Vegas cop slain in massacre remembered as the “greatest American”

A leader, a mentor, and a “damn good police officer.”

That’s how people remember Charleston “Charles” or “Chucky” Hartfield, the off-duty police officer who gave his life protecting others at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. Hartfield died along with 57 other people when a lone gunman opened fire on the crowd from the 32nd floor of a nearby hotel.

Thousands gathered on Thursday evening to remember Hartfield — who served 11 years in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and 16 years in the military — with a candlelight vigil at Police Memorial Park in Las Vegas. They remember him as a genuine leader they could always count.

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“He was a damn good police officer. You could just tell,” said Mark McNett, a retired homicide detective from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department who remembers bumping into Hartfield at crime scenes. “He really struck me as a genuine.”

At the height of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Ken Brown, a former Army infantryman, worked alongside Hartfield as a paratrooper in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Although a myriad of things made Brown unsure of their situation, he knew Hartfield would always have his back when his equipment fell short.

“At the time, he was like a man up from heaven,” said Brown, who would often go to Hartfield when his radios broke or when he needed extra batteries. “That’s kind of the guy he was. He went out of his way to help people.”

Back in the U.S., the two would watch football on the weekends at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where they were both stationed in married couples’ housing. And though they didn’t keep in touch as much after they parted ways, Hartfield and Brown always shared a connection.

“You can get out of contact with guys for years, but there’s a bond that gets built,” Brown said. “Even years later, there’s something about those people that hold a certain place in your heart.”

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After spending a year deployed to Iraq, Hartfield joined the Nevada Army National Guard in 2004 and rose to sergeant 1st class assigned to the 100th Quartermaster Company, based in Las Vegas. There, he became Will Sumalpong Jr.’s mentor.

“The man was incredible,” Sumalpong, Jr. said. “He always gave everyone that level of respect.”

Hartfield inspired Sumalpong to go through police academy and become a police officer, too. In fact, he was on-duty on the Las Vegas strip the night of the massacre, making him one of the first people close to Hartfield who found out about his death.

“He was the leader that we all wanted to aspire to be,” Sumalpong said. “You could name anyone in my unit and they would give you a testimony like mine or better than mine.”

“He was the leader that we all wanted to aspire to be,” Sumalpong said. “You could name anyone in my unit and they would give you a testimony like mine or better than mine.”

Though often in a position of leadership, Hartfield had a fun-loving side, too. He coached youth football, the Henderson Cowboys team, which started a fundraiser for Hartfield’s family after his death. Over the weekend, he had posted an Instagram photo of himself and his wife in front of the Las Vegas Strip — and another of a deep-fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with the caption, “It’s ok go ahead and stare.”

During his trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday, President Trump acknowledged Hartfield, who wrote a book about being a police officer, called Memoirs of a Public Servant.

“He was a very, very special person,” Trump said. “Officer Hartfield was a proud veteran, a devoted husband, a loving father. His death is a tragic loss for this police force, for this city, and for our great nation.”

At the vigil on Thursday, flooded with uniformed officers honoring Hartfield, one sergeant told the crowd, “Charlie Hartfield was the greatest American I have ever known.”

Cover image: Las Vegas police Sgt. Ryan Fryman, right, wipes tears from his eyes during a vigil for Las Vegas police officer Charleston Hartfield, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)