MORGANTOWN — Morgantown Police Department PFC Frank Fidazzo was 44 years old on June 11, 2000, when he died of injuries sustained in the line of duty.
The 11-year veteran initiated the MPD’s bicycle patrol. He and his wheels became a fixture in the city’s downtown and on the rail-trail in the last years of his watch.
The day before he died, Fidazzo was finishing a one-week training course in White Park with officers from multiple agencies when he was thrown over the handlebars of his bike and suffered severe head injuries.
A little less than 12 years later, Sgt. Todd May of the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department was sitting in his cruiser near the state line watching for an approaching vehicle pursuit that had started in Monongalia County before crossing into Pennsylvania.
Approximately one mile north of the state line on Interstate 79 south, the driver rammed May’s patrol car as he waited in the median for the pursuit to reach his location. May was transported to a hospital in Morgantown, where he died a short time later.
May had been a deputy with MCSD for 10 years.
The driver of the vehicle was charged with homicide by vehicle in Pennsylvania. He was convicted of third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while DUI and multiple other counts. He is currently incarcerated in a state prison in Albion, Pa.
Fidazzo and May are two of the 228 law enforcement officers to be killed while serving in West Virginia’s history, and among more than 24,000 to make the ultimate sacrifice nationwide dating back to the late 1700s.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day.
A small crowd gathered on the Monongalia County Courthouse Square in bright sunshine Thursday morning in recognition.
“It’s a somber time for law enforcement this time every year, every year,” MPD Chief Eric Powell said. “It’s a time where we honor the service of our fellow officers and remember their sacrifice and get to share in a little bit of that honor and that remembrance with the families of those who sacrificed everything for the sake of doing their job.”
The names Fidazzo and May can be seen around town. Certainly, they’re both represented within the headquarters of their respective departments. A section of rail-trail carries Fidazzo’s name. The Sabraton bridge over Stewartstown Road carries May’s.
Sheriff Todd Forbes said he knew both men.
“It’s a great thing for the community to come together to honor them, but it’s really a great thing nationwide for everybody to recognize the hard work and dedication that goes into law enforcement day-to-day. Often, we’re only remembered for the bad things that a few people do as opposed to the good things that so many do,” Forbes said, explaining that much like the families, the departments – friends and coworkers – never forget.
“We have a memorial in our lobby to him. His unit number still appears on our schedule. He’s frozen in time with us. He’ll always be a treasured member of our department,” Forbes said of May. “He’s missed every day.”
