BRIDGE TO PEACE
Joe Pane, Josh Pane and Ronnie Pane. Photo by Aniko Kiezel
FALLEN SPD OFFICER TARA O’SULLIVAN MEMORIALIZED BY H STREET SPAN
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acramento Police Officer Tara O’Sullivan was gunned down during a domestic disturbance call in June 2019. Her death sent the region into mourning. I’ll never forget waving our American flag on the Business 80 overpass as her funeral procession slowly moved from Rocklin to Elk Grove. The idea for a beautiful tribute to Tara began over cups of coffee between friends earlier this year.
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“Our coffee group was deeply saddened when Sacramento Police Officer Tara O’Sullivan was killed,” says Joe Pane, an SPD officer from 1979 to 2007. “I started looking into her story, and what we could do to recognize this amazing young woman who met a tragic end. And then, given her strong ties to East Sac, we thought why not the H Street Bridge over the American River by Sac State?” Tara O’Sullivan was born and raised in Pleasant Hill. She grew up wanting to be a cop, and became an Explorer Scout with Pleasant Hill police while in high school. “SPD Chief Daniel Hahn told me that she moved to Sac State to be a cop, majoring in child development because she felt like that would help her in her profession,” Pane says.
“When she moved to Sacramento, she rented a Midtown apartment I owned,” says Ronnie Pane, Joe’s cousin, who retired as chief sergeant at arms for the California Assembly after 41 years. Both cousins, and Joe’s brother, Josh Pane— who served on the City Council from 1989 to 1994—live in East Sacramento and proudly support law enforcement. The three men put together an email to friends and contacts seeking support for the O’Sullivan memorial. The response was overwhelming. “When emails were too numerous for my wife Sue to manage, we posted a Change.org online petition,” Joe says. Nearly 5,000 supporters joined the effort. Their plan went like this: They met with Chief Hahn, the Sacramento Police Officers Association, City Councilmember Jeff Harris, Sac State
President Robert Nelsen, the rest of the City Council, the city’s public works department, and numerous business and neighborhood groups, including those from River Park and Meadowview. Tara was the first female graduate of an inaugural Sac State class called Law Enforcement Candidate Scholars’ Program, which prepares leaders for law enforcement. The director is Dr. Shelby Moffatt, a former SPD officer who became a Sac State professor. Tara was killed in the North Sac neighborhood of Redwood Park. On that tragic day, there were two houses on Redwood Street that involved previous domestic violence calls. Officers told the female victim that if she would get her possessions together, they would come back to keep the peace while she moved out.
