The ceremony Thursday in placing a sign bearing the name of a fallen San Diego police officer on a freeway overpass in Chula Vista meant more than it might have appeared.
The Palomar Street overpass above the 805 is being renamed the “Officer Jonathan DeGuzman Memorial Bridge”.
DeGuzman was shot and killed almost two years to the day of the ceremony. July 28, 2016 when he and his partner stopped to talk to a suspected gang member and they were both shot. His partner survived, DeGuzman, J-D as he was known, did not.
His family lives in Chula Vista, not far from where the sign bearing his name will be seen by thousands of people every day.
And that’s why this is so significant. Because it also is a symbol for other police officers who have lost their lives in the line of their duty to protect and serve their communities.
San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit told those at the sign ceremony honoring J-D DeGuzman that his fallen officer will be remembered and that “his legacy will live on forever.”
And at a time when the job of being a police officer has probably never been harder in our country... because of the actions of a handful and because of ugly attacks by some who want to brand all cops as bad…the sign bearing the name of J-D DeGuzman should serve as a poignant reminder, to be thankful for all the brave men and women in law enforcement who risk their lives every day for all of us.