Officer Down Memorial Page

Your heroism and service is honored today, the 95th anniversary of your death. Your memory lives and you continue to inspire. Thank you for your service. My cherished son Larry Lasater was a fellow police officer murdered in the line of duty on April 24, 2005 while serving as a Pittsburg, CA police officer.


Rest In Peace

Phyllis Loya
mom of fallen officer Larry Lasater
November 29, 2010

Rest in peace hero

vandenberghe
nh
November 29, 2007

Rest in peace my brother.

Kevin T Ryan
Ex- New Jersey Cop
November 29, 2007

God Speed, Brother.

P.O.K.Murphy
Union PD, NJ
September 21, 2007

Since my early 20s, I have had a copy of this picture and John's wife, Mary Mulligan, displayed wherever I have lived. I never knew them, of course, because my father, Charles Raymond Murphy, was only four when his dad died. John's children, like many children who lose parents young, were bound together in ways that sometimes seemed daunting to outsiders, like spouses and children.

I think I kept these pictures displayed for two reasons: Rita, the youngest child, always said I looked so much like her mother, and Charlie and his true soulmate, his sister, Anne, once related the family "legend" of how their father had died. The story struck a chord in me, because both Charlie and Aunt Anne had never spoken about their parents that I could recall and it involved horses.

Mary, her sister and brother, Charlie and Margaret Mulligan told Anne, John, Charlie and Rita that their father had noticed a runaway dray (a heavy freight wagon) and had attempted to stop the team. In reaching for the lines, he lost his balance, fell backwards and struck his head on the curbstone, with fatal consequences. Mary already suffered from a weaken heart when she was widowed and never really recovered, so for the four children, it was like losing both parents that day.

One of John's children grew up to join the NYPD. It is through John L. Murphy's effort that our grandfather was finally honored on this memorial. After almost a century few records were available and, officially, no one knows exactly how young Officer Murphy was fatally injured.

I'd put my money on the family legend, however, for two reasons. It was an event related with emphatic certainty by two siblings who NEVER discussed the past and this granddaughter, Mary Maureen, is a lifelong professional horsewoman. It just feels right.

Maureen Hamilton
granddaughter
May 30, 2006

YOUR TOUR OF DUTY IS NOW OVER OFFICER MURPHY. REST IN PEACE. YOUR BROTHERS & SISTERS WILL NOW TAKE OVER YOUR WATCH.

PO WALTER M.ZULINSKI
FORMER POLICE OFFICER HUDSON COUNTY POLICE, NEW JERSEY.
May 4, 2006

Patrolman Murphy,
It has taken over 90 years, but you are finally being honored. I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for the citizens of Jersey City.

R.I.P.
Anonymous

March 4, 2006

THANKS FOR WEARING THE BADGE.

GILBERT DANIEL
March 1, 2006