Ohio renames Portage road for Ravenna police officer killed there in 1981

Rebecca Wert said her first inkling she was a widow came less than two months after her wedding, from a police scanner.

Early Jan. 31, 1981, she heard her husband, Ravenna patrolman James Wert, had been struck by what was reported as a drunken driver while outside his cruiser on state Route 88.

"I called my father and said, 'Oh, my God, you need to come get me," said Wert.

They went to emergency room where she learned her 25-year-old husband was gone.

"The way he was hit, his injuries, he was killed right away," said Wert.

He never even got to see their wedding photos.

It has been more than 40 years since the death of James Wert, but he has not been forgotten. Now motorists driving on State Route 88 in the area where he died will soon see reminders of him.

On Wednesday, Gov. Mike DeWine signed Ohio House Bill 251 to designate a section of the road in the area of State Route 14 and Lovers Lane as "Patrolman James R. Wert Memorial Highway."

State Rep. Gail Pavliga of Portage County was the bill's primary sponsor. It was the culmination of an effort that took several years. It may take a few more months before signs are put in place. The Ohio Department of Transportation will decide their exact location.

Debbie Sunderland, Portage County Historical Society board president, said she has known Wert's sister Lynn Wagner and her brothers since they were Windham students around the same time.

"I've known the kids ever since they were little," she said. "[James] truly loved his job, and he was all about taking care of others."

First came the Army

James Wert was born March 31, 1955, and graduated from Windham High School in 1973. Robert Wert, his father, was principal at the high school and was Windham's superintendent at the time of his son's death.

James attended Kent State University before transferring to Hiram College, where he majored in political science. While at Hiram, he worked as a Hiram Police Department dispatcher as part of a work/study program. But what he really wanted to do was join the Army and become a military police officer. He joined the Army in July 1976 and after basic training, went through Military Police School in Fort McClellan in Alabama, then was sent to Seoul, South Korea.

While there, he was seriously injured when he was stabbed while making an arrest.

Wert was transferred to Fort Hood, Texas, after about a year. After working in road patrol, he trained as a narcotics investigator. He then was injured a second time while fighting with a suspect in a stairwell. Wert went over a railing and fell 1 1/2 stories.

Wert was discharged from the Army in July 1979. He went through the Portage County Sheriff's Office Police Academy and was appointed to Ravenna Police Department on Feb. 1, 1980.

"The day he died was his last day of probation," said Rebecca Wert.

'Strong' and 'intense,' but a soft side

Retired Ravenna Police Officer Bob Cooper was Wert's his training officer for a short time after Wert started working in the department.

"I was impressed," said Cooper. "I thought he was very professional. I think he had a good demeanor. I think he was very capable."

Jim Leidel, another retired Ravenna Police officer, was about the same age as Wert, and the two got to know each other well, especially since they worked the same shift.

"He was a good friend," said Leidel. "He was an excellent police officer. He was loyal to people. Did his job and did it well. He was aggressive, you know, but wasn't overbearing."

Leidel recalled that he and Wert would hang out together outside of work, often meeting for breakfast, for example.

"I suppose his military background, I think, is what probably trained him to eat fast," said Leidel. "But that guy could down a plate of food like nobody's business. He'd be done eating before anybody else was pretty much barely started."

Rebecca Wert called her husband "strong" while Lynn Wagner, his sister, called him "intense." But James also had a soft side, they said. One day, he responded to a call at a Little League game off New Milford Road after a 7-year-old boy's arm was badly broken.

"He stayed with him and calmed him down until he could be transported to the hospital. He really liked kids," said Rebecca Wert.

Wagner recalled that she and her husband had a 1967 Chevrolet Nova that became part of a bond between James Wert and her husband, similar hers with her brother.

"He would work on the car with my husband. They were best friends," she said. "[James] was my best friend because we were close in age. I was first born, he was second born, and then the three younger boys."

She said James was "multifaceted," with talents in athletics and in music. While at Hiram College, he was a member of a jazz band.

"He played football, he ran track, but he was a wonderful musician," said Wagner. "I wish I could play piano as well as he did."

A rough start

When Rebecca lamented that she and James "didn't even get a full year" together, Wagner told her, "You are the love of his life."

But it did not begin that way. Rebecca had trained as a paramedic, bringing them together professionally with an apparent dislike for each other, even arguing at crash scenes.

At one point, a friend wanted to introduce her to "some guy," and Rebecca agreed to meet him at a restaurant. It was James Wert who walked in.

"I was like, 'You've got to be kidding,'" said Rebecca.

On a call after that, they got into another argument, but this time James later surprised her by giving her a dozen red roses as an apology.

"After that, we got along pretty well," said Rebecca. "We were engaged in June and married Dec. 6."

During the summer of their engagement, James had to give Rebecca a ticket following a crash.

"He was standing right there and saw it," said Rebecca.

She said they had just had lunch together and, as she was driving away, she made a left turn without yielding and another vehicle struck hers. Rebecca admits "it was truly my fault" and laughs about it now . She even still has her yellow copy of the ticket as a memento.

But James was not amused that he had to be the one to give his fiancée a ticket.

"He was so mad that nobody else would come down and handle the accident," she said.

What happened that night

James was not even supposed to be working Jan. 31, 1981. He finished his regularly scheduled eight-hour shift at 11 p.m. and should have been at home.

"He was out that night because someone else had called off and they were short officers," said Rebecca.

It was a cold and snowy night. James stopped at home to change his boots because his feet had gotten wet. He turned the scanner on and it stayed on after he left.

About midnight, James stopped a suspected drunken driver on Lovers Lane and arrested the 23-year-old Ravenna man. The police department had received federal funding to beef up enforcement of driving under the influence, and it was a big priority. With the man in the back of his cruiser, James pulled onto onto State Route 88 southbound when the man began to complain that the handcuffs hurt.

James pulled over a little before State Route 14, and Patrolman Edward Cannon, 32, responded to assist. After they pulled the Ravenna man out to adjust his handcuffs, there was a struggle. It was then that a 17-year-old, also drunk, drove his northbound pickup truck across the center line and struck the three men, killing Wert and injuring Cannon and the Ravenna man.

The boy continued on. He was pursued by another officer, who arrested him with the assistance of the Ohio State Highway Patrol after the boy pulled into the driveway of his State Route 88 home.

Cooper remembers how somber it was at the police station in the aftermath of the crash.

"Yes, it was very, very sad time, because not only was Jim killed, we almost had another officer killed," he said.

Leidel has similar recollections.

"Everyone was just devastated. There were a lot of tears shed. I can tell you, it was just a very rough time for everyone," he said.

Newspaper accounts of the time say that hundreds of police officers, firefighters, family members and friends attended Wert's funeral. Leidel said police officers from around the nation and Canada attended the funeral.

"The funeral service was just amazing," he said. "It was just a huge, huge representation and respect for Jim."

Wagner said her brother's death hit the family hard, especially their parents.

"After this happened, my parents were so devastated of this loss, of the loss of their older son," she said. "It forever changed their lives. It changed all of our lives."

Her parents co-founded the Portage County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. They were active with it, having a booth every year at the county fair and monitoring how county judges handled drunken driving cases.

"They were on top of everything because they had to have some kind of outlet," said Wagner.

According to a newspaper article at the time, the boy later pleaded no contest and was found guilty of felony delinquency by reason of involuntary manslaughter in Portage County Juvenile Court. He received a suspended sentence.

James Wert's badge number, 422, was retired.

How H.B. 251 came to pass

Police Chief Jeff Wallis did not know Wert oersonally. He recalled that while traveling, he would sometimes see signs along roads memorializing individuals.

"I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have something like a memorial marker, a sign, a memorial (for Wert) on a stretch of the road," he said.

He had no idea how to do this is, but he was soon talking to Sunderland.

"I did some research and that's when I contacted State Rep. Gail Pavliga and we met with the chief to honor the young man who gave his life for us while protecting us," said Sunderland.

Leidel said he is pleased that his friend is being remembered.

"He was a very wonderful person and his family just a great family too," he said. "His brother and nephew both ended up being Ravenna Police officers, so that was a good representation and legacy there."

Wallis said that early in the process, he pointed out one step that was necessary before they started the process.

"I said first we need to make sure the family is interested," he said.

Rebecca Wert said that, coincidentally, she had been seen similar signs at the sides of roads on a recent trip and it got her thinking about doing something similar for her husband. So Wallis' call was welcome and she was on board.

"I didn't want to be gone and this be forgotten," she said.

Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.