Debi Foss’s first memory of her father came about when she was eating dinner.
When she was 6 years old in 1964, her father, Akron police officer Ronald Rotruck, was late coming home from work. Her mom had dinner set and was wondering where he was.
Then, a rap at the door changed their lives.
Police told Foss’s mother that Rotruck died while saving other peoples’ lives on Tallmadge Parkway. Foss’s mother fainted. All Foss can remember doing is running into the street and crying.
On Thursday, more than 50 years later, Foss sat in a trolley, wearing a black hoodie with a single blue stripe and blue eyeliner, to uncover the rest of the details from that fateful day.
In honor of National Police Officers Memorial Week, Akron police gave a trolley tour on Thursday to all the sites where Akron police officers were killed in the line of duty.
The tour was exclusively for police officers, their families, and families of the fallen officers.
Akron police decided to do something different to honor police this week, although the idea goes back nearly 15 years ago to when Patrolman Jeff Ross began plotting points where officers had fallen. Police recently formed a committee to finish the route and, dating back to 1916, identified all the areas where Akron police officers — 26 in all — were either killed or wounded with an injury that eventually led to their death.
“Some of these spots people drive by every day and have no idea what happened here,” said Ross, the head of the committee.
The committee painted permanent yellow badges on the roads or sidewalks as close to the scene as possible. Ross said they plan to keep up with repainting as needed.
“This undertaking was a labor of love,” Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards said. “It allows us to let you, the family members, know you are important to us and part of the blue line family.”
The tour took about 2½ hours as Ross and Edwards, each on a trolley, narrated a stream of facts about the legacies of Rotruck and other officers.
On July 21, 1964, a part of West Tallmadge Parkway crumbled, and a woman drove right into the hole with two girls in the car.
Rotruck responded to the call and dived in. Along with the help of a man named Hugh O’Neil, he rescued the woman and her daughter. Before they could reach the other passenger, the road further collapsed — killing the men and the girl.
West Tallmadge Parkway was renamed Memorial Parkway in honor of Rotruck and O’Neil.
“Ever since I was little, I was really proud of him,” Foss said. “He only had 15 minutes left in his shift. He could’ve gone home, but he didn’t.”
Foss’s eyes teared up as the tour went on. At each stop, an officer stood behind the painted badges with a memorial wreath and a sturdy salute.
“Even though it happened so long ago, I always feel a part of this police family,” Foss said. “This is much more than I thought it would be. I just can’t believe they’re doing this for all the families.”
As the trolley rolled up to the scene where Rotruck lost his life, Foss became quiet. She stepped out of the trolley and, with teary eyes, took a picture with her son, Jon, the saluting officer and the memorial of her father, adding to the small list of memories she carries of him.
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com.