By Rick McCrabb and Michael D. Pitman
Journal-News
CINCINNATI, Ohio — Those who couldn’t attend Sonny Kim’s funeral service lined the streets from the Cintas Center to the Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery. Some stood on Montgomery Road for more than an hour, waving American flags, holding up homemade signs, thanking Kim for his 27 years on the Cincinnati police force.
They wanted to pay their final respects to the Cincinnati police officer who was gunned down on June 19 in the line of duty.
Silence fell over the crowd when the procession first passed the cemetery on the way to Kim’s dojo, where the fallen Cincinnati officer trained and taught thousands of youth. When the white hearse appeared again, the crowd started clapping.
Among those there Friday afternoon to honor Kim, 48, a husband and father of three sons, were members of the Warthogs Motorcycle Club, with members wearing jackets representing chapters from Ohio to Ontario.
Several families also lined the processional route.
Dawnya Maratos, from Maineville, who watched the procession with her two children, said her husband, a police officer for 12 years, died in an off-duty motorcycle accident. She showed her support because she knows what it’s like “to worry whether or not my husband is going come home from work.”
Milford’s Maria Carper brought her young daughter, Cheyenne. She said it was important for her daughter to see the police officer procession, the first one for a fallen Cincinnati officer in 15 years.
She wanted her daughter to understand the dangers associated with the profession, even when officers are responding to a perceived routine call.
Kris Scarborough, from Maineville, certainly understands the dangers of police work. Her husband is a police officer and was riding in one of the 500 police cruisers in the procession.
When asked about her two children, Scarborough said: “They, sadly, know the risks. This could have been us.”
‘He Was A Great Guy’
Howard Lebow, 63, of Wyoming, and a martial arts student of Kim’s, credited the fallen officer for his instruction, his guidance.
“Sonny Kim, Sensei Kim, police officer Kim, anybody who knew him liked him and he was everybody’s friend,” Lebow said before entering the Cintas Center for the funeral service. “As far as a karate instructor, a sensei, (I’ve) been involved with martial arts most of my life, there was no better. All around, he was a great guy, great family, taught thousands and thousands of students generationally and taught them discipline and how to behave themselves.”
Then he added: “Many, if not most, have made something good of their life because of Sonny Kim.”
For those who grieve Kim, especially those who mentored or taught at the dojo, Lebow said Kim would say, “‘Train hard, train often.’ And if you didn’t, he wasn’t shy. In fact two weeks ago he told me I was lazy and to get to the dojo and get to work.”
Lebow said this was the third person he saw buried this year. He lost two uncles earlier, but “this one was the lightning bolt because this was so unexpected. So you want to live the way he did. He made the best of every single minute of his life.”
Lebow said Kim would be up at 5:30 a.m. training at the dojo, then off to work and then back involved at the dojo and the community running classes.
“He would want you to make the very best of yourself, and that would be my plans,” Lebow said. “He was as bright as the stars, as a personality. He literally radiated energy. He would look you right in the eye — very intense, but very calm. And even though his life was taken, his spirit is everywhere.”
Former Police Chief: He Watched Over Me
James Craig, former Cincinnati police chief, said when he worked in the city, Kim discussed using martial arts as another way to connect with the youth in the community.
Craig also lived in District 2, Kim’s jurisdiction.
“He was a person who watched me,” Craig said.
Craig said he brought seven officers down from Detroit, where he serves as police chief. He called that “a powerful statement.”
Why did Craig return to Cincinnati?
“He is my hero,” he said. “I would not have missed this for anything.”
Funeral Service Draws 7,000
The parking lot above the Cintas Center wasn’t large enough to handle the crowd for Kim. By the time his funeral started at 11 a.m. Friday — one week after he was killed by Trepierre Hummons, 21, on the streets on Madisonville, in an alleged “suicide by cop” — about 500 police cruisers and county sheriff deputies vehicle representing departments around the United States were lined bumper to bumper. There were police departments throughout Butler and Warren counties, all around the state and parts of the country. The crowd was estimated at 7,000, and hundreds of those were police officers and deputies.
School buses also brought law enforcement officers to the arena.
Many of the officers made the long way from the parking lot to the arena holding hands with their wives. Some of the officers greeted each other with hugs. Some shed tears.
Numerous members of the Cincinnati police cadet program also attended the funeral. One of those, Jakobi Murrell, said Kim’s death only reinforced his desire to serve in public safety.
“At the end of the day, you are fighting for what’s right,” said Murrell, who was unsure when he may become an officer.
Mourner Arrives Three Hours Early
Audrey Stites took off work Friday to attend Kim’s funeral. Three hours before the service began and one hour before the doors opened, Stites sat quietly on the steps outside the Cintas Center.
She has family members who are police officers, and as she said: “I see from behind the lines how hard they work and how they care. I wanted to be here to show my support. The officers do so much and ask for so little.”
While she didn’t know Kim or his family, as soon as she heard last Friday that he was shot and killed, she started praying.
“This is a very emotional day,” Stites said. “This is the only place I wanted to be today. It’s very healing to be with everyone.”
No Cameras, No Cell Phones
The Kim family asked that no pictures or video be recorded of their son’s funeral at the Cintas Center. So minutes before it was scheduled to begin, Capt. Doug Wiesman instructed the mourners to put away their cameras and turn off their cell phones. He said no one wanted to be the person whose cell phone rang during the funeral.
The funeral lasted 90 minutes, about 20 minutes longer than expected.
When the funeral ended, Kim’s casket and his family were taken to a private room and the crowd was dismissed a few minutes later.
Copyright 2015 the Journal-News