By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Before the girls lacrosse game between the Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern commenced on Tuesday night, both programs wanted to honor some of Bristol’s police heroes.
On October 12, 2022, Bristol police officers Lieutenant Dustin DeMonte and Sergeant Alex Hamzy were killed in the line of duty while Officer Alec Iurato was injured during the same incident not far from Alumni Field at Bristol Eastern High School.
Several tributes and memorials have been held over the months to honor those heroes and both lacrosse squads that evening wanted to do the same during the city series showdown.
“This was actually the girl’s idea,” said Eastern coach Kayla Policarpio. “They brought it up to me at the beginning of the season and they wanted to do something to kind of bring the community together.”
Before Eastern was able to tally a big 11-6 win over Central, Policarpio got on the microphone during the opening announcements to address the capacity crowd – recalling the events of that fateful night.
Policarpio did an incredible job in her prepared speech and mentioned that girls from both teams were wearing warm-ups that had the badge numbers of all three law enforcement agents.
Those badge numbers were for Lieutenant Dustin DeMonte (221), Sergeant Alex Hamzy (245) and Officer Alec Iurato (265).
“Because of this tragedy, obviously the community has rallied together really hard,” said Policarpio. “And this was something small that we could do.”
It was an incredible and emotional moment that honored our heroes in Bristol for everything they do, and continue to do, to help keep our city and the communities around the city safe.
“Wearing their names and their badge numbers to honor them in all that they do” was important to the girls said Policarpio.
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