Posthumous Bronze Stars : Names of Two Fallen Peace Officers Added to Memorial

SANTA ANA — The family of slain Sheriff’s Deputy Darryn Leroy Robins expressed gratitude and pride as a plaque with his name was added to the Orange County Peace Officers Memorial Wednesday, along with that of fallen California Highway Patrol Officer John Steel.

“I’m very proud of my husband,” the deputy’s widow, Rosemary Robins, said following the one-hour ceremony. “I’m proud of what he’s done for everyone and what everyone has done for him.”

The families of the two officers were among the 300 police officers and others who gathered at the Santa Ana Civic Center’s Plaza of the Flags during a ceremony to commemorate the 36 Orange County law enforcement officers killed on the job since 1912. Steel and Robins were killed last year.

“They died on duty, leaving behind grieving families and many friends,” CHP Officer Thomas Fitzgerald said to the audience. “But their deaths will not be in vain, for John and Darryn leave legacies that we can honor and emulate.”

Rosemary Robins said Wednesday’s tribute and the continued emotional support of the Sheriff’s Department, along with the hundreds of cards and letters she has received since her husband was killed Christmas Day during an impromptu training session, have helped her to cope with the loss.

“It shows me that people care and have concern,” she said. “I’ve heard from so many people, some from out of state and most of whom I’ve never met.”

The slain deputy’s mother, Mildred Fisher, stood next to the memorial after the ceremony wiping a steady stream of tears.

“The ceremony was just lovely,” Fisher said before she was escorted by a sheriff’s deputy to an awaiting limousine.

Both women were hugged by Sheriff Brad Gates, who spoke warmly of Darryn Robins, a 30-year-old deputy known to local schoolchildren as “Rappin’ Robins” during his many anti-gang talks at elementary and junior high schools.

“It was a tragic loss for all of us,” Gates said. Robins “was a highly positive and caring person. He will be remembered for his love of life, his love of the community, and especially for his love of children.”

A fellow deputy, Brian P. Scanlan, accidentally shot Robins in the head with his service pistol as they were re-enacting a traffic stop behind a Lake Forest shopping center, authorities said.

The Orange County Grand Jury declined to indict Scanlan in the shooting. The Orange County district attorney’s office had recommended that Scanlan be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an inquiry in Washington to try to determine whether Scanlan was simply negligent or intended to harm his fellow officer.

Steel, a 20-year veteran of the CHP, was on his way to work on April 23, 1993, when his motorcycle was struck head-on by a car traveling on the wrong side of a deserted stretch of Irvine Boulevard in Santa Ana.

Javiar Uribe Chaparro, a 25-year-old day laborer who apparently nodded off at the wheel, was sentenced to six months in jail last July after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving without insurance or a license.

As Steel’s widow, Ginger, and sons, Jake and Jordan, looked on, Fitzgerald spoke in tribute of his colleague Wednesday and said Steel “personified duty.”

Steel died before last year’s memorial ceremony, but authorities could not prepare a plaque in time so the officer was added to the memorial this year.

The name of each law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty and the date they died were read aloud during the ceremony, which took place under gray skies.

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, a former Orange police officer, said, “We must be certain that we never forget the contributions of these officers.”