Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Ricky and his wife were at the store picking up some last minute items for the Memorial weekend. I remember Ricky's fathers words to me: "Promise me you"ll find my son's killer!" That week two Senior Investigators sat down next to the killer in a diner in Colorado. The killer's words were "How did you find me so fast?" Memorial weekend will always have a different meaning to me.

Major Michael G. Poisson (Retired)
New York State Police SIU

May 21, 2024

30 years later, I still remember that horrible day. Your heroic actions aren't forgotten. Rest in Paradise.

Chief Don Butler
William & Mary Police Dept./Portsmouth (VA) Police Dept (Ret.)

May 20, 2024

I will always remember Ricky.
No words to express the magnitude of his loss.

Terence Patrick Molinari
First Sergeant, Retired
New York State Police

May 20, 2020

RIP, Never to be forgotten.

First Sergeant Thomas Webb, Retired, NYSP

January 4, 2020

Investigator Parisian,
On today, the 25th anniversary of your death I would just like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for the citizens of the state of New York. And to your Family and loved ones, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.

BPA Mike Casey
United States Border Patrol
El Paso Station

May 20, 2019

I still remember when it happened and was so tragic. The loss of a police officer is so hard to understand and should not happen in this way. He is an angel in heaven with the Lord. We miss you and you will not be forgotten.

Laura Thayer
Hospice

May 5, 2018

Thinking of you today, Pit. I can no longer run and miss running with Sid and Deb for the Pit Run. As I begin to think about retirement, I think about you all the time. It's because of you and others that we have gotten to where we are today. Be well, my friend and thanks for looking out for others...

Doc Watson
USSS

October 1, 2017

Ricky, your actions that night, which resulted in the ultimate sacrifice, are a true testament to your courage and devotion to duty. I will never forget the outpouring of love from the community during the search for your assailant. You will never be forgotten. RIP brother.

Sgt/Station Commander Steve Rizzuto / Re
NYSP

May 24, 2015

Time may have passed but you are not forgotten. I believe as long as someone remembers you or speaks your name, you are still with us.
Thank you for your heroism.
God Bless

Detention Officer A.Zambito
Texas

May 20, 2015

NYSP is a great agency, I watched those troopers continuously risk their lives to protect the citizens of the state. The troopers I met were always caring professionals

MSG Mark T
U.S. Army

May 20, 2015

Investigator Ricky J. Parisian,Its been 20 years.I was in Oneonta that day it was a sad day we lost a True Hero.GOD BLESS YOU Ricky & your lovely wife & Your Family.....May GOD keep all our Troopers & Men & Women in law SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!

Citizen
Sandro Bruzzo

May 30, 2014

ricky hit a home run off me in 1978. I was all-stac and he hit a fastball

citizen
high school opponent

December 16, 2013

My family and I were there that evening we had just left the Great American after shopping, I heard the shot. At the time I didn't know a hero had just lost his life. We only knew some thing terrible had happened when we were leaving the parking lot OCPD and NYSP cars were streaming into the parking lot. RIP Ricky I think of that evening everyday.

Brad M.
Someone who's heart will always remember

November 2, 2013

RIP Trooper

Court Officer

July 24, 2013

Hero's are born not made. Investigator Parisian's action while off duty proves this out. Rest in Peace hero. You will not be forgotten.

Retired Detective Frank DeMarco
New York City Police DePartment

May 20, 2013

I pray for all of my bothers in the NYSP who fell in the line of duty. You are not forgotten. Rest in Peace.

Inv. PH Starck (ret)
NYSP

May 20, 2013

I grew up in a house down the street from where Ricky's parents live. I remember waking up that morning and hearing my
Mother crying in the living room. My
Father later sat me down and told me
Of Rickys heroic actions on that day. Years later I am now a Nypd police officer in Brooklyn, I look back at what you did and am proud to share the same profession of such a HERO. I often share your story with my brothers and sisters in New York.

PO Garner
NYPD 81st Precinct

January 3, 2013

You are not forgotten Ricky. I look at your picture every time I walk through the lobby of the station.

Trooper
New York State Police

May 20, 2012

Your heroism and service is honored today, the 18th anniversary of your death. Your memory lives and you continue to inspire. Thank you for your service. My cherished son Larry Lasater was a fellow police officer who was murdered in the line of duty on April 24, 2005 while serving as a Pittsburg, CA police officer.

Time never diminishes respect. Your memory will always be honored and revered.

I pray for solace for all that love and remember you for I know both the pain and pride are forever. Your family is in my heart's embrace. Thanks to your friends for sharing their memories and devotion to yuo through their reflections.

Rest In Peace.

Phyllis Loya
Mom of fallen California Officer Larry Lasater, Pittsburg PD, eow 4/24/05

May 20, 2012

I first met Ricky when he was a bouncer working at the Copper Fox bar in Oeonta, NY, and I was a rookie cop, just starting my career in law enforcement (circa 1983). He was a gentle giant of a man, with an easy-going demeanor, and well liked by many. Ricky subsequently fulfilled his dream of becoming a police officer and came to work along with us at the Oneonta Police Dept. We both eventually moved on to further our careers with the NY State Police. I was also honored to have attended the wedding to his lovely bride, Deb, and to have known his immediate family. Since his passing, I participated in the running of a few of the "Pit Run" 5K races, which is a memorial running race in his honor. Although I do not fancy myself as a runner anymore, it was always enjoyable to go back to Oneonta and fondly remember Rick as a person who dedicated his life to his community, family, and friends. It was a pleasure to have known the man, but we still miss you dearly...

Retired Investigator/Sergeant
New York State Police

December 19, 2011

Ricky was the first recruit Trooper I trained. It was a blessing because he was a friend and a fellow police officer...he had served with the Oneonta Police Dept. before becoming a Trooper. He really didn't need training, just familiarization with the State Police model of policing. He was a great person. I was somewhat jealous that when we stopped at my home for lunch, that my boys ran to Ricky...He was a natural for children... My family holds Ricky as a model of what a policeman should be and we feel honored to have known him...Rest in Peace bud...I will always remember you...and my boys will too.

Investigator Richard J. Loopez
NYSP

August 1, 2011

Ricky:
Your ultimate sacrifice is remembered by all. The history of the NYSP and the NYPD reveals that both agencies have lost more members in the line of duty than all law enforcement agencies in the World. A special bond exists within this unique brotherhood. The memory of your heroic actions in from of your wife will live on as time goes on. God bless you, Trooper!

Joseph H. McAndrew
NYPD-RET

June 13, 2011

I can still remember watching your funereal outside St. Mary's School, I was in the third grade! Now I am a State Trooper, and think of you often. You are not forgotten! "It's an Oneonta Thing!"

Virginia State Trooper
Virginia State Police

June 1, 2011

Ricky, Hard to believe it will be 17 yrs tomorrow.

Trooper
Troop "C" NYSP

May 19, 2011

On the evening of May 21, 1994, we had a testimonial dinner in Saratoga Springs, New York for Tom Constantine. Tom had just left the New York State Police and had been sworn in as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration a few weeks earlier.

The night before, New York State Police Investigator Ricky J. Parisian had been killed outside a supermarket in Oneonta, New York. Ricky was involved in undercover narcotics work in and around New York City. He was home with his wife for the weekend. They had gone out shopping. A robber came into the store while they were there. The robber was armed with a shotgun. Ricky tried to arrest the robber and was killed. Before he died, Ricky pulled off the robber's mask. Witnesses saw the man's face and later identified him when he was arrested.

Mr. Constantine said sadly that we would probably find the story of this tragedy somewhere in the B section of the next day's newspaper. In fact, it was on page 34. But even if it had been on the front page, it wouldn't have communicated the grief and shock that went through our community.


"OFF-DUTY TROOPER SHOT AND KILLED"

On the death of Inv. Ricky J. Parisian, NYSP
20 May 1994
Oneonta, New York

You could fill an encyclopedia
With important things ignored by the media.
But news is news and heaven knows
They'll boil it down to newsman's prose.

Reporters scramble to get the scoop;
A quote from someone in the loop.
They stick to facts; no room for stories,
Legends, myths or allegories.

The people have to have their news,
Their recipes, their sports and book reviews.
The headlines strive to catch the eye
Inducing John Q. Public to buy.

"Postal Worker Runs Amok".
"Train Collides with Speeding Truck".
"Bureaucrat Throws Monkey Wrench".
"High Heaven Reeks of Scandal's Stench".

And so on and so forth and ad infinitum.
But once in a while the eye scans an item
Reporting a story aimed straight for the heart.
A story untrammeled with hype or with art.

A story so simple, so clear and so terse
That it moves us as though it were written in verse.
It appears at the bottom of page thirty-four.
It says what it says. One could hardly say more.

We're not offended; be it however brief,
It speaks oceans of anger, admiration, gratitude and grief.
It won't sell more papers or make their stock rise,
Attract them new sponsors, win the Pulitzer Prize.

It crosses the line 'tween the Truth and mere news;
Between lyric poetry and the editors' views.
For a moment the media work as they should
To bind us together for everyone's good.

By reporting the facts and the dates spark the feeling
We share in our grief and in sharing start healing.
Such a one came this morning when I opened the Times.
'midst the scandals, disasters, the wars and the crimes,

Among, yet apart from, the ephemeral facts
Was shining a simple and selfless act.
And see how little space it filled:
"Off-Duty Trooper Shot and Killed."

Terry O'Neill
The Constantine Institute

December 9, 2010