Police Commissioner to Ride for Fallen Officer

Donald Kleber, chairman of Fairfield's Police Commission, never met Mark Parker, a correctional officer who died March 19, 2009 from injuries sustained in a line-of-duty shooting at the Orange County Courthouse in Florida.

But Kleber, a Fairfield resident who retired after a 30-year career with the FBI in New York and Connecticut, will honor Parker by riding a bicycle 320 miles from East Hanover, N.J. to Washington, D.C. in the Police Unity Tour, an annual event that raises awareness of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty and that raises money for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"I let somebody pick for me. That's whose bracelet I will be wearing. I've been in contact with the family," Kleber said. "I will give them my bracelet and assist them in laying a wreath at the Memorial."

Parker was shot and paralyzed from the chest down in 1984 when Thomas Provenzano went to court to shoot officers who had given him a traffic ticket. Court bailiff William "Arnie" Wilkerson was killed that day; court bailiff Harry Dalton died from his injuries in 1991. Provenzano, who also tried to shoot a judge, was executed in June 2000 at Florida State Prison, according to the Orlando Sentinel and the Police Unity Tour's Web site.

Kleber said he's donated money to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial since its inception and always wanted to ride in the Police Unity Tour, but his schedule never permitted it. He said the Police Unity Tour combines his two great passions, other than his family - law enforcement and cycling.

"It's just something that, since I was a kid, I liked," Kleber said of cycling. "The great thing about bicycling is you travel at a speed where you can appreciate the sites around you and can cover great distances."

Kleber said he usually rides about 3,000 miles a year and has been training for the Police Unity Tour with Darien Police Chief Duane Lovello since January. "Whenever weather would permit it, we'd go out on the road. As the weather gets better, you increase your mileage all the time...50-mile ride one day, 30-mile ride the next day. Then you start to move into the 70s. Once you hit 70, you're well equipped to handle it," he said of the Police Unity Tour.

Lovello said he will be riding in honor of Kenneth Bateman, a Darien Police officer who was shot to death in 1981, and William Bowman, a Darien Police officer who was killed in a car crash in 1927. "I just think it's a wonderful tribute. It shows these officers aren't forgotten," Lovello said of the annual Police Unity Tour.

Lovello and Kleber covered 70 miles on their bikes on Saturday and another 43 miles on Sunday in the Five Boro Bike Tour in New York City.

The Police Unity Tour starts on Sunday in East Hanover, N.J. and continues for four days until the 650 cyclists in the New Jersey-to-Washington group reach RFK Stadium in Washington. The first leg of the tour is 60 miles, followed on Monday by 100 miles, another 100 miles on May 11 and 60 miles on May 12. Kleber and Lovello will participate in a candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. May 13 at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

The Police Unity Tour's Web site identifies 128 officers in Connecticut, and 18,983 officers nationwide, who have been killed in the line of duty and whose names are engraved on walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. More than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serve in the United States, and, on average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty in America every 53 hours, according to the Web site.

The Police Unity Tour, started in 1997, has raised $7 million in donations for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, according to the Web site. Kleber said participants have to raise at least $1,700 in pledges.

When he was finishing up his FBI career in Connecticut, Kleber was the FBI's lead investigator in the May 2002 murder of Christina Long, a 13-year-old honor student who was the first child killed as a result of communicating with someone on the Internet, and the 2003 kidnapping of Greenwich businessman Eddie Lampert. Investigations into those crimes led to arrests and convictions.

Kleber said he thinks most people recognize the sacrifice police officers make and the dangers they face.

"When you get a traffic ticket, you curse at the cops. But I would say the average citizen appreciates law enforcement, having a good police department and particularly appreciates them in those times of need," Kleber said. "We've all had somebody get injured in the house or someone gets sick, and law enforcement officers show up with the fire department. People genuinely appreciate that. They love that our officers are out there."