2023 Fallen Officers Memorial Ceremony

Deputy Daniel J. Kin
Wyandot County Sheriff’s Office 
End of Watch: Dec. 15, 2022
Memorial Wall: Panel 28

Daniel Kin had been with the Wyandot County Sheriff’s Office for only a little more than a year when he died, but his personality was already a hallmark of the northwestern Ohio agency.

He was a welcome addition to the force, his colleagues said – fun, hard-working and down-to-earth. He loved the job, and it showed in his infectious smile.

“He was just a great fit for our office, and he won everybody's heart right off the bat,” Sheriff Todd Frey said. “I always describe Dan as a ray of sunshine. He had a passion for the job and a positive outlook on life. He could walk into any room and just brighten up everybody’s day.”
 
Deputy Kin was transporting a prisoner from southern Ohio to the county courthouse in Wyandot when he was fatally injured in a crash in Pickaway County. The accident occurred just west of Circleville, at State Routes 56 and 104. The department van that he was driving was headed north when it was struck on the driver’s door by a pickup truck going east on S.R. 56.
 
Deputy Kin was flown to Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where he died of his injuries at age 34. The prisoner suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and the pickup driver and a 4-year-old girl who was with him were treated at Columbus hospitals.
 
“We’re a small agency in a small community,” Frey said. “The people who work here see each other on a regular basis, so we’re close-knit – we’re family. When Dan passed away, we lost a dear family member.”
 
Upon joining the Wyandot County Sheriff’s Office in October 2021, Deputy Kin was assigned to the transport division. “He grew up in Wyandot County and graduated from Mohawk High School,” Frey said. “This was pretty much his dream job to be in his home county.”
 
Kin started in law enforcement with the Carey Police Department, then moved to the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office, where he was hired in 2010 and in 2020 was voted Deputy of the Year by his co-workers.
 
Nathan Frasure met Kin in 2008 while both attended the police academy at Terra State Community College in Fremont; they later worked together at the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office.
 
"I think you run out of words to describe somebody that good who has moved on at such an early age in life,” Frasure told WBNS-TV in Columbus. “I was very fortunate to cross paths with somebody like that in my life.”  
 
Sheriff Frey said Deputy Kin always sought bigger challenges and, about a week before his death, had asked permission to work on a wanted-person case.
 
“He worked on the case like it was the biggest thing in the world, and he ended up locating the guy in Oklahoma,” the sheriff said. “So the day before his accident, he asks my detective, ‘If I find this guy, do you think the sheriff will let me go out and get him?’ And I told the detective that Dan would absolutely be the one to send out there. But the day after that, he passed away.
 
“Oklahoma authorities found the guy and arrested him, and we brought him back a few days later. Dan’s persistence obviously paid off. It was a great outcome, thanks to his hard work.”
 
The son of a farmer, Deputy Kin enjoyed a lifelong connection to the land. In high school, he was a member of the Future Farmers of America and served on the Wyandot County Junior Fair Board. As an adult, when he wasn’t in uniform, he was growing grain and raising livestock with his father, Franklin. He especially loved being outdoors, whether working with cattle, cutting firewood, collecting mushrooms or just enjoying wildlife.
 
Deputy Kin and his wife of six years, Erin, and their two young boys, Jaxon and Arlo, were members of Our Lady of Consolation Catholic Church in Carey.
 
“He was a very devoted father, husband, son, brother and co-worker,” Frey said. “He was very passionate about his family.”
 
In addition to his wife, children and father, Deputy Kin is survived by six sisters – Jennifer Eckstein, Cassandra Sampsell, Stephanie Kitzler, Elizabeth Kin, Hillarie Kin and Roxie Kin – his father-in-law and brother-in-law, and a large extended family. His mother, Susan, preceded him in death.

Deputy Matthew E. Yates
Clark County Sheriff's Office
End of Watch: July 24, 2022
Memorial Wall: Panel 27

Matthew Yates followed in his father’s footsteps, choosing a career in law enforcement because he believed a good peace officer could make a difference. He lived by that philosophy during his 15 years with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, often sharing it with kids who might aspire to wear the badge someday. 
 
Tragically, Deputy Yates’ life was cut short on July 24, 2022, when he and other deputies responded to a call about a woman attempting to get into a residence at the Harmony Estates Mobile Home Park, east of Springfield, where shots had been fired.
 
The woman, it turned out, had gone to the mobile home to check on her son out of concern for his mental health – and was shot and killed by him.
 
As deputies entered the mobile home, they were met with gunfire. Deputy Yates, a member of the special operations team, was hit and went down. Other tactical officers were called to the scene to rescue him but were kept at bay by the shooter inside the mobile home. After several hours, members of the tactical team stormed in and retrieved Yates. In the process, the mobile home caught fire and was destroyed; the bodies of the mother and son were later recovered in the remains.
 
Deputy Yates was transported to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, where he was pronounced dead. He was 41.
 
At his funeral, Clark County Sheriff Deborah Burchett called him “a warrior” who “devoted his life to making his community better.”
 
Major Mike Young said Deputy Yates “simply embodied goodness. If we gave out medals for every person that Matt made feel special, valued, loved or protected, there wouldn’t have been enough space on his shirt.”
 
Deputy John Loney said his friend left a lasting impression on the community: “There is not a day that goes by that you don’t hear something about Matt, or somebody asks about him.” Even inmates in the county jail were moved by his death, Loney said. “Some of them went so far as to write ‘RIP, Deputy Yates’ on the windows. That says it all about Matt right there.”
 
Another close friend, Deputy Fitzroy Lawrence, said Deputy Yates enjoyed working with young kids and teens. He was involved in a group called Peace Keepers and had been invited to speak at a local school that was dealing with race issues.
 
Humor was one way he put people at ease, his colleagues said. And sometimes the laughs were unintentional.  
 
Lawrence recalled working a third shift at the jail with his friend several years back. After doing their rounds, they ducked into the weight room, where Yates began doing squats.
 
“The next thing I heard was a tear, like paper ripping,” Lawrence said. “I looked over, and he dropped the weight real quick and put his hand behind his backside and said, ‘I just ripped my pants.’ Then he took off out of there. I never saw him move so quick. By the time the next checks rolled around, he had stapled up his pants so it looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie. I had tears in my eyes.”
 
Yates is survived by his wife, Tracy; a daughter, A’kaylehana, known as AK; and two sons, Anthony Reed and Andrew Reed. Matt and Tracy both graduated from Clark State College’s Peace Officer Academy. Tracy left law enforcement, but Matt eventually landed at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, where his father, Eugene, had served for many years.
 
Loney, whose father also served in the sheriff’s office, knew Matt when they were kids and remembers how often they talked about following their fathers into law enforcement: “Matt was destined to wear the badge.”
 
Even more than his commitment to law enforcement, however, Deputy Yates will be remembered for his devotion to his family, Loney said.
 
“He was definitely that type of guy. They always had all of his love and support. And at the same time, he wanted them to branch out, do lots of things on their own – to spread their wings, so to speak.”
 
His sons spoke at the funeral service, remembering their stepdad as “the only father they ever had,” a loving man who, by marrying their mother, “made their family whole.”
 
In addition to his wife, children and father, Yates leaves behind his mother, Lisa; two sisters; four brothers; and numerous extended family members and friends.
 
Clark State College has established a scholarship fund in his honor that will be supported by an annual basketball tournament organized by his friends at the sheriff’s office.

Officer Dominic M. Francis
Bluffton Police Department  
End of watch: March 31, 2022
Memorial Wall: Panel 26

Dominic “Dom” Francis was part of the fabric of his northwestern Ohio community, someone who touched many lives in different ways.
 
A full-time member of the Bluffton Police Department, Officer Francis also served his neighbors as a volunteer firefighter in the Southwestern Hancock Joint Fire Department. In addition, he worked as a strength-and-conditioning coach, football coach, substitute teacher and bus driver at Cory-Rawson High School, his alma mater.
 
He also had a special fondness for helping the school’s softball coach – Ricki Francis, his wife since 2010.
 
“His involvement in the community went a lot further than just his dedication to serve and protect,” Bluffton Police Chief Ryan Burkholder said. “He was always willing to be a teacher and mentor, both inside the department and outside the department, and that speaks volumes about his character and personality.”
 
A stolen car being pursued by Ohio State troopers struck and killed Officer Francis as he was deploying tire-puncturing stop strips on southbound I-75 in Hancock County. At times, the car reached speeds exceeding 130 mph.
 
“This community lost a hero,” Burkholder said. “He was an outstanding police officer with a very big heart.”
 
Amanda Miller, a dispatcher in the Hancock County Sheriff's Office, described Francis, a close friend and colleague, as a peacemaker. They had both dreamed of pursuing careers in police work, she said, since they met at age 16 as members of the sheriff office’s Explorers post.
 
“Service was as natural to him as breathing,” Miller said.
 
The superintendent of Cory-Rawson Local Schools, Jay Clark, told news media that the impact of Francis’ death is profound: “Our community is a small place. They all knew who Dominic was.”
 
Officer Francis,  42 when he died, had worked in law enforcement for 19 years. Before joining the Bluffton Police Department, where he served 11 years, he worked for the Findlay Police Department and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
 
He was named Officer of the Year twice and had received the Chief’s Leadership Award and the Bluffton Police Department’s Life-Saving Award. He also was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers as Top Cop and earned the Ohio EMS Star of Life multiple times.
 
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost met Officer Francis in 2019 when he received the Top Cop Award. “His last act was heroic, but that was not what made him a hero,” said Yost, who spoke at the funeral. “He was already a hero.”
 
Burkholder, who met Francis when they attended high school together, said compassion was a cornerstone of his friend’s life.
 
“He always tried to work with the people he met on the job so they didn’t fall into a cycle of wrong behavior,” the chief said. “He gave them the opportunity to better themselves because he saw their potential. And he lived by what he said.”
 
Burkholder recounted an exchange he had with a stranger shortly after Francis’ funeral. The man approached him, he said, and explained that he was probably on his “third strike” when Officer Francis spent some time with him and made it clear that he had to make choice – either stay on the dead-end track he was on or steer a new course.
 
“The gentleman is doing very well now,” Burkholder said. “That interaction happened just several months before Dom’s passing, and it was very moving to hear how his concern had changed the guy’s life.”
 
In March 2023, Emin Johnson, the 21-year-old man who was driving the stolen car that struck Francis, pleaded guilty to six charges and was sentenced to 21 to 26½ years in prison. Two passengers in the car had previously pleaded guilty.
 
Ricki Francis spoke at Johnson’s sentencing, saying: “Dom was my best friend, my soulmate, my partner in everything, and the best person I’ve ever met in my life. … We were a team like no other. And you took that from me.”
 
She then forgave Johnson.
 
“Dom was always about second chances,” she said. “Forgiveness was important to him, and to me. I forgive you, and Dom would forgive you.”
 
In addition to his wife, Officer Francis is survived by his son, Blake Francis; daughter, Taylor Born; parents, Robert and Vicky Francis; and sister, Chase Eikenbary. Family and friends meant everything to him, and he especially enjoyed boating with them at Indian Lake.
 
A four-mile stretch of I-75 at Bluffton has been renamed the Officer Dominic Francis Memorial Highway to commemorate his bravery.

Agent John D. Stayrook
Medina County Drug Task Force 
End of watch: Feb. 6, 2022
Memorial Wall: Panel 25

John Stayrook took on the inherent dangers of drug-task-force work for a simple reason: He wanted to protect and improve the communities he served in northeastern Ohio.
 
“John was a true hero and dedicated his life to serving others and making the state of Ohio a safer place for all of us,” said his boss, Darren Stout, the director of the Medina County Drug Task Force, an independent agency that serves 14 law enforcement departments in the county. “John was truly passionate about what he did for the community, and his death leaves a great void. It was an honor to serve alongside him, and his memory will live on forever with the task force.”
 
Agent Stayrook died after contracting COVID-19 while assisting Brunswick police during a drug-related traffic stop in January 2022. He spent a couple of days at home but, when breathing became difficult, was rushed to the hospital, where he eventually was moved to the intensive care unit and put on a respirator.
 
Through all of this, Agent Stayrook stayed upbeat and positive. Instead of focusing on his own well-being, Stout said, “he looked at it as more of an inconvenience for his family and the agency.”
 
His friend and colleague fought COVID for nearly a month before passing away. He was 60.
 
Agent Stayrook found his way to law enforcement later in life, after a career in construction that had taken him all over the country.
 
“He got bit by the bug,” Stout said. “His career path, I would venture to say, was different than most every other law enforcement officer’s in the state of Ohio in that he put himself through the academy and directly got into the drug enforcement specialization. This was his passion.”
 
After graduating from the Medina County Law Enforcement Academy, he was hired in 2003 by the Medway Drug Enforcement Agency in Wayne County, where he worked until 2007 before joining the Medina County Drug Task Force.
 
Medina County Sheriff Terry Grice said Agent Stayrook dedicated himself to the task force’s mission.
 
“His passion to do the right thing was very evident,” Grice said. “He was a remarkable agent and a tremendous person, and will be missed by all those who had the privilege to know him.”
 
Jason Waddell, director of the Medway DEA, said Agent Stayrook’s work ethic was second to none, noting that he was always willing to teach, learn and help out.
 
“He was just great to work with,” Waddell said.
 
Stout said Agent Stayrook was analytical and matter-of-fact but also had a unique talent for getting people “to open up to him more than anybody I've ever seen in my career. He was very empathetic and caring.”
 
Julie Ruic, an administrative assistant with the Medina County Drug Task Force, said Agent Stayrook’s smile was like a barometer indicating good times ahead: “Whenever John would get that grin, you knew something funny was about to happen or be said.”
 
But he wasn’t funny just to be funny; he lived his life to bring light into the world around him.
 
“John never knew a stranger,” Stout said. “He had the gift of gab and he knew it. He knew how to navigate any problem with just his wit and humor.
 
“He could get the whole room just rolling with laughter at any given point, even if it was a somber situation. . . .  That's what drew so many people to him and helped him in in his daily life as a drug enforcement agent, as a husband, father and grandfather. Everywhere John went, he was unconditionally loved.”
 
Agent Stayrook is survived by his wife, Pamela; his children, Adam and Jacqueline; his siblings, Blain and Margaret; and his two grandchildren, Breckon and Rowen.
 
A talented woodworker, he liked to unwind in his garage workshop by crafting animals, rocking horses and one-of-a-kind items, especially for his grandkids. He also liked camping with family and friends, and helping out with the Shop With A Cop program at Christmastime.
 
Agent Stayrook’s greatest sense of accomplishment, he would tell people, came from being a father and grandfather. Friends and family say he combined a deep love of life with a sincere appreciation of its greatest joy: the simplicity of being with loved ones.

Patrolman Sean E. Vandenberg
Lawrence Twp. Police Department 
End of watch: Dec. 25, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 24

Patrolman Sean VanDenberg came to law enforcement at a much older age than most cops do.
 
After a career as a mechanic, welder and fabricator, he decided to chase his dream of becoming a police officer, entering the Stark State College Law Enforcement Academy at age 44 in 2012. A year later, he joined the Lawrence Township Police Department in Stark County.
 
His colleagues at the academy and the police department valued the wisdom he brought to the job and the manner with which he dispensed it. He was the “Dad” of the department, Police Chief David Brown said.
 
What people don’t know, the patrolman’s wife of 21 years said, is that “he was scared to death to go to the academy” at his age. Despite that, Jeanann VanDenberg said, he graduated second in his class and often wondered why he hadn’t gone into law enforcement much sooner.
 
“‘It was God’s plan,’ I told him. ‘He wanted you to be older and more mature.’”
 
Patrolman VanDenberg spent six years on the Canton-area SWAT team, was a certified sniper and firearms instructor, and was always eager to help his colleagues.
 
“I think his favorite role was field training officer,” Chief Brown said. “He really enjoyed taking our new people under his wing. He had a real knack for training and loved learning new tactics and procedures. Sean used every day as a teaching moment.”
 
Patrolman VanDenberg died of COVID-19, which he contracted on Dec. 3, 2021, after arresting a man and transporting him to jail. The suspect had complained of being sick and showed symptoms of COVID. Despite the precautions he took, he fell ill the next day and was taken to the hospital, where he later tested positive for the virus. Organ failure eventually ensued and, according to Brown, “everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.”

He died on Christmas at age 53, in his eighth year with the Lawrence Township Police Department.
 
Jeanann VanDenberg remembers her husband as “an all-around good person” who cared about people and his community. “He opened his heart to everybody,” she said.
 
In his spare time, Patrolman VanDenberg enjoyed a wide range of athletic pursuits, including working out, cycling, running and scuba diving. He had completed his first ultra-marathon just six months before his death.
 
That he died on Christmas and had been so fit and healthy before contracting COVID seems cruelly ironic – something she and her children have thought about frequently, Jeanann VanDenberg said.
 
But she reconciles the irony this way: “With Sean being such a believer, a man of such deep faith, I don't think he would have died on any other day.”
 
She feared, in fact, that he might die on Christmas Eve, a concern that inspired her to prayer: ‘God,’ I said, ‘I’m going to have a selfish moment. Please do not take him on my mom's birthday. It will devastate her.’”
 
Her mother, she said, loved Sean dearly. When her husband finally did pass, she looked at her watch: It was 12:02,  two minutes into Christmas morning.
 
Not long after the funeral, Jeanann VanDenberg recalled, a young man whom her husband had stopped for speeding reached out to her through Facebook.
 
“He said he’d been a jerk to Sean, swearing at him and generally giving him a hard time. Still, the young man said, Sean talked to him for 20 minutes – ‘like I was a real person.’” The young man concluded his condolence by saying, “I really respect and look up to your husband and just wanted to let you know that.”
 
The anecdote reinforces Patrolman VanDenberg’s character and his sense of fairness.
 
“He gave people the benefit of the doubt and did everything he could to put them in a better place,” Chief Brown said. “It didn’t matter whether a person was the victim of a crime or the suspect; he always helped them be better at that moment.”
 
The patrolman, known for his sunny disposition, made it a practice of wishing the department’s dispatchers a cheery “good morning” when calling in for service.
 
“They looked forward to it every morning,” Chief Brown said – so much so that department played a recording of the patrolman’s daily greeting at his funeral.
 
“Everybody knew Sean and everybody loved him,” said Brown, noting that his death has been “a difficult time for a lot of people in this community.”
 
In addition to his wife, Patrolman VanDenberg is survived by four grown children – Erin, Ryan, Maxwell and John – three grandchildren, his mother, three siblings, and many extended family members. VanDenberg’s father passed away six months after his son died.
 

Deputy Robert "Craig" Mills
Butler County Sheriff's Office
End of Watch: Sept. 12, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 23

Deputy Mills was a kindhearted, disciplined and passionate person who treated everyone with respect and fiercely loved his friends and family. Or, as a friend described him, he was a “one phone call” kind of person – someone who, when contacted, was there to help right away, no questions asked.

Mills, known to family and friends as Craig, was 57 and had been with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for 32 years when he died on Sept. 12, 2021,  after a lengthy battle with  COVID-19. He had actually retired in June 2019, only to return several months later to the work he enjoyed at the urging of Sheriff Richard Jones.

“You couldn’t ask for a better deputy, and we needed him back,” Jones said. “His job was to find people and serve warrants, and nobody did it better. Other agencies from our county and around the state would even turn to him if they needed help. He had an unbelievable instinct and an amazing rapport with people.”
 
Those who knew him best say he was especially compassionate and generous, too. Friend and colleague David Rumpler said it wasn’t uncommon for Mills to dig into his own pocket to buy groceries for struggling families he encountered when serving warrants.
 
“He never met a stranger,” Rumpler told the Butler County Journal-News. “No matter what the cover of the book looked like, he never met a stranger.”
 
Sheriff Jones said Deputy Mills was born and raised in the Hamilton area and often knew the people he interacted with.
 
“He never forgot where he came from, all the way to the end,” Jones said. “He was just one of those people who always showed up when he knew someone needed something. He was always there, no matter how tough it was, no matter what other things he had to do. To me, that’s his biggest legacy.”
 
Always a star athlete, Mills was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 1982 and played Triple-A baseball through 1987. He would later be inducted into the Hamilton High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Butler County Softball Hall of Fame.
 
Throughout his life, he mentored athletes in the Hamilton area, and the City Council has since commemorated his tireless contributions by voting to name the street leading to the North End Baseball/Softball Complex in his honor. It’s no coincidence, Jones said, that Craig Mills Way happens to connect with a street named for another Hamilton baseball legend: Joe Nuxhall, a former Cincinnati Reds pitcher and announcer.
 
“Hamilton High contends for the state baseball championship almost every year, it seems,” Jones said. “We’re always right up at the top. It was Craig who helped mentor a lot of these young men and their coaches. He gave back till his last breath.”
 
The street naming was backed by Mayor Pat Moeller, who worked with Deputy Mills in the prosecutor’s office. The proponents of the measure said it wasn’t only Mills’ involvement in law enforcement and sports that qualified him for the honor, but also his heart and willingness to help others in need.
 
When he wasn’t around a baseball field, Deputy Mills was typically pursuing his other favorite outdoor pastime – fishing. And he was good at, with trophies from various professional bass tournaments to prove his prowess. It was a passion he especially enjoyed sharing with the city’s disadvantaged kids through Fish With a Cop, a tournament he helped organize.
 
“A lot of these kids didn’t have a dad,” Jones said. “They had never held a fishing pole or baited a hook. But you should have seen them laughing and giggling over the fish they brought in, even the little bitty fish that were barely bigger than the bait. They were so happy.”
 
Deputy Mills’ funeral honored his love of fishing: His bass boat was towed right behind the hearse in the procession to the cemetery. “If he had his way,” Jones said, “he probably would have been in the boat.”
 
There was no doubt, though, about the greatest source of passion in Deputy Mills’s life: his children, Megan and Alex. He loved spending time with them and rarely missed one of their sporting events or school events, Jones said.
 
In addition to his kids, Mills is survived by his wife of nearly 27 years, Anne Vaaler Mills, and his sister, Rayetta Fields, as well as in-laws, nieces and nephews, and numerous extended family members.
 
“What a great and wonderful person,” Jones said. “We miss him every day.”

Officer Edward L. Stewart
Akron Police Department 
End of Watch: Feb. 12, 2021
Memorial Wall: Panel 22

Officer Stewart was known for his devotion to his community and his ever-present kindness. Integrity, humility and passion defined both his personality and his career.

“Stew wrote the script for what a public servant should be,” said Lt. Michael Miller of the Akron Police Department. Miller said he regarded his friend as a mentor, the godfather of the department.

Others did, too.

“If there was one word that describes him, it’s ‘respect,’ ” Sgt. Brent Bauknecht told reporters shortly after Officer Stewart’s death. His colleague’s exemplary character and conduct, Bauknecht said, made a lasting positive impact on the community.

Stewart died at age 60 after a two-month battle with COVID-19. His death, one of the first serious COVID cases that the department experienced, was devastating. 

“It really shocked us,” Miller said. “Midway through, we had heard there was some improvement – so there was a great expectation that Stew would recover. And then, before we knew it, he had taken a turn for the worse and was gone.”

Compounding the loss was the death a few months earlier, in November 2021, of Akron Officer Kenneth Jones, who suffered a heart attack at age 55. Jones and Stewart, both assigned to the patrol division, were like brothers.

Miller said that even when Officer Stewart was in the hospital intensive care unit, he was focused on getting back to work.

“He said he didn’t want to let anyone down. That struck me because, even as uncertain as his situation was, his thoughts were on serving others. He set the bar high. This department and this community lost a great man.”

Edward Stewart began his career as a civilian employee in 1993 before pursuing his passion and joining the Akron Police Department’s academy in December 1994. After graduating, he joined the patrol division and served the community as a transport wagon officer, where he remained, by choice, for his entire 27-year career with the department.  

Colleagues talked about the relentless enthusiasm with which he carried out his job and lived his life. In fact, Stewart was eligible for retirement but continued working because “of his love and passion for the community,” Miller said.

Before entering law enforcement, Stewart served 14 years in the Air Force as an administrative specialist and special courier. During his tenure, he met the love of his life, Lisa, with whom he raised a family over the course of their 35-year marriage.

Miller said Officer Stewart had “a strong, commanding, yet humble presence” among his colleagues and “quietly left an indelible mark” on the department.

He was always one of the first to respond to assist his fellow officers, even in the most critical moments, and was blessed with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge that he would, in turn, share with others in the department, regardless of rank.

Former Interim Police Chief Mike Caprez said it wasn’t unusual for Stewart to be researching a police matter and walk into his office with a pile of material and drop it on his desk.

Miller said it was Stewart’s nature to continually look for ways to improve his own performance and the efficiency of the department as a whole.

“If you saw him with his hands empty, something was wrong because he was known for studying reports and other research from around Ohio and the nation,” Miller said. “It was something new every day. It might be about safety or technology, but it always related to helping us serve the community better, helping us do our jobs better.”

On top of that, his colleagues said, Officer Stewart had a photographic memory – a gift that, among other things, enabled him to identify license plates mentioned in the reports he regularly consumed. He knew not only that a vehicle had been stolen, Miller said, but also the day and time it was taken and the location of the theft – information he could recall even weeks later. 

Ultimately, though, his abundant compassion is what colleagues remember most vividly – and Officer Stewart showed it at all times, even with the men and women he took to jail, Miller said.

“He drove the wagon and saw these people in their worst moments. Yet he always offered kindness and understanding.”

In addition to his wife, Officer Stewart is survived by two sons, Jason and Leland; two grandsons, Carter and Mehki; six brothers; two sisters; his mother-in-law and extended family members.

Officer Kenneth C. Jones
Akron Police Department 
End of Watch: Nov. 7, 2020
Memorial Wall: Panel 21

Officer Jones was beginning a new chapter of his life when he was struck down by a heart attack.
 
Just six weeks earlier, he had remarried, happily in love again after having lost his first wife to cancer in 2016.
 
News of his death stunned the Akron Police Department.
 
“It was an absolute shock to everyone because he was such a physically imposing guy,” Lt. Michael Miller said. “He was nearly 6 feet 5 and . . .  appeared to be in great physical shape. We were devastated.”
 
Officer Jones’ faith, which served him so constantly throughout his life, was the focus of many colleagues’ memories of him.
 
“If you presented any issues to Kenny, he would always pray for you,” friend and fellow Officer Calvin Barker told reporters soon after Jones’ death. “He prayed for people in the streets when they were going through stuff. He didn't have a mean bone in his body.”
 
Capt. Kris Beitzel, who joined the department in 1994, echoed those sentiments.
 
“Kenny was literally the kindest person I've ever known,” she said. “That came from his faith in God. It came from just the general goodness of who he was.”
 
Miller said Jones’ actions reflected his values.
 
“You knew Kenny was a man of faith by the way he lived his life, the way he loved his children, the way that he loved his wife,” he said. “He would often share positive words of affirmation, of encouragement and even prayer when necessary, and it was always the right balance. So it never struck anyone as overbearing or inappropriate because he had a gift for discernment and knew what someone needed in a certain moment.
 
“He helped other people be stronger.”
 
On the Friday afternoon of Nov. 6, 2020, Officer Jones responded to a domestic-assault call involving a child. A crowd of family members and bystanders had gathered and grew increasingly belligerent and confrontational with the officers on the scene.
 
Officer Jones transported a suspect back to the station and later told his supervisors that he had experienced pain in his chest during the incident. That evening at home, when he complained of pain in his throat, his wife drove him to Summa Akron City Hospital, where his condition worsened. He passed away on Saturday.
 
He was 55 and had served with the Akron Police Department for 26 years, the vast majority of the time in the patrol division.
 
The soft-spoken Jones was a “gentle giant” whose calmness had a way of defusing tense situations. His colleagues said even the people he interacted with on the streets or transported to jail or mental-health facilities seemed to appreciate his empathy and respected the way he went about his job.
 
In all that he did, Miller said, he acted with a sense of humanity.
 
“He really was an angel on Earth. Maybe it sounds cliché, but the tributes that poured in after his death –  thousands of people telling the exact same story – only reinforced how blessed we felt to know and work with Kenny.”
 
Jones was born in Arizona but was a lifetime resident of Akron. He attended Garfield High School and the University of Akron, and later graduated from the Akron Police Academy.
 
Friends and family say he was a big kid at heart who was fond of Marvel comics, Star Wars movies, movie theater popcorn and amusement parks, especially Cedar Point. He was an excellent artist, loved to sing, and had an appreciation for all genres of music.
 
He is survived by his wife, Stacy Hairston-Jones; three teenage children from his first marriage, daughters Havilland and Eunice and son Xavier; his father; and two brothers and a sister. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Rhonda, and his mother, Barbara.
 
“There’s not a single person who has an ill thing to say about Kenny,” Miller said. “Simply by his example, he would encourage you to be a better man, a better human being. And that's one of the things about him that I’ll miss forever.”