Officer Ortiz Laid To Rest

By Thomas J. Gibbons

Inquirer Staff Writer

To the tune of bagpipers playing "Amazing Grace" on a windswept, rainy afternoon at the bottom of a cemetery hill, family members, friends and hundreds of police officers bade farewell today to Officer Jose M. Ortiz.

The 29-year-old patrolman died Thursday night, three days after being hit by a police cruiser that was rushing to assist him as he chased a suspect in the Fairhill section of North Philadelphia.

Following wishes expressed when he checked the organ-donation box on his driver's license and comments made to his wife, Theresa, a nurse, several of his organs were made available for transplant.

"It hasn't hit me yet, but eventually it will and I know for a fact that I am going to have to just hide for a few hours and just let it all out," said Police Officer Alberto Sanchez, president of the Spanish American Law Enforcement Association (SALEA).

The day began with a viewing at 10 a.m. at the Maternity BVM Church on Old Bustleton Avenue in the city's Northeast, followed by an 11 a.m. funeral mass.

At about 12:30, Mayor Street, Police Commissioner John F. Timoney, Managing Director Joseph Martz and other city officials stood at the forefront of a city contingent and watched at attention as Ortiz's casket was brought from the church and placed in a hearse for a procession down Roosevelt Boulevard, west on Levick Street and then on to Cheltenham Avenue and the final portion of the journey to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery on city's northwestern border.

While family members and police officers wept, the department's aviation unit participated in a burial ceremony for the first time. Two helicopters appeared over a rise, flying low. As one continued over the tent where the closest mourners gathered, the second chopper veered off in the military-style tribute to a fallen comrade.

Theresa Ortiz and her family had kept a vigil at Temple University Hospital following the accident on Monday, praying for her husband's recovery even as doctors offered scant hope.

On Thursday at 9 p.m., she asked that her husband, who never regained consciousness, be taken off life support. He died just before midnight, and the organ recovery was done immediately.

"I'm glad that I spoke with my husband about our wishes," Theresa Ortiz said in a statement.

Thomas J. Gibbons Jr.'s e-mail address is mailto:tgibbons@phillynews.com

Copyright © Philadelphia Inquirer.

This article posted October 3, 2000.