Nearly 3,000 law enforcement officers from throughout Washington gathered at Kent's ShoWare Center on Thursday to bid farewell to "Trooper Tony," the much-loved Washington State Patrol officer gunned down last week near Gorst.
The event for Tony Radulescu, which tied up traffic in the South Sound for hours and created near gridlock in downtown Kent, was an occasion steeped in tradition and ceremonial pomp, an elaborately choreographed ritual that has become familiar in the South Sound in the past two years.
In testimonials of friends, fellow officers and family members, Radulescu was remembered as a man who took his job seriously but did it with remarkable grace and good humor.
"He had a wonderful gift," said Gov. Chris Gregoire. "He could make people laugh."
Radulescu, 44, was killed after an early morning traffic stop on state Route 16 just outside of Gorst. The gunman died several hours later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Gregoire spoke eloquently about Radulescu, despite a case of laryngitis that gave her voice a throaty, broken quality.
The governor said she knew Radulescu personally from a brief period when he served on her security detail. She said she remembered him as "a guy with a great sense of humor."
"Everybody loved Tony," Gregoire said. "He was a guy who never stopped smiling, a guy you could count on to protect you but also to make you feel good."
Gregoire revealed that Radulescu had considered a second job as a stand up comedian and told an anecdote about him showing up for trooper basic training purposely inappropriately dressed in a white leisure suit, white patent leather shoes and a flowered tie.
The service began after a procession of about 700 law enforcement and emergency vehicles with lights flashing escorted the hearse carrying Radulescu's body. The procession passed under an American flag hanging from an arch made by fire truck ladders.
Other drivers pulled over and people watched from overpasses and roadsides as the procession made its way from Silverdale, through Port Orchard to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It joined a family procession from a Lakewood funeral home on the way to ShoWare Center.
Radulescu's body lay in a flag-draped coffin at the front of the hall and below the speakers' platform.
On either side of the coffin were arranged mementos of Radulescu's life -- his extensive collections of the swords and model cars, photos of him and his son, Erick, and -- a traditional symbol at such ceremonies -- a table set for one, with a red rose and Radulescu's flat-brimmed trooper's hat.
According to the State Patrol, the tableau was intended to symbolize "the fraility of one alone against the lawless."
Most of the 1,000 chairs on the ShoWare Center floor were filled with Radulescu's fellow troopers in their light blue dress uniforms. Arrayed in the arena seats around them was a patchwork of other colors of uniforms from other jurisdictions -- khakis, greens, blues -- punctuated by the scarlet red of a contingent of Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Gina Miller, described by several as Radulescu's "soul mate" and who is a State Patrol employee, spoke emotionally about him, saying, "I loved him every moment of every day.''
"He was my rock, the love of my life," Miller said, fighting tears. "We were supposed to grow old together, have walker races and cane fights.
"A horrific act of evil and cowardice took my hero, my love, my Tony."
Radulescu's son Erick, an active duty soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, addressed the crowd with confidence and poise, thanking the thousands of officers for attending.
"Even though I lost one very close family member," he said, "It looks like I've gained thousands more, and for that, I'm very thankful."
Erick Radulescu said he felt his father was in the room.
"He's with us right now," he said, "and he will be forever."
Radulescu, State Patrol Chief John Batiste said, "took his oath of office very seriously. From day one in Bremerton, he went about doing the people's business. Mr. Radulescu, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I lost your son. It pains me dearly, but you should know we will never ever forget him."
Radulescu's close friends Brian Mihelich, a fellow trooper; and Viorel Mihai, said Radulescu's emigration from Romania gave him a special appreciation of being an American and a finely tuned sense of pride and humility.
"He made a difference, every shift he worked," Mihelich said. "He was a trooper's trooper."
Yet, he said, Radulescu lived life to the fullest and did his best to see that everybody else did, too.
"Tony never let a good time go to waste," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 - The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
