Two deceased law enforcement officers from Maine will be honored this month at a memorial in Washington, D.C.
The names of Christopher Gardner, who died in November 2016, and Nathan Desjardins, who died last summer, will be unveiled May 13 at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
As part of National Police Week, several dozen family members and Maine officers will attend a candlelight vigil on the National Mall.
Recently slain Somerset County Deputy Cpl. Eugene Cole, who was shot and killed on duty April 25, will be eligible to be included on the wall in 2019, following a nomination process. He is listed on the recently fallen heroes page of the organization’s website.
The ceremony honors officers accepted for inclusion in 2017, not necessarily during the year the officer died. For an officer’s name to be included, he or she must either be killed in the line of duty or die as a result of injuries suffered while on the job.
Desjardins and Gardner are two of 394 names that will be added this year to the memorial, which includes more than 20,000 names. Their addition will bring the number of Maine officers honored to 90.
Desjardins, who was a member of the Fryeburg Police Department, died June 6, 2017 at Central Medical Center in Lewiston from injuries he suffered in a boat crash on May 27, 2017. He was responding to a search call for a missing canoeist on the Saco River. Desjardins died less than a week before his 21st birthday.
Fryeburg Police Chief Joshua Potvin said Thursday in an email that he would attend the vigil in Washington with Desjardins’ parents, Nicole and Brian Desjardins.
“The loss of an officer is something no police chief ever wants to experience,” Potvin said Friday in an email. “It may have happened nearly a year ago but the pain of losing one of your own is something that is still very fresh in the minds and hearts of our entire department and community.
“Having Nathan’s name added to the National Wall is a great tribute to a wonderful young man who sacrificed his life responding to an emergency rescue call on the Saco River,” the chief said. “As we heard at his celebration of life, Nathan should not only be remembered for being heroic on the job but also for how he lived his life off the job. My officers and I are still heartbroken over this tragic event.”
Gardner, of Veazie, was a 27-year veteran of the University of Maine Police Department. Until his sudden death at the age of 47, Gardner had been on assignment with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency for 10 years.
He died on Nov. 15, 2016, of complications from surgery to his Achilles tendon, which he injured while on duty and training at a firing range, his brother William Gardner Jr. of Brewer said Friday.
“His name belongs on the national wall,” William Gardner said. “He was dedicated to his work and so dedicated to fighting the drug problem. It’s good that his death will be recognized by the country.”
Christopher Gardner and others were honored last year with the Director’s Award from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their work on an operation that led to the arrest and successful prosecution of members of a violent New Haven, Connecticut, street gang called the Red Side Guerilla Brims. Its members and their associates illegally purchased guns from a Bangor-area gun dealer. Gang members either paid people to buy the weapons for them or traded the guns for drugs, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey, who worked with Gardner. The weapons were taken out of state and used by gang members in violent crimes in New Haven and other communities.
The process for getting an officer’s name added to the memorial is not simple, William Gardner said. The officer’s family and the head of the agency he or she worked for must fill out an application form.
Documents required include incident reports, dispatch data, a death certificate, autopsy report if available, news articles regarding the officer’s death, a photograph, and a copy of the officer’s sworn certificate, which is signed by the officer when his or her law enforcement service begins.
A committee screens applications each year to determine if officers qualify to have their names included, according to information on the memorial’s website.
For information on the National Law Enforcement Memorial, visit nleomf.org.
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