By Jeremiah Marquez, The Associated Press
Downey, Calif. (AP) -- A California Highway Patrol officer allegedly gunned down at random by a teenage boy to impress a street gang was eulogized Tuesday as a family man and hero who became the victim of an assassination that marked “a new low in our history.”
The slaying of Officer Thomas J. Steiner was denounced by state officials as an attack upon society, and the head of the Highway Patrol told Steiner’s family, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and thousands of officers gathered at Calvary Chapel that there would soon be a “day of reckoning” for all involved.
Steiner, 35, of Long Beach, was shot by a motorist last week as he stood outside the Los Angeles County courthouse in Pomona were he was testifying in traffic cases.
Police quickly arrested 16-year-old Valentino Mitchell Arenas and he was charged as an adult with murder. He appeared briefly in court but did not enter a plea. His public defender was granted a delay in arraignment until the youth could be assigned an attorney familiar with the special circumstances.
CHP Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick bitterly noted that 201 officers have died in the line of duty in the CHP’s 75-year history and he said the infamous April 1970 “Newhall incident” in which four officers died in a gunbattle north of Los Angeles was now overshadowed by Steiner’s April 21 death.
“The death of Tom Steiner has reached a new low in our history,” Helmick said. “On that date a despicable little coward murdered Tom in cold blood.
“I have a promise to make today to all of the coward’s friends: Their day of reckoning is coming and it is coming very quickly. Such cowardly acts will not be tolerated in the state of California.”
Even before Steiner was killed, California law enforcement officials were complaining that officers were increasingly being targeted.
Steiner was married, with a 3-year-old son and 13-year-old stepson. Eulogists spoke about his devotion to family, the CHP and his fascination with Camaros, a passion he was able to indulge in on the job when the agency bought a fleet of white Camaros to use in pursuing truckers.
“There was no other job in the world for him but the California Highway Patrol,” said his sister, Julie Sparks.
Sunne Wright McPeak, Schwarzenegger’s secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, spoke on behalf of the governor.
“The bullets struck Officer Thomas Steiner but they were aimed at all of us. Officer Steiner paid the ultimate price but we too are the victims of this senseless act of violence,” she said.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer said he was at the funeral of a Merced officer, slain during a traffic stop, when he learned of Steiner’s death.
“Obviously, the dead can’t seek justice when these dreadful assassinations occur, but the living can. We understand that an attack on an officer is an attack on us all,” Lockyer said.
Bagpipes played and there was a helicopter fly-over during interment later at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Cypress.