Pueblo police honor 9 officers who lost lives on the job

Retired Pueblo Police Officer Pat Heine listened as her son’s name was read during the roll call of nine officers who lost their lives while serving the department.

“He was a good man. He was a good dad. He was a good husband. And he was a good police officer,” Pat Heine said of her son, Nicholas Heine, 30, who died in 2008.

Nicholas Heine collapsed while trying to break up several bar fights by Victoria Avenue and C Street. He died at Parkview Hospital shortly after from heart failure.

“It was an unknown, undiagnosed, heart issue. And the stress, and the strain, and the running and the drunks — that was enough at that one particular part to end his life,” said Pat Heine. She recently retired after wearing the badge for 23 years.

Pueblo Police Chief Luis Velez told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that being a law enforcement officer has become more dangerous in recent years.

“My biggest fear is that at night I’m going to receive a phone call that one of our officers has been hurt, terribly bad in the line of duty,” Velez said.

The Rev. Robert Lewis read the names of the nine officers who died while on the job: Silas Martz (1903), E.M. Slater (1903), William E. Shellman (1906), Frederick Barner (1909), John Dunleavy (1909), Jeff Evans (1919), Addison O. Hinsdale (1920), Thomas Hanson (1973) and Nicholas K. Heine (2008).

Nicholas Heine is survived by his wife and two daughters.

“The wound doesn’t go away. The hurt doesn’t go away. You just develop additional coping skills to deal with it,” Pat Heine said.