Late last Thursday morning, Officer Charles Cassidy of the Philadelphia Police Force was pronounced dead at Albert Einstein Medical Center, the second fallen police officer in as many years, and fifth to be shot in the line of duty this year. I won’t pretend that I know “Chuck”, as his family has asked that he be remembered, or that I had ever heard of him before he was senselessly murdered last week attempting to foil an armed robbery. Upon surprising a gunman who was attempting to hold up a donut shop in North Philadelphia, the robber fired one round at close range into Officer Cassidy’s skull, and fled the scene after taking the officer’s service weapon.

Officer Cassidy’s murderer escaped without a cent from the donut shop’s register, and is still at large.

I don’t know Chuck Cassidy. I know this: Chuck Cassidy selflessly gave up his life to protect the citizens of this city. I know this: Chuck Cassidy gave up all of the personal security we take for granted when he donned his police uniform and put himself in the line of fire to try to maintain order in our chaotic city. I know this: Chuck Cassidy and all the Philadelphia Police who serve as tirelessly as he did deserve more respect than I can give them with the feeble words in this column. They certainly don’t deserve the quick, pointless end that was served up to Chuck Cassidy by an unthinking, would-be stick-up kid.

The greatest horror of the wave of homicides in this city is precisely that: how utterly, completely and totally arbitrary each death is. There is no thought or necessity or justification, no grand drama that leads to a bitter death, like in a movie.
It is only the grim finality of the gun, in its absolute power to take life vested in the hands of those least able to wield that power responsibly. Kids that have never seen outside the walls of their neighborhood, disgruntled teens that have been failed by every institution they have ever known, usually starting with their own family; adults that never had anything in their life they really cared about, or never knew care. That is the greatest tragedy; that no one even cares enough to think about the effect their actions have on others, even in this most terminal of situations. Where is the antidote for total thoughtlessness? What is the cure for not caring?

I hope I have not provided an excuse for Officer Cassidy’s killer; as ethical as I try to be some dark part of me hopes in secret that he dies a long slow death. I hope I have not lionized every police; they must be subject to scrutiny like everyone else in a position of power. I don’t want to even use the word “hero” because I think it whitewashes the good and bad that makes every person who they are, that it removes all humanity from an individual and makes them something unknowable, almost of legend.

Chuck Cassidy was a man, who had faults and strengths, just as you and I do. But Chuck Cassidy was a brave man. He was the kind of man who lived each day of his life knowing that in a split second, a moment’s lapse in vigilance, he could be shot down, and yet he still put himself in front of a loaded gun, he risked his life. He did that for no other reason than because that was part of his duty in serving each and every Philadelphian regardless of who they are and he did that because sometimes, someone has to stand against violence.
In the horror of that great violence is something to marvel at. The marvel is that men like this exist and risk their lives for us. So remember Charles “Chuck” Cassidy as that, a man who did something truly miraculous. Let this overshadow the violence of his death. Remember the love he had for his community that was greater than his coward of a murderer, whose hate is completely unremarkable. Let the memory of his assailant fade into the total blackness of obscurity while Officer’s Cassidy’s love still shines bright.

A $153,000 bounty has been posted for any information leading to the arrest of Cassidy’s murderer. Newspapers yesterday revealed that the police have named John “Jordan” Lewis as the primary suspect in the officer’s slaying, pictured at right. He has tattoos on both hands reading “NP” and “HP”, and a distinctive limp. Anyone with knowledge of the suspect’s whereabouts should contact the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-683-8888.