SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — William Dunson and Timothy Unwin died early Friday in a crash on Hamilton Avenue. Several people, including Cincinnati police officer Toni Nash, put together a small memorial at the crash site to honor the two victims.
Nash said she came to honor Unwin, a four-year veteran of the Hamilton and then Springfield police departments.
"I felt it was important to come down here and pay my respects to this young man," she said, "this fallen officer. You know, 20 years of service myself, it's always nerve-wracking sometimes in this world. You worry about whether you're going to make it home at night."
For over 16 years, I wore this patch.Several Springfield Township officers were groomsmen in my wedding, and I remain friends with many of their officers today. My clerk is the wife of a Springfield Township officer, and I have had the honor to train many of their officers… pic.twitter.com/mcAzxgXrBV
— Chief Scott Hughes (@ChiefShughes) March 31, 2023
Crime Stoppers president and retired police chief Gene Ferrara said the potential of death on duty is often a thought shared by rank-and-file officers. He said most don't dwell on those thoughts, though.
"You kind of push it to the back of your mind and you don't dwell on that," Ferrara said. "But then when someone is killed in the line of duty, it brings it all up to the conscious level."
Ferrara said in the immediate aftermath of an officer's death, police rely on each other and the support of people in their communities to cope.
He said it's impossible to measure how important community support can be.
"I can't even give a number it's so high," Ferrara said. "All police really want is for people to appreciate what we do."
As a co-founder of the non-profit "The Shield," which provides financial support to injured officers and the family of fallen officers, Ferrara said donations to similar organizations can help an officer's loved one adjust to life without them.
According to the address provided on the coroner's report, Dunson lived less than a mile away from the crash site.
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