The Thin Blue Line
GRAND RAPIDS (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A non-profit organization, The Thin Blue Line of Michigan, held a fund raiser for Officer Robert Kozminski's family.
Kozminski was shot and killed during a stand-off in Grand Rapids on July 7th of last year. On Wednesday, Jeffrey VanVels was convicted of first degree murder. A jury found him guilty of killing Kozminski.
The verdict now provides some closure in a tragic case that has been unfolding now over the last eight months. Officer Kozminski left behind a young daughter, Kaylie. She was seen doing twirls at his funeral. Saturday an entire fund raising organization rallied around his little girl and those who are left to raise her.
A black wristband was given to folks who made a donation. All the money raised Saturday will go to the family of Bob Kozminski, a veteran of the Grand Rapids Police Department, and all the other families of officers in Michigan killed or injured in the line of duty.
The Thin Blue Line organization has been planning Saturday's event since last fall. The group picked March because it's typically a slow time for donations.
At that time, they didn't know when the trial of Jeffrey VanVels was going to happen. Turns out, it was just a coincidence that the fund raiser is happening a few days after a jury found VanVels guilty of Officer Bob Kozminski's murder.
But the close timing is also helping. Organizers say even more than eight months after Officer Kozminski's death, the interest in Saturday's event has been phenomenal.
"My phone and my e-mail has just been going crazy with people saying they're coming, from as far as up in the U.P., all over Michigan," said Theresa Peterlein of The Sacred Heart Club.
The fund raiser was held at the Sacred Heart Club on Park Street Southwest in Grand Rapids. It included a chicken and kielbasa dinner and then later, a DJ for entertainment.
Saturday's fund raiser was no doubt well attended by many of the same people who accompanied Officer Kozminski's casket to its final resting place in Holy Cross Cemetery in Grand Rapids last July.
More than 1,500 officers were a part of that funeral procession. Following taps, each uniformed and civilian member of the department filed past the casket leaving one white glove or one white carnation.
Kozminski's convicted killer, Jeffrey VanVels will be back in court on April 16th for a sentencing hearing. But by the letter of the law in Michigan, he faces a mandatory life prison sentence.
Newschannel 3 will continue to cover this story and let you know what happens.
