P.O. Benjamin Perez #12225

Officer Benjamin Perez was struck and killed by a commuter train while conducting a stakeout on the west side.

Officer Perez and his partner were on a railroad trestle above Spaulding Avenue when a train approached. Officer Perez's partner was able to jump to safety, but Officer Perez was pulled underneath the passing train.

Officer Perez is a 4 year veteran of the Chicago Police Department; He is survived by his wife and three children.

Patrolman Benjamin Perez was killed when he was struck by a train on September 18, 2002 while on a drug stakeout. Perez and his partner, Ron Zuniga, received a tip that a drug deal was taking place near the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad tracks near the west side near Cermak and Spaulding. The officers went to investigate. They climbed an embankment and moved along a set of railroad tracks in order to gain a better sight line. While on the trestle, a Metra Cummuter train bound for Aurora approached and Patrolman Perez was pulled underneath the train and killed instantly. Perez, who was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, was a distinguished 4 year veteran of the CPD. He was survived by his wife, Michele; and three children, Katarina, Benjamin, and Rebecca.

Burial Information:

Resurrection Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums, Chicago IL

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RESOLUTION FOR HONORARY STREET NAME DESIGNATION OF
"POLICE OFFICER BENJAMIN PEREZ WAY"

WHEREAS, It is with great pleasure that the members of the Chicago City Council are hereby informed of the Honorary Street Nomenclature Ceremony, for the late Chicago Police Officer Benjamin Perez; and

WHEREAS, The residents and elected officials have deemed appropriate the renaming of the Southwest Comer, 5300 S. Nashville as "Police Officer Benjamin Perez Way" in honor of one of "Chicago's Finest; and

WHEREAS, This honorary designation is but a small manner in which lo recognize the contributions of an individual so great that the impact of his dedication to the citizens of Chicago are impassioned; and

WHEREAS, Officer Benjamin Perez was a four year veteran of the Chicago Police Department and was assigned to the 010 District (Marquette/Ogden); and

WHEREAS, Of the myriad available career paths toward fulfillment of the "American Dream", there are but a few through which faithful execution of responsibilities offers simultaneous assurance that those who choose other paths will in fact have a legitimate opportunity to achieve their portion of the "Dream", thereby, Benjamin Perez joined "Chicago's Finest" October 26, 1998 and proudly wore his Badge #12225 until he was called to his eternal resting place; and

WHEREAS, Dedication to and fulfillment of the motto of the Chicago Police Department "We Serve and Protect" exacts a substantial physical and emotional toll not only on the officers who must daily cope with the stress and danger of being life's arbiter for countless citizens, but also on the family members who live with the very real knowledge that their spouse or parent may never return from any given workday; and

WHEREAS, Chicago Police Officer Benjamin Perez departed this life on September 18, 2002, and left to cherish his memory his loving and devoted wife, three children, a host of relatives, many friends and comrades; and

WHEREAS, It seems fitting and proper that we place his name within his beloved neighborhood
among the people who knew and loved him so much; now, therefore.
Be It Resolved, That we, the Mayor and members of the City Council of the City of Chicago assembled here this 13* day of April, 2011, do hereby offer our heartfelt sympathy to the family, friends and loved ones of the late Chicago Police Officer Benjamin Perez and express our hope that the coldness of their grief be soon replaced by their warm memories of him. Be It Further Resolved, That a suitable copy of this resolution be prepared and presented to the family of Benjamin Perez.

MICHAEL R. ZALEWSKI Alderman - 23"* Ward

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"Hailed as hero, loved as a dad
Officer killed in drug stakeout gets fond farewell"

September 24, 2002|By James Janega, Tribune staff reporter.

Jaws set and heads bowed Monday as Katarina Perez, 9, approached the church microphone and read what had been a class project titled "What My Father Means to Me."
"He is truthful and he loves us," she told the hundreds who had come to St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic Church to mourn her father, fallen Marquette District Officer Benjamin Perez. "He is strong, truthful, loving, caring, kind, nice, neat, healthy, handsome, tall, courageous, responsible, fair, wealthy, funny and very smart."
She told them how he had finished college, worked four jobs, and knew everything there was to know about math, English and social studies.
Tears welled up among the officers sitting shoulder to -blue shoulder in the Southwest Side church. Outside, officers listening on speakers shook their heads.
On Wednesday evening, Benjamin Perez and his partner had received word of a drug deal being conducted near the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe tracks in the 2100 block of South Spaulding Avenue.
As Perez, 32, a husband and father of three, crouched on the railway overpass, a Metra commuter train thundering toward Aurora bore down at 70 m.p.h., police have said. Though Perez moved away from the tracks, air disturbances from the train forced him into or under it, killing him instantly.
With a skirling of bagpipes and flutter of pennants in a chilly breeze Monday, his Chicago flag-draped casket was carried up St. Daniel's steps, the fifth fallen officer honored by the Chicago Police Department in 15 months.
Relatives and former partners walked to the front of the church and described a family man and much-loved cop with an infectious laugh and deep desire to undertake difficult police situations. Mayor Richard M. Daley called Perez "an instrument of peace" and praised the four-year veteran as "a rising star. His fellow officers recognized him as a leader."
During his eulogy, police Supt. Terry Hillard added Perez's name to a list of other officers who had died while on duty in recent years, most of them in shootouts.
Afterward, he said Perez had died "in the performance of duty," distinct from "in the line of duty" because Perez had not died in an act of violence. But Hillard and other police officers said how Perez died made no difference to them: "It's different," said one, "but it feels the same."
Perez was affable and hardworking, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico, who moved with his family to Chicago as a boy. Though he worked in Dominick's food stores for a dozen years beginning at age 16, he also had idolized his father-in-law, a retired suburban police officer, and in 1998 left his job as a Dominick's manager to attend the police academy.
After a year in the Northwest Side's Jefferson Park District, Perez asked for reassignment to the Marquette District on the West Side, among the city's toughest. He racked up 16 honorable mentions and two fitness awards in his short career, while also working side jobs that included providing security at Chicago schools and CTA stations.
"I started calling him `Maximum Benny,' his partner Vincent Francone Jr. told mourners Monday, drawing laughter.
Perez also bragged about his family, which grew from his wife Michele and oldest daughter, Katarina, to include a son, Benjamin Jr., and another daughter, Rebecca. His son was feisty, he told coworkers proudly, and he often bore the fingernail scratches on his nose to prove it, Francone said. "He made me wish I had a child."
Just as infectious was his professionalism, said Ronald Zuniga, another partner in their three-person car. Perez was quick to laugh, he said, and was a patient mentor with a zest for police work.
The Marquette District was an ideal place for that attitude--neighbors near the site where Perez died last week said dealers had grown so brazen that they sold drugs in plain view, often minutes after police officers drove past.
"When that radio call came in about drugs being dealt at that location, they tried to see what they could do to put them under surveillance," Hillard said Monday. By climbing an embankment onto the train overpass, Perez and Zuniga were being creative--exactly what they were supposed to be doing, Hillard said.
Zuniga saw the commuter train approaching and warned Perez to get off the tracks. Though Perez did, tight quarters on the bridge didn't allow him to get far enough away to avoid the blast of air accompanying the speeding train. In a tragic twist, one of Perez's sisters, Hermelinda Alvarez, was aboard it.
Speaking in Spanish and English, and addressing her brother directly, Alvarez said she was "close to you when you died," adding that she remained "close in spirit" as well.