Tony Radulescu always had a funny story or joke to tell.
He loved playing and watching sports, singing 1980s music and hosting barbecues with his friends.
He also a was dedicated Washington State Patrol trooper known throughout the Bremerton community as “Trooper Tony.”
Today, friends, colleagues, fellow law officers, emergency personnel and the public will honor and remember Radulescu with a procession and memorial service.
The 44-year-old father was gunned down a week ago during a traffic stop on state Route 16 near Gorst. The gunman died several hours later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The State Patrol intends to focus today on a fallen colleague and his life. Radulescu, a Romanian native, immigrated to the United States as a teenager and later served in the U.S. Army. He joined the State Patrol in 1995 and spent his entire career assigned to communities in the Bremerton district.
Gov. Chris Gregoire has ordered the flags at all state agency buildings to be flown at half-staff today.
A procession of law enforcement, fire and other emergency vehicles will mark the start of the tribute. It will begin at 7:30 a.m. at Kitsap Mall in Silverdale with troopers who worked with Radulescu, Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies and others who knew him well.
The vehicles will wind their way through Port Orchard and then east down state Route 16. They’ll go to Mountain View Funeral Home on Steilacoom Boulevard in Lakewood, where they will meet up with members of Trooper Radulescu’s family. The group will then take South Tacoma Way onto 112th Street, where they will join with more vehicles from Joint Base Lewis McChord.
The larger group – led by the family and Radulescu’s Kitsap County colleagues – will travel east on state Route 512 to state Route 167, then take state Route 516 to the ShoWare Center on West James Street in Kent.
The last leg of the procession is to leave Lewis-McChord at 10:30 a.m. On-ramps and interchanges will be closed as the procession proceeds, and traffic slowdowns are expected along the route. Real-time traffic updates are available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic.
The public memorial for Radulescu is to begin at 1 p.m. at the ShoWare Center. State Patrol Chief John Batiste, Gregoire and Radulescu’s son, Erick, are to speak.
The event is expected to be rich in tradition and ceremony. A table set for one will be stationed near the stage. The table, a State Patrol tradition, signifies the loss of a trooper. Radulescu is the 27th Washington trooper to be killed in the line of duty.
The State Patrol cautioned Wednesday that parking is extremely limited at ShoWare. Members of the public wishing to attend the service are encouraged to park at the Boeing Co. lot at 20400 West Valley Highway and take a shuttle to the arena. The shuttle bus will leave every 15 minutes.
In addition, four churches will be open for anyone who wants to watch the ceremony but can’t make it to Kent. All will open at 12:30 p.m. The four locations are:
• Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, 7700 Skansie Ave., in Gig Harbor.
• Christian Faith Center, 33645 20th Ave. S., in Federal Way.
• Puyallup Foursquare Church, 601 Ninth Ave. S.E., in Puyallup.
• Church For All Nations, 111 112th St. E., in Tacoma.
Cards and other remembrances can be left at the sites and will be passed along to the family.
Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268
stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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