Bradley Police Chief Don Barber says two wooden chairs…built as special. daily reminders…now sits in the village police department’s roll-call room. The chairs are a dedication to two fallen police officers who served the Bradley department.

Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and Sgt. Willard Lewis will forever be a part of the Bradley Police Department.

Chief Barber said the chairs, built by a Texas non-profit organization, are a daily reminder why policing is such an important job. The job puts men and women in harm’s way. The Chief says ‘it’s important and necessary to remember.’

Two cherry wood chairs were built at the Village Hall by the not-for-profit ‘Saving a Hero’s Place.” Chief Barber reached out to the organization for help in finding a most-appropriate way to remember the fallen officers. Sgts’ Rittmanic and Lewis both died in the line of duty.

Rittmanic was shot lin December 2021 inside the Comfort Inn & Suites in Bradley while responding to a barking dog call in the motel parking lot. 
Lewis was killed on Interstate 57 in November 1997, while investigating a traffic accident near the Bradley interchange.

The chairs built have a blue and black ribbon-cord that extends from one arm chair to the other; the ribbon prohibits anyone from sitting in the chairs. They are a reminder, a daily reminder, for all the police officers to see and remember the sacrifice.

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