Overflow funeral crowd honors Cpl. Szuba, K-9 Ricky

MISHAWAKA — First came his family, somber and dressed in black, bound by their love for the man they called dad, husband, brother, uncle. Then came the officers, by the hundreds, in pressed uniforms and grim expressions, bound by a code to protect, to serve and, on the saddest occasions, to honor their fallen comrade. Then came the dogs, 85 in all, K-9 officers led by their handlers, each bound by the ancient code of dog and master, a tribute to both the fallen officer and his German shepherd partner. For nearly 30 minutes they came, walking slowly, steadily forward to pay tribute to Mishawaka Cpl. James Szuba and his K-9, Ricky, both killed in a traffic accident with an allegedly drunk driver on Jan. 9. "It’s futile to try and make sense of this tragedy," Msgr. Bernard Galic told the capacity crowd that filled Bethel College’s Everest-Rohrer chapel and spilled into an overflow seating area. "We must simply leave it to God." Szuba, Galic said, was a man who loved his family – wife Debbie, 22-year-old son Josh and 18-year-old daughter Stephanie – and always put them first, even as he worked a dangerous job. "Jim knew Debbie’s unspoken fears," Galic said, "fears shared by the wives of every police officer." On behalf of the department, Mishawaka Police Chief Ken Witkowski thanked the hundreds of officers from nearly every department in northern Indiana, as well as dozens from southwest Michigan and officers from Ohio, Illinois and southern Indiana who came to show their support for Szuba and Ricky. "Looking back to the beginning, the term rookie never fit his character," the chief said of the 42-year-old Szuba, who joined the police force in 2002, following in the footsteps of his father, Floyd, and brother, John, both South Bend police officers. After joining the force, Szuba quickly became trained as a K-9 officer, acquiring Ricky as a partner in 2003. He was also a certified shooting instructor, coaching fellow officers in proper shooting techniques. Witkowski said Szuba’s quiet nature and dry wit made him an excellent coach. When the police chief went to have a new gun certified at the range, he commented to Szuba that the springs on the targets were too tight, because they hadn’t fallen over. "He just looked at me with that look of his and said, ‘No, Chief, you just missed,’" Witkowski said. Josh Szuba, the police officer’s son and the only family member to speak at the funeral, seemed older than his 22 years as he talked about his dad, a man he sometimes argued with but always respected. "The only regret that he had was that he didn’t get to go fishing with his dad before he died," Josh Szuba said. "In the end, I have the same regret, as he wanted to go hunting, but I didn’t have a chance to go." A brotherhood Before the funeral, Mishawaka police gathered under a gray sky in a parking lot near Bethel College to say their final farewell to one of their own. South Bend, St. Joseph County and Indiana State Police took over the job of protecting the city of Mishawaka, giving its police officers a chance to all mourn Szuba together. "It's a brotherhood," Assistant Chief Mike Samp said. "When one falls, we all feel it." As the funeral drew near, officers from other departments went to Bethel College, as members of the Mishawaka police family continued to gather, talking in small groups, sometimes laughing quietly among themselves. But only the chiefs talked with reporters. One police dog in the back of a car whined softly instead of barking when a stranger stopped to talk to his human partner. Most of the members of the department gathered in the parking lot of Movies 14 on Edison Road and drove in procession to Bethel College for Szuba's funeral. Assistant Chief Mark Tavernier said everybody was doing as well as could be expected. "It's tough," he said. "Jim was the best of the best." On the record Although his funeral was packed with family, friends and officers, people who said they’d never met Szuba or Ricky attended the funeral as well. Debbie Steele of Mishawaka brought a box of Milkbones, a treat she intended to pass to the K-9 handlers in attendance as a way to honor both Ricky and Szuba. "It’s just horrible to think that they are both gone," said Steele, who also has a German shepherd, "and he was more than just a police dog; he was the family pet." During the funeral, Congressman Joe Donnelly presented Szuba’s family with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol building and read a statement that had been delivered into the Congressional record Wednesday. "‘In 2004, he and three fellow officers were presented the Officer of the Year Award by the Indiana Council of Fraternal, Veterans and Social Societies after they rescued a 5-year-old boy from drowning in a frozen neighborhood pond,’" Donnelly read from the statement. "‘Cpl. Szuba also received several letters of commendation and his performance evaluation noted that he ‘is one of the most dependable and trustworthy officers’ ... ‘he has leadership skills and is well respected by his peers and supervisors.’" Outside the funeral, as officers and family members began assembling the procession that would lead to St. Joseph Cemetery just west of South Bend, students and staff from Bethel College, along with community members, lined the drive to watched as the procession drove away. Sarah Morton, 24, stood with her 3-year-old son, Jack, and waved a small American flag. "My brother’s a police officer," Morton said, "and I worry that something like this could happen to him. I kind of feel bad that I didn’t know Cpl. Szuba until this happened." Staff writer Dave Stephens: dstephens@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6209