In Memoriam . . .
William Freed - May 18, 1891
Officer Freed was shot while pursuing a burglary suspect.
Freed was 27 years young.
Officer
Alfred Evans - November 5, 1911
Officer Evans was questioning a suspicious man on the street when the
subject produced a revolver and fired. Officer Evans was 35 years young.
Samuel Banks – October 6, 1919
Officer Banks was assisting a motorist in traffic when he was struck
and killed by another vehicle. Officer Banks was 40 years young.
Alexander Warren – May 3, 1921
Officer Warren was approaching a suspicious person when the suspect
produced a handgun and fired. Officer Warren was 27 years young.
George Leonard – March 23, 1924
Officer Leonard was shot attempting to arrest a suspect who had been
threatening people in a downtown store with a gun. Officer Leonard was 32
years young.
Ben Yeaden – February 7, 1925
Officer Yeaden was shot to death while pursuing a burglary suspect.
Officer was 29 years young.
Henry Clemons – December 4, 1927
Officer Clemons was shot to death after walking in on a burglary in
progress at a gas station. Officer Clemons was 49 years young.
Frank Cichon – December 21, 1963
Officer Cichon was investigating a traffic crash when he was struck and
killed by another motorist. Officer Cichon was 41 years young.
Ralph DeSalle – June 13, 1984
Officer DeSalle was assisting at the scene of a traffic crash when he
was struck and killed by a semi truck. Officer DeSalle was 40 years young.
Paul Durkin – September 22, 1987
Officer Durkin had stopped a suspicious person in a residential
neighborhood when the suspect produced a handgun and shot him. Officer
Durkin was 34 years young.
Millard Williams – April 14, 1992
Detective/Sergeant Millard Williams was on routine patrol when he
became involved in a traffic accident. His injuries were fatal. Det/Sgt
Williams was 39 years young.
Michael T. Hartzell – April 29, 2003
Officer Hartzell was stopped for traffic in downtown while driving to the
police station and was fatally shot in an ambush. Officer Hartzell was 26
years young.
Michael T. Hartzell – April 29, 2003
Michael Thomas Hartzell was born in Youngstown to Howard Stanford
Hartzell and Mary Kay Hartzell on September 24, 1976. He leaves a
brother, Kevin Christofer Hartzell and a fiancée, Stephanie Harchar.
Michael attended Lynn-Kirk Elementary School and Austintown Middle
School then graduated from Austintown Fitch High School in 1991. He then
attended Youngstown State University from 1995 through 1998. Officer
Hartzell had a sense of community involvement. He became a proud officer
of the Youngstown Police Department on December 18, 2000. HE was also
an Austintown Reserve Police Officer, an Emergency Medical Technician for
Pellin Ambulance Service and a volunteer Firefighter/Emergency Medical
Technician for the Cardinal Joint Fire District. Prior to this, Michael was a
Reserve Officer for a short time at the Lowellville Police Department.
Officer Hartzell was murdered while on duty working the midnight shift
in Car 207 while he was enroute to the police station on April 29, 2003. At
the time, he was conducting an attempted murder investigation. This initial
crime took place at the Casaloma Gardens bar on Mahoning Avenue were a
man was shot. Hartzell stopped on Federal Street behind the car that the
shooting suspect was driving. Suddenly, the suspect exited his car, moved
quickly to Officer Hartzell’s cruiser, then shot Officer Hartzell.
The suspect, one Martin Louis Koliser, fled the city but was found soon
afterward. He had been patrolled from prison in December of 2002. After
an extensive manhunt, he was arrested while hiding out in a motel room in
Palm Harbor, Florida on April 30, 2003 (2 days after the shooting). Koliser
was charged with Aggravated Murder with a death penalty specification. He
was tried in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court before the Honorable R.
Scott Krichbaum. The jury found him guilty and recommended the death
penalty. Judge Krichbaum sentenced him to death. Koliser now awaits
execution of sentence.