MORGANTOWN – Two fallen local law enforcement officers were among those honored Monday morning when riders from The Honor Roll made a stop at the Public Safety Building for a brief ceremony.
Five Honor Roll riders joined with Morgantown Police Officer Frank Fidazzo’s widow, Janice Fidazzo, and members of the Morgantown Police Department to honor Fidazzo, Monongalia County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Todd May and four others.
The Honor Roll explains that its mission is to commemorate and remember the lives of fallen law enforcement officers and the enduring sacrifices of their families, friends and colleagues. Active and retired law enforcement officers, and survivors of fallen officers put on annual cycling events and commemorate the fallen at stops along the route.
Tours began in 2015 and this was the 2023 spring tour. The Honor Roll Executive Director Ellen Pierson led this ride and said the tours typically stop at the large cities but this year they wanted to do something different.
“We wanted to reach out to the heartland of America. So, we’re honored to be here,” she said.
Fidazzo, an MPD bike officer, died in 2000 after falling from his bike in a training accident. May died in 2012 when his cruiser was rammed by a drunk driver fleeing a police pursuit.
Morgantown Police Chief Eric Powell told the cyclists, “I’m really honored you chose to stop here in your travels. I think it’s a wonderful thing you’re doing in honoring those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of their job. … Frank was a great guy. … I thought very highly of him.”
Janice Fidazzo spoke briefly. “I just appreciate what you’re doing. It’s been a long time. Gone but not forgotten.”
Pierson, a retired Department of Homeland Security officer, said they were in Davis on May 1, then moved on to Cass, Lewisburg and the New River Gorge; they shuttled to Parkersburg and rode on to Bridgeport before stopping in Morgantown.
Joining her were Alicia Harris, a Denver Police officer; Matt Hutton and Brian Fouch, with Tampa Police; and Kim Kindell, retired U.S. Forest Service officer. She said she learned about Fidazzo through a mutual friend of Janice and Frank’s daughter, Rache.
Also honored were West Virginia State Trooper Harry Gene Lucas, who died in a helicopter crash in 1984; State Police Private Blake A Michael, who died in 1927; Thomas C. Barnard, a B&O Railroad Police Department officer who died in 1921; and Garrett County, Md., Sheriff’s Deputy Coery McElroy, who died in 2022 in a vehicle crash.
After reading the names, Pierson called for all to have a moment of silence to commemorate the fallen. The riders’ next stop was to be in Cumberland, Md.
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