Friday, May 16, 2003 | 5:09 a.m.
Benjamin Grove covers Washington, D.C., for the Sun. He can be reached at [email protected] or (202) 662-7245.
RENO MOTORCYCLE cop Michael Scofield loved his job.
"He used to say, 'They give me this brand-new motorcycle, it's all shiny and loaded with chrome, and I get to ride it all day long. They buy all my gas -- and I get a paycheck for it,' " recalled friend, neighbor and fellow motorcycle officer John McCauley.
Still, Scofield, a Vietnam veteran who served 25 years on the Reno force, was looking forward to a retirement. He had a new camping trailer, plans for his garden and dreams of buying a boat for cruising Lake Tahoe.
"He had been through a lot of things in his life, and he was really looking forward to doing something else," McCauley said.
After years of service to others, Scofield never got time for himself. Scofield was killed Sept. 26, nine months from retirement, when a Toyota 4Runner pulled out of a driveway and into his path as he sped his motorcycle to an accident scene.
Last week Scofield's name, along with 376 others from around the nation, was added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in the nation's capital. The memorial now includes 65 Nevada officers who died in the line of duty.
One other Nevadan was added this year. Winnemucca Constable John Raymond Nelson was shot in 1921 in a gun fight with a bandit who had allegedly stolen new shoes from a boxcar. Current Winnemucca Lt. Rick Waldie said he heard about Nelson and researched the shooting with the help of local historian J.P. Marden. Waldie forwarded Nelson's name to national memorial officials in Washington to give him long-overdue recognition.
"These deaths happened a lot more frequently than we realize," said Marden, who is among several state history buffs digging for more fallen officers forgotten by history.
The first Nevada officer to die in the line of duty was John L. Blackburn, who was sheriff in the dusty boomtown of Carson City in 1861, back when Nevada was a new territory and not yet a state, said Nevada law enforcement historian and author Bob Ellison. On Nov. 18, 1861, Blackburn spent hours combing Carson City for fugitive murderer Henry Plummer, Ellison said. As Blackburn searched the cabin of a nasty local gambler named William H. Mayfield, the gambler teasingly told the sheriff that Plummer had been there and left. Blackburn threatened to haul Mayfield in for questioning.
Later that night the gambler found Blackburn as the lawman relaxed in the St. Nicholas Saloon. The two argued and the gambler fatally stabbed Blackburn in the back with a bowie knife before the sheriff could fire his pistol.
Nevada historians say the national memorial does not yet reflect the true number of fallen Nevada officers. There are 99 Nevada officers listed on a state memorial in Carson City, including 13 Metro Police officers. (Officer Ernest James May, 38, was the first to die, according to Metro. The father of seven was shot by a drunken proprietor of the Clark Auto Court motel on South 5th Street.) Most of the Nevada officers who are not yet on the national memorial died decades ago but have recently been discovered through research, said Frank Adams, a 30-year police veteran and Nevada memorial organizer. Adams and others intend to forward their paperwork to national memorial officials.
"For us as officers, it's here by the grace of God," Adams said. "It could have been any of our names up on that wall."
The national law enforcement memorial plaza on Washington's Judiciary Square is nearly the size of a city block. The memorial's design is simple and its message is powerful. The granite walls that line two C-shaped pathways now contain 16,304 names.
"Row after row of names with no end in sight," National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Chairman Craig W. Floyd said at a candlelight vigil ceremony last week.
McCauley and Scofield's wife, Sherry, were there. Scofield's death was a crushing blow to his family, to the Reno force and the city. Even the drivers he stopped for speeding noted his friendly, polite professionalism. Shortly after Scofield's death, a taxi driver recently ticketed by Scofield told McCauley, "He was the nicest man I ever met."
McCauley said he was overwhelmed by the number of families and friends who gathered last week for events at the national memorial. He was moved by the sight of officers smoking cigars and toasting their fallen partners at the wall.
On display at the memorial was a freshly painted white Harley-Davidson gas tank signed in marker by Reno officers.
McCauley had written, "I hope your ride is smooth, your trip is long and your bike has lots of chrome."
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