Officer Gerald M. Arminger

Gerald M. Arminger 
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Officer Gerald M. Arminger had a heart attack in the Southeastern District’s locker room while on duty. Officer Gerald M. Armiger of the Baltimore City Police Department worked day-work on June 24th and after he completed his tour of duty, he was in the Foot Patrol office completing paperwork when he experienced sharp chest pains. Officer Armiger collapsed, suffering a fatal heart attack. Officer Armiger was a footman in the Fells Point area of the Southeast District, where he has been assigned since 1974. He was assigned to various units within the Southeast District over the course of his career, the lIst of which was Operations Foot. Mike was well respected within the department and loved by the many communities he served during his 21 years of service. He gained the reputation as being an honest, genuine person who would go the extra mile to help someone in need or to solve a problem on his post. He is a heavily decorated 21 year veteran. Officer Armiger dedicated his life to the Baltimore Police Department and the communities which he served. He selflessly devoted his time and energy to everyone that he came in contact with and is the epitome of what a community police officer represents.

Remember Our Heroes Who Fell in Line of Duty

May 04, 1995

Maryland's monument to its fallen heroes stands at the foot of a gently sloping hill in an oasis of green grass and trees, next to a bright blue lake where swans and wild ducks swim. The Fallen Heroes Memorial at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Timonium is for those police officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. Fourteen law officers and nine firefighters have been buried there since the memorial was dedicated in 1976.

"They are ours forever, their deeds are woven into our lives forever," reads a bronze plaque at the foot of the memorial. "Their deaths were part of the life of this state. . . . What they did was profound." Tomorrow is Fallen Heroes Day in Maryland. Three men -- two firefighters and a Baltimore police officer -- will be remembered by more than 30 police honor guard units and by local officials. The ceremony will be capped by a memorial fly-over by state and city police helicopters.

The Honorees are:

* Gerald Michael Armiger, a 41-year-old Baltimore police officer who suffered a fatal heart attack after completing a foot patrol shift in Fells Point. Officer Armiger had earned three bronze stars and six commendation ribbons during his 21-year career. He left a wife and toddler twin boys. * Lt. Earl McNeal Jr., a 46-year-old fire fighter with the Princess Anne Volunteer Fire Department, who suffered a heart attack after fighting a stubborn field fire all day. * Alton Glento Warren, 55, of the Baltimore fire department. Lt. Warren died from complications after he suffered an apparently routine injury while fighting a fire at an apartment complex. He leaves a wife, two adult daughters and three grandchildren.

"Of course, while we honor our fallen heroes, we also will be honoring the men and women who continue to risk their lives for us every day," says John Armiger Jr., president of Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. "We all have tremendous respect for their professionalism and courage." Tomorrow's ceremony -- said to be the only one of its kind in the country -- is a fitting reminder that the men and women who put their lives on the line for us each day are people of flesh and blood like you and me. They have families, hopes, fears. They had dared to dream of the future.

To you and me, this may seem obvious. But others in our society apparently overlook this fact. The U.S. Justice Department reports that violent assaults against law enforcement officers appears to be on the rise. And those attacks seem increasingly insane. Tuesday night, for instance, two teen-age boys approached Erich Deiker, a 30-year-old Baltimore police officer on patrol in East Baltimore. One youth sprayed Officer Deiker with gasoline. The other tried but failed to set him on fire with a long-handled butane lighter. Officer Deiker was not seriously injured. The teens, who appeared to be 16 or 17 years old, escaped on bicycles. Police have no idea what prompted the attack.

The teens may have been mimicking a similar attack on a Fairfax County, Va., police officer Monday night. In that incident, Officer Stephen M. Needles was sprayed with a flammable liquid and then set ablaze when he and two other officers attempted to question a man at a Falls Church, Va., apartment building. Officer Needles was admitted to a local hospital in serious but stable condition with third degree burns. A 33-year-old man was arrested and charged in the attack. And last week, Cpl. John Joseph Novabilski, a 31-year-old Prince Georges County police officer, was gunned to death as he sat in his police cruiser in suburban Washington, D.C.

Buried Monday, Corporal Novabilski was remembered as a dedicated and compassionate officer who bought toys for underprivileged youngsters. A 26-year-old man has been charged in the case. And so tomorrow Maryland will honor the the men and women charged with our protection. We will be reminded that flesh bleeds, humans grieve, and though fallen heroes can be memorialized, and that precious gift that is their life can never be replaced. And we will hope and pray that the savages among us will finally get this message.

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