Trooper Spellacy pins a Westfield Police Department badge on Jose Torres during Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Academy graduation ceremonies on Nov. 11, 1985. (Photo ©1985 Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – The police of any given community are sometimes referred to as that city’s “finest” and, while that that obviously cannot be strictly true of every officer in every community, there is compelling evidence that the sobriquet actually applies to the Westfield’s most recently fallen officer, Jose Torres.
Torres died Thursday from injuries suffered when he was struck by a ten-wheel dump truck while working at a construction site.
By all accounts, Torres was an outstanding officer and also an outstanding father, husband and citizen.
There is a widespread tradition of speaking nothing but good of the dead but the eagerness of his friends and colleagues to speak well of Torres and their obvious sincerity speaks to their high regard for him.
Capt. Hipolito Nunez, who called Torres a childhood friend, said “As far as I can tell, this is the first (police) active duty death in the city of Westfield.”
Susan Jazcyk, the department’s principal records clerk, said “Jose was one of the kindest, happiest guys. He always came to my window with a smile.”
“We had a lot in common. He loved flowers” she said and said he loved candy, too.
“He told me stories about his kids, how he’d buy Halloween candy that they didn’t like so he could eat it himself”. She went on to say “He couldn’t wait for Valentine’s Day. He’d buy his wife candy but she didn’t want it so he’d eat it.”
“He was just thrilled to be with his family and with his kids” she said.
Torres was proud to have married his best friend, Kara, and leaves two sons, Jay, a recent Westfield High School graduate, and Christopher, a middle school pupil.
Capt. Michael McCabe, who said that his family had been friends with the Torres family long before he and Torres joined the police department on the same day, also praised his dedication to his family.
“Every single space in his locker was dedicated to pictures of his family. Every single space,” said McCabe.
McCabe said that he and Torres prepared for the police academy together, exercising together to prepare for the grueling physical aspects of the academy.
He said that Torres hated to run but the duo ran together anyway and, even though Torres “routinely got sick on the run,” he kept doing it.
He called Torres “A cop’s cop, a dad’s dad and a husband’s husband.”
He said Torres was always the first to pitch in with steak roasts and parties and “always brought more than he had to.”
On the job, McCabe said, Torres was the recipient of “numerous ‘good guy’ awards” including official commendations from the police commission.
He said that Torres, who graduated from the police academy in November, 1985, was commended in 1986 after he apprehended a suspect during an investigation in the Hampton Ponds area of the city and thereby prevented the rape of a woman there.
In July, 1996, he received a life saving award after he prevented a suicide and, in the process, scarred himself for life when he cut himself by following a man who fled by smashing his way through a second story window.
In 1999, “without concern for his personal safety” Torres deployed a stinger spike strip to stop a vehicle under pursuit by state troopers “just seconds before contact” and was again commended.
“He was as much a part of this place as the building” McCabe said.
Officer Kerry Paton will serve as one of Torres’ pallbearers.
He said that he started work at the police department only a few years after Torres but said “We looked up to him when we came on the job.”
Paton worked on the same shift with Torres for years and said that he “broke me in on the job and taught me a lot.”
“He knew everybody on the street and that really helped a lot when you went on a call,” said Patton. “They never gave him a hard time” he said because Torres “gave everybody a fair shake, always treated everybody as an equal.” Paton said that Torres “went out of his way to help people out of the situation they were in and tried to find ways to help them instead of arresting them.”
John Blascak, the president of the patrolmen’s union, will also serve as a pallbearer and worked with Torres for 15 years.
He remembers his generous spirit and said “If I could be half the man Jose Torres was, that’d be enough for me.”
“If you were in his life, there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for you” Blascak said.
He said that when Torres was working on a construction site, like the one where he died, he would always bring a cooler packed with water and Gatorade which he would offer to “any cop working, any construction worker.”
Blascak said that Torres “made sure that you were taken care of” and, when patrolling in a cruiser, would pick up an officer walking the beat to let him get warm in the wintertime or cool off in the summertime.
Blascak noted that despite his Hispanic heritage he always participated in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Holyoke.
He said that Torres celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with Officer Dermot Hurley and, in turn, Hurley would celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Torres despite his Irish heritage.
Officer Joseph Maxton, who worked on the same 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift with Torres for years, said “He was the biggest Irishman you’d want to find.”
McCabe also remember his Irish spirit. He said that Torres had a nameplate made for his uniform that read ‘O’Torres’ and always wore it for the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Det. Brian Fanion, an academy classmate of Torres, said Torres “was a friend to everyone” and called him “a fun guy to be around.”
“He was a treasure to the department”, Fanion said.
Retired city police officer Michael Chechile Sr., another pallbearer, said “He kept a positive attitude about everyone and in every situation. It rubs off on you.”
Chechile said that he was one of Torres’ training officers and said he was a “very eager listener.”
“Any little thing I told him he wanted to absorb. It made him a better officer” Chechile said. “I’m going to miss him, a lot.”
Plans were announced Friday for both calling hours and a funeral service for Torres.
Calling hours will be on Monday at Firtion Adams Funeral Home on Broad Street.
Police officers from all communities are welcome to call starting at 2 p.m. and civilians will be welcome after 2:45 p.m. Calling hours will extend until 8 p.m.
The funeral services on Tuesday will be at Dever Auditorium in Parenzo Hall at Westfield State University at 11 a.m.
A procession of police officers will escort Torres from the Funeral Home and Westfield officers will stage at Stanley Park and march to the ceremony at WSU.
Parking for police officers will be at the WSU south parking lot and civilians are asked to park at the university’s commuter parking lot. Handicap parking will be available behind Parenzo Hall.
After the ceremony, officers from other communities will be bussed to Pine Hill Cemetery and the city officers will march to the internment ceremony after staging at Highland School.
