Mourners gather at fallen officer's wake
Members of the Police Department, friends and family gather at Massapequa Funeral Home's South Chapel for the wake of Nassau Police officer Michael J. Califano. (Feb. 8, 2011) Credit: Newsday / Alejandra Villa
Braving a bone-chilling wind, a steady flow of mourners came to pay their respects to fallen Nassau County police Officer Michael Califano Tuesday at the Massapequa Funeral Home.
Fellow Officer Conor Walsh, a night patrolman with the Nassau County highway patrol, used to get a cup of coffee with Califano at midnight nearly every time the two worked the same shift. Cups in hand, Walsh, a union delegate, and Califano would talk about work and family life. "He was a friend," Walsh said. "He wasn't just an associate."
Walsh went to the wake in Massapequa Park to comfort Califano's family. "They're doing as best as can be expected," he said. "We've done our best to surround them with love and support."
Califano, 44, of Wantagh, was struck by a flatbed truck and killed on the Long Island Expressway near Glen Cove Road early Saturday. Police said a trucker asleep at the wheel slammed into his patrol car.
Califano had been sitting in his patrol car behind a box truck he had pulled over at Exit 39 in the westbound lane when authorities said a flatbed truck driven by John Kaley, 25, of New Britain, Conn., rammed into the back of Califano's vehicle. The impact crushed Califano inside his car; he was pronounced dead at 12:30 a.m. Saturday. He leaves behind a wife and three children.
Kaley has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, three counts of misdemeanor assault and violating a new state law requiring cars to move away from emergency vehicles if possible.
Walsh was patrolling that section of the LIE the night of the crash, and didn't realize immediately that it was his buddy who was hurt. "It was my area of the highway," he said. "I expected to see Mike there helping me."
Walsh said he was honored to work alongside Califano. They had known each other for two years. "I'm just going to miss him," he said. "Next week it's going to be hard to get a cup of coffee at midnight."
Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) came to pay his respects and said he's long known the Califano family.
"That family has always been about service," he said as he left the wake. "Anyone who would want their children to be cops, they would want them to become like Michael Califano."
