Police Officer Ryan Patrick Bonaminio

Ryan Patrick Bonaminio

Officer Ryan Bonaminio was shot and killed while involved in a foot pursuit in Fairmount Park at approximately 9:45 pm.

He had stopped the driver of a tractor trailer suspected of being involved in a hit-and-run accident a short time earlier. The driver fled from the vehicle into the park, with Officer Bonaminio in pursuit.

As Officer Bonaminio rounded a corner of a church he slipped and fell, at which point the suspect struck him on the head with a metal pipe and disarmed him. The suspect then shot Officer Bonaminio in the head twice despite the officer's pleas not to shoot. Officer Bonaminio was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds a short time later.

After shooting the officer, the suspect returned to the truck and drove it to the location from where it was stolen. The man was arrested two days later.

It was later discovered that the suspect had been arrested 13 times, received several prior convictions and was paroled in February 2009 for a previous crime. In May 2012, the suspect was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with Officer Bonaminio's murder and the jury subsequently recommended he receive the death penalty. On June 25, 2012, he was sentenced to death.

Officer Bonaminio had served as a military policeman in the U.S. Army for four years, serving two tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also served with the Riverside Police Department for four years and is survived by his parents, brother, and sister.

The Riverside's Tequesquite Park was posthumously renamed Ryan Bonaminio Park at the Tequesquite Arroyo (Ryan Bonaminio Park for short) in March 2012.