Woodbury Cops Honor Those Who Gave Ultimate Sacrifice

officer Tony Ofstead remembers their faces.

The strangers who came up to him last year. The people whose family members were cops. Cops who died in the line of duty.

“All you can muster is: ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ And you start bawling,” Ofstead said. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to do something for them.”

Ofstead was talking about the Law Enforcement United Ride, in which officers from across the country gather to bicycle 250 miles from Virginia to Washington, D.C., to raise money and awareness for officers who have been killed on duty.

The ride is set for May 10-13. A fundraiser for the Minnesota contingent is set for 5 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at the B-Dale Club in Roseville.

Joining Ofstead—who is actually going on the “big ride,” a 1,000-plus-mile trek that starts in Georgia—are three other Woodbury police officers: Lynn Lawrence-Drost, Brett Lawler and Earl Merchlewitz.

The ride is especially noteworthy for Merchlewitz, whose wife is good friends with the sister of Shawn Schneider, the Lake City police officer who was killed while responding to a domestic dispute in December 2011.

“We’ve known the family forever, so I’ll be riding in Shawn’s name,” said Merchlewitz, an officer-firefighter. “It’s been really hard on our family. It’s tragic on so many levels.”

The day after Schneider died, Ofstead mentioned the Law Enforcement United Ride.

“Within moments, I said I’d do it,” Merchlewitz said.

The money raised through the bike ride (each officer must come up with $1,200 in donations) goes toward Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) and a kids’ camp for children whose parents have died while serving. The funds also help the Officer Down Memorial Page.

Ofstead, a Woodbury officer-paramedic, was on duty when several of his brethren were killed, including Maplewood Police Sgt. Joe Bergeron, and he also helped capture the killer of St. Paul officer Gerald Vick.

“It’s always been in my heart that I need to do more for the survivors,” he said. "(The Law Enforcement United Ride) was a natural fit. It’s a little sacrifice that I can make for those who sacrificed so much.”

That sacrifice is always on the minds of officers, Ofstead and Merchlewitz agreed.

“It’s what we do,” Ofstead said. “You don’t worry about what could happen. These tragic lessons are a reminder of what could be, but it doesn’t change who we are and what we do.”

Added Merchlewitz: “It’s always on your mind. You’re ‘what iffing’ it as you go to the scene. You can train and train and train, but you never know what’s going to happen.”

While the ride itself provides officers a chance to make friends, when they arrive at the Law Enforcement Memorial after cycling from Chesapeake, Va., it gets emotional, Ofstead said. Each rider is assigned a flag and wristband in honor of a cop who died on the job.

“The full reality of what you’re doing, why you’re there, it hits home—hard,” he said. “People come up and hug you and say, ‘That’s my son.’”

Visit the following groups’ websites for more information or to donate:

• Law Enforcement United
• C.O.P.S.
• Officer Down Memorial Page
• Local ride page: www.mnleunited.org

Sponsors and donations are also needed for the 2012 , set for the weekend before . For more information, or to donate, email Ofstead at tofstead@ci.woodbury.mn.us.

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