Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Officer Dia, I thank you for the four years you gave and know in my heart you were destined for great things. God Bless you and may you forever Rest in Peace, Brother.

Ptl. Jim Leahy, Jr.
Harvard University Police Department

July 20, 2020

The National Police Wives Association would like to extend their heartfelt prayers to the family of Officer Dia and the Toledo Police Department during this time. Thank you, Officer Dia, for your service.

National Police Wives Association

July 20, 2020

Rest in Peace Officer Dia. May the Lord grant your family, friends and co-workers peace during this difficult time. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

Deputy Parole Administrator Howard Wykes
Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections

July 15, 2020

God bless you Police Officer Anthony Dia! Thank you for your service with the Toledo Police Department, and your service with the Mercy Health Police Department. We are all thankful to you for service, your devotion and your sacrifices, and to your family and friends for their sacrifices. Our hearts break for your loved ones!! We are so saddened by this terrible news and you will never be forgotten! Our thoughts and Prayers go out to your family, and all of your sisters and brothers in Blue that protect us. God bless you all!! (Matthew5:9)

Kelly & Eddie King

July 14, 2020

Rest in Peace Brother.

Thank you for your service and ULTIMATE sacrifice.

Prayers for your family.

GOD BLESS

Firefighter Ronald Lavallee
Lawrence, MA Fire Department

July 13, 2020

Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Rest In Peace Officer Dia. Our deepest heartfelt condolences to all of your family, friends, and brothers and sisters at Toledo Police Department.

Postal Inspector Scott Horne
US Postal Inspection Service

July 13, 2020

Today, I will not answer the radio call that your boyfriend has come home drunk and is beating you again.

Today, I will not answer the radio call that your 16 year old daughter, who is very responsible, is four hours late coming home from school.

Today, I will not answer the radio call that your store has been robbed or your house has been burglarized.

Today, I will not stop a drunk driver from killing someone. I will not catch a rapist or a murderer or a car thief.

Today, I will not answer the radio call that a man has a gun or tried to abduct a child or that someone has been stabbed or has been in a terrible accident.

Today, I will not save your child that you locked in a car or the child you were too busy to watch who went outside and fell into the swimming pool, but that I revived.

No, today I will not do that.

Why?

Today, I was suspended from duty for doing my job, because the media, liberals, a community organizer, a lawyer who formally represented terrorists and is the US attorney general and a mayor who ran on an anti-police agenda, who are all advised by a drug dealer, liar and income tax cheat. AND, all who know nothing about Policing, have vilified my profession.

Because ----

Today, I was killed by a drunk driver while I was helping push a disabled car off the highway.

Today, I was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop to simply tell someone that they had a taillight out.

Today, I was killed in a traffic accident rushing to help a citizen.

Today, I was shot and killed serving a warrant on a known drug dealer.

Today, I was killed by a man when I came by to do a welfare check because his family was too busy.

Today, I was killed trying to stop a bank robbery or a grocery store robbery.

Today I was killed doing my job.
A chaplain and an officer will go to a house and tell a mom and dad or a wife or husband or a child that their son or daughter or husband or wife or father or mother won't be coming home today.

The flags at many police stations were flown at half-mast today but most people won't know why.

There will be a funeral and my fellow officers will come, a twenty-one-gun salute will be given, and taps and bagpipes will be played as I am laid to rest.

My name will be put on a plaque, on a wall, in a building, in a city somewhere.

A folded flag will be placed on a mantel or a bookcase in a home somewhere and a family will mourn.

There will be no cries for justice.
There will be no riots in the streets.
There will be no officers marching, screaming 'no justice, no peace.'
No citizens will scream that something must be done.
No windows will be smashed, no cars burned, no stones thrown, no names called.
Only someone crying themselves to sleep tonight will be the only sign that I was cared about.

I was a police officer

My thoughts and prayers go out to your family and your brothers and sisters in blue as another great officer was taken from us to soon. You will never be forgotten!
Rest Easy Brother as we will take it from here.

Misty Lang
Great Great Niece of Fallen Officer William Hiram Givens McDonald County Sheriff's Department, McDonald County Missouri EOW 02-04-1984

July 13, 2020

In Honor of your Sacrifice and for your family and friends, I salute you as a HERO!

"The Badge"

He starts his shift each day
To respond to calls unknown.
He drives a marked patrol car.
A police officer he is known.

He's paid by the citizens' taxes
To make it safe on the streets.
But he usually has a second job
'Cause a waitress has his salary beat.

Now he doesn't know a holiday
'Cause he works all year round.
And when Thanksgiving and Christmas finally arrive
At his home he cannot be found.

He's cursed and assaulted often,
The one whose blood runs blue.
He seldom ever gets a thanks,
To some he's just a fool.

His friends are always other cops
'Cause people just don't understand
That underneath his badge and gun,
He's just another man.

He knows there might not be a tomorrow
In this world of drugs and crime.
And he gets so mad at the court system
'Cause the crooks don't get any time.

And each day when he leaves for work,
He prays to God above.
Please bring me home after my shift
So I can see the ones I love.

But tonight he stops a speeding car,
He's alone down this ole' highway.
It's just a little traffic infraction.
He does it everyday.

Well, he walks up to the driver's window,
And his badge is shining bright.
He asked the guy for a driver's license,
When a shot rang through the night.

Yes, the bullet hit its mark,
Striking the officer in the chest.
But the Department's budget didn't buy
Each officer a bullet-proof vest.

So he lay on the ground bleeding.
His blood wasn't blue - His blood was red.
And briefly he thought of his loved ones
'Cause in a moment the officer was dead.

In the news they told the story
Of how this officer had died.
And some who listened cared less,
But those who loved him cried.

Well, they buried him in uniform
With his badge pinned on his chest.
He even had his revolver,
He died doing his best.

Written By:
David L. Bell

Used with Special Permission of the Author
Copyright © 1993 - All Rights Reserved
and may not be duplicated without permission

Investigator David L Bell (Retired)
Richland County Sheriff's Dept.
Columbia, SC

July 12, 2020

Heartbreaking

E Hess

July 12, 2020

This is so sad. All of my love, prayers, thoughts and condolences

Vanessa Lopez

July 12, 2020

Rest in peace my brother...my condolences to your loving family that they are blessed always and gain strength in their grief for your great loss.

Lieutenant Raymond Flores
NYPD (retired)

July 12, 2020

Rest in Peace my brother.

Captain Bernard Flint
Department of Defense Police Division

July 12, 2020

A police officer should be remembered not by how he died, but how he lived! A great man has gone to secure a safe path for the rest of us to follow. Thank you to you, your family and the Toledo Police Department. Our country is a little less safe without you. Rest in Peace Brother!

Chief (Ret) Steven Marshall
Georges Mills, NH

July 11, 2020

Rest In Peace Brother.
You’ve touched our hearts with you final words.

PC Cohen
Toronto Police Service

July 11, 2020

Rest easy brother.

Officer Chris Howell
Raleigh Police Department

July 11, 2020

Thank you for your service. Rest in peace brother.

Officer Steve Lane
US Customs and Border Protection

July 11, 2020

Your warrior spirit is nothing short of amazing. Rest in peace brother!

Police Officer Ibrahim Desouki
University of California, Davis PD

July 11, 2020

Officer Dia,

Thank you for your sacrifice for our nation. May you be with the Lord and may he be with your family.

Det. Russ Cain
Pittsburgh PD

July 11, 2020

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”. Matthew 5:9

Thank you for your service. May you rest in peace, my brother.

Retired Chief of police Jim Spratlen
Durango Police Department

July 11, 2020

Rest In Peace you will not be forgotten we got you six

Major Joel k dix
Us army

July 11, 2020

Rest Easy Brother
We will take it from here.

Robert Howard
Missouri Law Enforcement Agency

July 11, 2020

There are no words to describe the grief of the loss of this beautiful soul. So young and full of life and ambition. May you receive a heroic reward in your eternal home. RIP

Sr. Deputy Dianetra King
DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, Decatur, GA

July 11, 2020

Ofc. Dia...your story of bravery is inspiring to officers everywhere. Rest In Peace.

Ofc. Finley
Philadelphia Police Department

July 11, 2020

I almost couldn't stop myself from shedding tears when I heard your last message to dispatch "Tell my family I love them". RIP brother. You were taken from us way too soon.

Yet another tragic example of a hero who became an angel of heaven while serving the very people he was charged to serve, many of whom are unappreciative and even bear malice towards these very people. This is one death too many. The war on Law Enforcement Officers must stop. Now.

Chan Junyuan, Xavier

July 10, 2020

Rest in peace in God's arms. Thank you for protecting and serving the community with your heart and soul as you did.

Kaitlin Chylinski
Criminal Justice Student

July 10, 2020