CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Sixteen years after being killed in the line of duty, slain Officer Jason West still finds a way to give back to the community he embraced.

Much of that comes through the efforts of the memorial scholarship fund established in the wake of his tragic death in May 2007, when West responded to a disturbance call on Altamont Avenue and was fatally shot.

At the time, he was 31 and a seven-year veteran of the force recently promoted to the rank of Investigator, as well as a member of the department’s motorcycle unit.

His killer continues to serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole for aggravated murder.

But longtime Cleveland Heights resident Lita Gonzalez and others saw to it that West’s story didn’t end there.

The co-founder and president of the Officer Jason D. West Memorial Fund (OJWMF) Board of Directors remembered driving home with her husband from a family gathering that Memorial Day weekend when news of his death came over the airwaves.

“It was like somebody punched me,” recalled Gonzalez. “I had seen Jason on Lee Road (part of his beat) but had never met him personally. I wish I had. Everything I know about him as a police officer came from stories and memories that his family, business people, other police officers and residents told me.

“They painted a picture of a young man who loved being a police officer, loved the community he served and lived in, loved his family and always respected and was kind to people he came in contact with,” she added.

Roughly two dozen scholarships later, the board restructured last year, shifting from high school seniors who had been enrolled in the former Heights High School Career Tech Criminal Justice program to cadets attending the Cleveland Heights Police Academy.

‘Pace Cadets’

Like the police academy that was shut down for the pandemic and reactivated just this year, OJWMF organizers plan to hold their first fundraiser since 2019.

It will coincide with the Cleveland Heights Happy 5K Run on Oct. 1, where the OJWMF will be fielding a team of its own -- the “Pace Cadets” -- that will be open to runners, walkers and anyone in between.

The 501(C)3 nonprofit will also be accepting donations to underwrite the $25 entry fees for any current Heights Police Academy cadets who want to run, as well as for scholarships to help cover the $5,000 tuition.

Tax-deductible donations are also sought for the return of the Annual Mega Raffle and silent auction at The Tavern Company (“TavCo”), 2299 Lee Road, immediately following the race.

The event will feature raffle items from local merchants, food, games for kids and more. All proceeds will go directly to providing tuition reimbursement to graduates of the Cleveland Heights Police Academy.

Through it all, Gonzalez said OJWMF still pursues three main goals: First, to keep Jason’s memory alive; second, to encourage young people to consider law enforcement as a career; and third, to repair the rift that has developed between police and youth.

“I’m encouraged by what I see coming out of our police academy,” Gonzalez added. “It’s one of the best in Ohio and I think it’s going to change things.”

She admits that something she would still like to see come out of the police academy are new recruits for the Cleveland Heights Police Department.

That could bring the whole initiative full circle, given the fact that West himself graduated from the Cleveland Heights Police Academy in 2000 after earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Tiffin University the year before.

Brief encounter

Gonzalez also recalled setting up an OJWMF fundraising table some years back in the entrance lobby at Dave’s Market & Eatery (Zagara’s at the time), when a man walked up and introduced himself with a Jason West story that involved his grandson back when he was in grade school.

The grandfather said that they had been walking along Lee Road where they met West, who greeted them and asked the lad if he wanted to take a closer look at his police car.

“He said from that day on, his grandson wanted to become a police officer,” Gonzalez said.

As it turns out, that kid went on to take the law enforcement class when it was still offered at Heights High and wound up getting one of the Jason West memorial scholarships for college in 2017.

Majoring in criminology at Cleveland State University, Chris Smith works in the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department’s Protective Services Division, although he’s currently enrolled in the Cleveland Heights Police Academy.

He has a vivid recollection of their meeting also, as described in an interview on the OJWMF website entitled “A Brief Encounter with Officer West Inspires a Career.”

Asked about receiving the scholarship back at Heights High, Smith said, “It meant a lot to me because Officer West was someone I had met when I was 7 years old.

“It was a week before he was killed, and I was walking home from school with my grandfather,” Smith continued. “Officer West was in his parked patrol car. He talked to us and let me sit in the car and work the lights. I will always remember that small act of kindness.

“You never know the lasting impact of a small kind gesture.”

Gonzalez said that Smith can also apply for a tuition reimbursement as he and other cadets complete the academy later this year.

“But that’s our dream one day -- that somebody with the Jason West scholarship gets hired by Cleveland Heights,” Gonzalez said.

“Officer West believed in the importance of mentoring young people. Through the scholarship, his legacy continues to impact the lives of young men and women.”

At the same time, Smith stated in his OJWMF website interview from November 2022 that his career goals include becoming a county sheriff’s deputy in the short term, then a sheriff’s office investigator and eventually a member of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).

Smith has also attended the “End of Watch” ceremonies honoring West and other fallen police officers through the years.

In 2014, city officials renamed the stretch of Cedar Road between Coventry and Lee roads in memory of West, who grew up in Avon before buying a house along Cedar near Cottage Grove Avenue.

Organizers also expect West’s cruiser to be outside TavCo during the Fun Run and Mega-Raffle on Oct. 1, thanks to the restorative efforts of LJI Collision Center, after the cruiser had been sitting for years in the municipal parking lot.

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