Brown honors Christian as part of  National Police Week tribute

WASHINGTON — A Chesapeake police officer who was killed in the line of duty last year was among those honored on the Senate floor on Thursday as part of National Police Week.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, spoke in memory of Ohio officers he said made the ultimate sacrifice in 2016 to keep communities safe.

Christian, an Ironton resident who previously served on Coal Grove’s police force, was named, along with Chief Steven Disario, of Kirkersville, Officer David J. Fahey, Jr., of Cleveland, Trooper Kenneth Velez, of Elyria, Officer Sean Johnson, of Hilliard, Officer Steven Smith, of Columbus and Officer Thomas Cottrell, Jr., of Danville.

“Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line each day to protect us. As we honor the work and sacrifices made by our law enforcement officers throughout Police Week, we need to offer more than kind words – we need action to support law enforcement as they work to keep Ohio communities safe,” Brown said. “This Police Week, we owe them more than gratitude – we must do all we can to support the selfless men and women that serve our communities and country every single day.”

Christian, 24, died in October from injuries sustained in a cruiser crash a month earlier.

On Wednesday, Brown joined Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl and Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees to mark National Police Week and to outline bipartisan legislation in support of law enforcement officials and their families, which he said would put pressure on the U.S. Department of Justice to speed up claims processing so that families of disabled or fallen officers get the benefits they are owed more quickly and would increase access to federal scholarship dollars for the children of public safety officers killed in the line of duty.