MONROE – Barbara Benjou said she has never seen anything like in the Village of Monroe before.
Benjou is co-owner of Bilt Well Fence Company, and about a block away from her business in Route 17 M, Still Road was closed as thousands of police officers descended on the village to attend the funeral of Brian Mulkeen, a New York city policeman, at Sacred Heart Church.
Waves of officers in blue walked in line along Route 17M, and Benjou had a forklift holding a pallet of water, candy and tissues to offer to the passing police officers.
“We figured they would be thirsty. My idea was tissues. You can never have enough tissues, but we just wanted to give back, that’s all,” she said. “The love, it’s amazing.”
Mulkeen died last Sunday in the Bronx during friendly fire incident as he struggled with a suspect. Friday, officers from his department, local departments, and some from out of state and Canada, attended the funeral.
“We are woven into one fabric,” said Carmine Romeo, a retired New York City police officer when asked why he was attending Friday’s service. “We are all police officers.”
Romeo was outside the church as the visiting officers arrived for the service. Romeo said Mulkeen’s death was something that is always potentially part of police work.
“It’s unfortunate; the circumstances which I don’t think have been realized. But it is unfortunate because it was a senseless death. The cop knew what he was doing. He knew he was taking this chance,” said Romeo. “Every time you wake up in the morning, strap on the gun and put on that shield, there’s a great shot you are not coming home. He knew it. Everybody here knows it, but we still go out and do it.”
