By Sandy Scarmack
The Herald
FARRELL, Pa. — The only Farrell policeman killed in the line of duty will have his name engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., during a ceremony in May.
Joseph Gioia, 35, had been on the force for only five months on June 21, 1922, when he slipped trying to climb aboard a moving firetruck and was crushed underneath its back wheels.
It was shortly after midnight when Gioia spotted smoke coming from the back of a home at 735 Hamilton Ave.. He rushed to the fire department, then located on Wallis Avenue, and rang the alarm, according to reports published in The Herald.
As the LeFrance pumper pulled out of the station, Gioia grabbed a ladder and tried to swing himself onboard. He lost his balance, fell on the brick pavement and was run over by the truck that weighed about five tons.
Two of his co-workers, Lt. Samuel Flasher and Patrolman Leyshock, carried Gioia into the fire station and Dr. Breene was called. The Miller Ambulance Co. took him to Buhl Hospital, now Sharon Regional Health System, according to reports.
“He revived only once and whispered to friends at his bedside that he was dying,” according to the newspaper story. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 2:50 a.m.
His left side was crushed, several ribs broken, his right arm “mangled” and his left arm broken in two place, his left leg lacerated and he had bruises on his right eye and forehead, Coroner George Morgan wrote on the death certificate.
Roscoe Heile, who was driving the fire truck, said he felt the ladder dragging on the truck and saw someone “roll” away from the truck. He told police he thought the man was thrown to the side by the truck and said the accident was “entirely unavoidable.” A jury was put together for a coroner’s inquest and included Grant Boyle, Nick Santell, W.P. Miller, J. Holton, George Morris and John Clingan. Seven witnesses were asked to recount what happened and ultimately the jury agreed with Heile’s statements.
Gioia was born in Italy and came to Farrell in 1905, when he was 18. He lived at 945 Fruit Ave., and before joining the police force, he was employed at the Sharon Steel Hoop Mill and at the Carnegie plant. He was a member of the Italian Catholic Church, the Christopher Columbus Beneficial Society and the Sharon Lodge Loyal Order of the Moose.
He was survived by his wife, his father Pasquale Gioia and a sister in Italy. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Hermitage.
Riley Smoot, the former chief of the now-disbanded Southwest Mercer County Regional Police force, said he was contacted by Rocky Geppert, an investigator from Allegheny County, looking for information on Gioia. Smoot said he used old newspaper accounts to find out as much detail as possible, and Smoot was notified in December that Gioia will be included in the May 13 ceremony.
“I’d like see if somehow we could find some of Mr. Gioia’s relatives, if any are still around, and they could possibly participate in the ceremony,” Smoot said.
“It’s an honor. It’s a sad thing, but an honor to be included,” Smoot said.
ANYONE WITH INFORMATION on any of Gioia’s surviving relatives, may contact the research managers of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at 202-737-7136, Smoot said.
Copyright 2016 The Herald