Two St. Bernard deputies attended funeral of murdered New York City policeman

St. Bernard sheriff’s deputies Carlo Cacioppo. left, and Capt. Ronnie Martin at the 911 Memorial in New York City during their trip to the funeral of a slain police officer.

St. Bernard sheriff’s deputies Capt. Ronnie Martin, at right, and next to him Carlo Cacioppo, with the fllight crew and other poice officers who flew back from New York after the funeral of a slain police officer.

Two St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies, Capt. Ronnie Martin and Carlo Cacioppo, attended the Dec. 27 funeral of a murdered New York City policeman and say they were humbled by the experience.

Martin and Cacioppo accepted the airline Jet Blue’s offer to fly free two officers from any department to the services being held for NYPD officer Rafael Ramos. Ramos was shot dead in a car with officer Wenjian Liu on Dec. 20 when ambushed by a man who police have described as a disturbed loner.

Martin, assistant commander of St. Bernard’s Special Investigations Division, said he felt compelled to attend the services for the fallen Ramos. He said he got a call about it from an officer in New York, Tony Perzichilli, who worked with the St Bernard Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division in the 1990s and now is with the Port Authority Police Department in New York/New Jersey.

“With all that’s going on now with demonstrations and with hatred toward policemen I thought it was the right time for police to come together and pay respects for the officer who was killed,’’ Martin said.

Cacioppo, an agent with the Street Crimes Unit that is a part of SID, said, “I knew it was the right thing to do’’ to go to the funeral. “Even though I never met him (officer Ramos) he was a brother. I felt the families could use the support and it might help ease the pain.”

Martin and Cacioppo were taken to the funeral by New York police and joined an overflow crowd of some 25,000 police, family, friends and dignitaries who jammed Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens.
“You looked down any side street all you saw were blue uniforms,’’ Martin said of the New York officers who were outside the church. He said he was told Jet Blue also flew in more than 700 officers from other departments.

Both Martin and Cacioppo said it was an unusual experience to be part of the group.

“We were outside the church and you are standing around so many officers for an officer most never knew,’’ Martin said. “People weren’t saying much. It was just a feeling we needed to be there for one another.’’

Cacioppo described being in “a sea of blue’’ with other officers. “It was humbling. Very humbling and emotional. It was an honor to be among the men and women of the NYPD who were there for a hero who sacrificed everything. It was such a senseless crime.’’

Martin also said he was “very impressed with how much gratitude’’ was shown to visitors like himself from New York officers and others. “Everywhere we went people were thanking us for being there.’’

Before the flight back to New Orleans the pilot approached him and Cacioppo and said the flight crew wanted a photo with them when they landed, Martin said. And it was nice, he said, when the captain recognized all the officers onboard for coming to New York, which also included ones from the Gretna and Jean Lafitte police departments, over the airplane intercom and the other passengers applauded them.