a part of that.
“The (Manteno Police Department) station is about a half a block away from (the post),” Gerber said. “They help us out a lot with different events and come in the Legion quite a bit. We just thought it would be a nice gesture. We really felt bad about the whole situation.”
Gerber said the post used Facebook and local media to advertise the event. Unsure what to expect at first, Gerber started to notice the fundraiser was gaining traction.
“I could tell by the responses on Facebook,” he said. “Normally (posts) would get four or five likes. With this I had over 50. I told (the post), ‘this might be kind of big.’ It just kind of snowballed.”
On Jan. 22, Post 755 hosted the fundraiser that was meant to both benefits the officers’ families and show gratitude for those in law enforcement. In addition to selling hamburgers, the post also had raffles and collected donations.
By the time the event ended, Post 755 had raised close to $9,000 of which 100 percent is being turned over to the Bradley Police Department to distribute to the two officers’ families.
“We had some guys stationed out on the road so that if anyone wanted to drop a donation off, they could,” Gerber said. “I was out there for a while, and everybody was dropping $20s in there. We had a deal where if you gave at least a $10 donation you could get a free quarter-pound cheeseburger for up to 90 days. And we had a couple (donation) baskets.
“It really didn’t sound like a whole lot, but the people really responded. The place was packed the whole time. We had a lot of support from the village doing this.”
Gerber said assisting the two officers’ families falls well within the mission of The American Legion. “I always felt that we’re here to help our veterans and brotherhood and everything,” he said. “But we’re also here for some community service … and to bring the community together.
“And the police officers and first responders, we kind of feel a kinship to them anyway. Being in the (military) and serving, and they’re also serving. That’s why we wanted to help.”