Annual Memorial For Fallen Fair Lawn Officer Coming Up April 17

FAIR LAWN, NJ — A memorial service later this month will honor the life and sacrifice of Fair Lawn Police Officer Mary Ann Collura, police said.

Collura was shot and killed in the line of duty April 17, 2003. The man sought in her murder, Omar Marti, died three days later in a shootout with police in Florida.

The 19th annual remembrance ceremony will be Sunday, April 17 at 1 p.m., Fair Lawn police said. It will be held by the police memorial in front of the Fair Lawn Municipal Building, at 8-01 Fair Lawn Avenue.

Collura was the first female police officer in Fair Lawn and, at the time, one of just five female officers ever killed in New Jersey, The New York Times reported shortly after her death.

Collura, an 18-year Fair Lawn Police Department veteran and its first female officer, was killed in the line of duty on April 17, 2003, following a vehicle pursuit that started in Clifton and ended on the lawn of the Van Riper Ellis Broadway Baptist Church on River Road.

On the scene to assist Clifton Police, Collura was fatally shot four times above and below her bullet proof vest while attempting to arrest a suspect on the rear lawn of the church. The suspect then stole Collura's patrol car and ran her over with it before fleeing the scene.

A lifelong Fair Lawn resident and Fair Lawn High School graduate, Collura was a firearms officer and armorer, a member of the Bergen County Rapid Deployment Force for five years and a delegate to the New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Association.

She received the Hackensack University Medical Center EMS Excellence Award for saving a life with a defibrillator, in addition to numerous commendation letters from the community for her "prompt, courteous, and thoughtful service," according to the police department's webpage in her memory.

Collura also implemented the borough's practice of distributing glow sticks for elementary school trick-or-treaters to wear on Halloween night.

Former Patch reporters Zak Koeske and Daniel Hubbard contributed to this report.