9 added to Nevada officers’ memorial

Associated Press

Friday, May 7, 2010 | 12:33 a.m.

Stanley Cooper

Trevor Nettleton

Officer Milburn Beitel III

Metro Police

Officer James Manor

Daniel Leach

The names of nine officers, five from Clark County alone, were added Thursday to the Nevada Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Carson City. Gov. Jim Gibbons and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto were among those who spoke of the dedication of the officers and thanked their surviving families and friends for their sacrifices.

"Nothing we can say today can take away your pain and your loss," Gibbons said during the ceremony on the Capitol Complex plaza. "We all miss your loved ones, your friends."

Stanley Cooper, retired from the Metro Police Department, was working as a deputy U.S. Marshal at the federal courthouse when a gunman entered the building and opened fire on Jan. 4. Cooper, 72, was killed, as was the assailant. Nevada U.S. Marshal Christopher Hoye said Cooper was known throughout the law enforcement agencies as "professional, thorough, mindful."

Las Vegas police lost four officers last year, the most lost from a single agency in state history, according to Frank Adams, memorial organizer.

Officer Trevor Nettleton, 30, a former Marine who served a stint on the presidential guard detail, was off-duty when he was shot and killed Nov. 19 during a botched robbery at his home.

Officer Milburn "Millie" Beitel III, 30, died Oct. 8, a day after his patrol car swerved and hit a tree and light pole. Officer James Manor, 28, was killed in May 2009 when his patrol car, traveling at more than 100 mph, hit a pickup truck. In those two instances, neither officer wore a seat belt, investigations showed.

Daniel Leach, 49, a career officer with the police department, was on his way to a jail to pick up inmates Nov. 21 when his van clipped the second trailer of a 10-wheel dump truck that was making a left turn. He died at the scene.

The Nevada memorial now has the names of 114 officers, and "each has a unique story," Masto said, but all "gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty."

"'Officer down' is the most terrifying phrase we can hear in your community," she said.

A Storey County deputy, Southern Pacific Rail Road officer, and two state officers also were honored following their deaths in past decades.

Storey County Deputy Hugh J. Gallagher died in 1948 when he suffered a fatal heart attack while responding on foot to a suspected prowler in Virginia City.

Eveleigh Bates, a special agent with the Southern Nevada Rail Road, died in 1924 when he fell between train cars.

Ron Haskell, an agent with the Nevada Division of Investigations and Narcotics, was severely beaten by four suspects in 1969 and died of his injuries six years later.

Vincent Tatum, 26, a sergeant with the Nevada Department of Corrections, was conducting an investigation when he was shot four times in the head in 1982. His murder remains unsolved.