Parked patrol car of slain D.C. officer becomes an impromptu memorial to his life

D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers are remembering Wayne David this week by covering the slain officer’s patrol car with mementos honoring his legacy as a crime fighter and as a man who cared about others.

The SUV, adorned with flowers, letters, photos and a black mourning band struck through the MPD logo, sits outside the special operations division building in Northeast where Investigator David worked.

Investigator David, 51, focused on getting guns off the streets. It was a discharge from one of those illegal weapons that abruptly ended his life on Aug. 28 as he tried to fish a discarded firearm out of a storm drain.

Police said Tuesday that Tyrell Lamonte Bailey, 27, is wanted in connection with the abandoned weapon.

MPD and federal partners at the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives increased their reward to $60,000 in the hunt for Mr. Bailey.

“Just a great guy. He’s going to be really missed around here,” Cmdr. Jeff Kopp, who heads the violent crime suppression division that included Investigator David, told The Washington Times on Tuesday. “He was a mentor to people, a teacher. People really looked up to Wayne. He’s a big loss for us.”

Cmdr. Kopp said MPD’s memorial will remain at least until Investigator David’s funeral next week.

Officers at the special operations division set up the tribute the night of the investigator’s death, the commander said.

He explained that decorating patrol cars is a common way to show reverence for fallen officers. The black mourning band on the squad car’s unit number and MPD logo, which Cmdr. Kopp had over his own badge, is another way for police to pay their respects to those who die in the line of duty.

Cmdr. Kopp said the department has yet to decide whether to permanently retire the officer’s patrol car or return it to service.

The tragedy affected law enforcement agencies across the region. Officers from other departments visited the District to place flowers on the car. Residents also paid their respects at the memorial along New York Avenue Northeast.

One man and his daughter made an impression on Cmdr. Kopp.

“They didn’t work for the police department. They didn’t know Wayne,” the commander said. “They simply stopped by because … the father thought it was important to teach the daughter that there are people out here who go into harm’s way every day that try to protect us, and sometimes it costs them their lives, and we owe them a debt of gratitude.”

On Monday night, a vigil was held for Investigator David outside his Langdon home.

Dozens of family members, neighbors and police officers, including MPD Chief Pamela Smith, turned out to remember the longtime officer who followed his brother Warren Scarborough into the department.

Mr. Scarborough’s voice broke with emotion as he thanked attendees for honoring his brother, who served more than 25 years in the department.

Davon David fought back tears during the vigil for his father as he and others sang “This Little Light of Mine.”

Kalihah Barber recalled how her fiance would stop everything to help someone, whether it was a close neighbor or a random person stranded on the roadside.

Investigator David grew up in Northeast and saw firsthand the toll crime took on the neighborhoods of Saratoga and Brentwood. He was personally involved in making the city a better, safer place to live, said Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Harry Thomas Jr.

Investigator David was one of the first to invest in a town house community after builders wanted to redevelop a notorious public housing project.

“Those are the kind of cops we need — cops that come from our communities, that understand our plight,” said Mr. Thomas, who grew up with Investigator David and organized the vigil. “For me, it’s just a tragedy that someone as trained and as special as him would die while recovering a weapon.”

Police said Investigator David was trying to stop a “suspicious” man in an alley on the 4500 block of Quarles Street Northeast.

The man jumped down onto Interstate 295, chucked his pistol into a storm drain and then sprinted across traffic to the northbound side of the highway, police said.

A passing biker stopped amid the chaos and rode off with the man moments afterward, police said.

Authorities said there was “no indication” that the biker and the man knew each other.

Investigator David was shot while trying to retrieve the discarded weapon from the storm drain. The D.C. Police Union said he was shot in the head.

Later that night, MPD brass announced the officer had died in a hospital.

“We know that there are risks. That is truly inherent in the work that we do, but more important is what you see tonight: people who come out to show and pay homage to the person in Investigator Wayne David,” Chief Smith said at Monday’s vigil.

A Sept. 12 funeral is planned at Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, Maryland.