Westfield Police Capt. Hipolito Nunez reports the line-of-duty death of Westfield police officer Jose Torres to a pack of television journalists Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – A 27-year veteran of the Westfield Police Department was killed yesterday morning when he was struck by a truck while working an off-duty traffic detail at a construction site on Pontoosic Road.
Officer Jose Torres, 53, was rushed by Westfield Fire Department paramedics and escorted by a Massachusetts State Police trooper to the Baystate Medical Center where he was pronounced dead several hours later.
The Westfield Police Department has announced “with profound sorrow” the “line of duty death” of Officer Jose Torres at a 2 p.m. press conference.
The duty of reporting the Torres death fell upon his childhood friend and long-time colleague, Capt. Hipolito Nunez, the department’s administrative supervisor, who was visible shaken while making that announcement before a battery of television cameras in front of the department’s Washington Street headquarters yesterday afternoon.
Nunez reported that police were notified at 7:26 a.m. that Torres, had been struck by a large construction dump truck.
He said that due to the “heroic efforts” of “fellow officers, civilians and members of the Westfield Fire Department” Torres was stabilized at the accident scene.
Torres was transported to Baystate Medical Center, but Nunez reported sadly that, at the hospital, Torres “succumbed to his injuries.”
Nunez declined to answer questions about the accident saying “The details are not clear” and that the accident remains under investigation by city police, state troopers assigned to the Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Section and federal investigators.
A representative of the federal Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OHSA) was present at the accident scene and was seen examining a large 10-wheeled dump truck late Thursday morning that was parked with other construction equipment at the pipeline installation project where it crosses Pontoosic Road.
Torres had been working at a construction site where West Springfield water line was being installed at the crest of a hill on Pontoosic Road. The general contractor for the project is Revoli Construction Co. Inc. of Franklin.
Torres leaves behind, Nunez said, “his best friend and his wife, Kara” as well as two sons “he loved dearly.”
One of the boys is a recent Westfield High School graduate and the younger boy is a middle school pupil.
Torres served the department for 27 years and was decorated for his life saving efforts in 1995 that prevented the suicide of a city resident.
Nunez said that Torres is the first officer to die while on duty with the Westfield police.
“I’ve been here 27 years and I don’t recall, in those 27 years, losing an officer here on the job,” Nunez said.
He required a few moments to compose himself when asked to describe Torres but rallied and said calmly that Torres “Always saw everything positive, he never ever saw anything negative. I grew up with Jose. We were childhood friends and he was always happy-go-lucky.”
“His best friend was his family,” Nunez said. “He was dedicated to them and loved them dearly.”
“He loved being a police officer. He loved helping people and truly that was his passion, helping people,” he said.
“So, for us here at the Police Department, he will be missed dearly. As a personal friend, I will miss him forever” Nunez said.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said this morning that Torres death is “incredibly tragic.”
“I knew Jose well. His wife, Kara, works at City Hall in the Department of Public Works,” Knapik said. “Jose was such a jovial guy, a funny guy, everybody has a Jose story. He always had a smile on his face. He was a real positive guy.”
Knapik said that Torres connected with the youth of the city through sports.
“He was a coach on his son’s baseball team,” Knapik said.
Several years ago the police department issued a series of trading cards with a photo of each officer. Torres’ card was one of the most popular with youngsters in the city.
Capt. Michael McCabe who has known the Torres family long before he and Jose became officers, said Torres, as a youngster was, the “glue that kept his family together, he was always a calming influence – a phenomenal human.
“He had a swagger that he carried well, a confident manner that was never cocky or arrogant,” McCabe said. “As a police officer when he arrived at a scene, people knew that he would take care of business.”
“He was a solid guy, super compassionate,” McCabe said. “This is a very tough loss for us. It’s losing a brother.”
